After Lana Del Rey posted a controversial message on Instagram earlier this week that led to an explosive wave of backlash, the singer has doubled down on her stance and issued yet another response to the critics. On Thursday (May 21st), Lana found herself in hot water after she shared her feelings on the criticism she's received for her lyrical content over the years. Although it appeared that her intention was to point out how her critics have always claimed that her music, which often explores unhealthy and toxic relationships, "glamourizes abuse," Lana called out a handful of fellow female artists who are mostly women of colour, essentially framing her argument as though she was the only victim of this unfair treatment.
She was promptly dragged through the mud before commenting on the post to clarify her stance and denounce accusations of racism.
Now, she's issued a more formal response in a separate post, where she continues to insist she's not being racist and merely self-advocating "for the more delicate and often dismissed, softer female personality." She also implied that, along with the odd public response she received from one of the women mentioned, Doja Cat, she also received a private response from Ariana Grande, another one of the names dropped in the original post.
"A couple of final notes on my ‘controversial post’ that’s not controversial at all," she begins. "Despite the feedback I’ve heard from several people that I mentioned in a complimentary way, whether it be Ariana or Doja Cat - I want to say that I remain firm in my clarity and stance in that what I was writing about was the importance of self advocacy for the more delicate and often dismissed softer female personality, and that there does have to be room for that type in what will inevitably become a new wave/3rd wave of feminism that is rapidly approaching. Watch!"
"Perhaps I could’ve given more context to my post by mentioning the title of the second book that would be out next March called ‘behind the iron gates- insights from an institution,'" she continues. "I’m sorry that the folks who I can only assume are super trump/pence supporters or hyper liberals or flip-flopping headline grabbing critics can’t read and want to make it a race war, when in fact the issue was with *female critics and *female alternative artists who are dissociated from their own fragility and sexuality and berate more sexually liberated artists like myself and the women I mentioned."
"But in truth making it about race says so much more about you than it does about me," she claims. "You want the drama, you don’t want to believe that a woman could be beautiful, strong and fragile at the same time, loving and all inclusive by making personal reparations simply of the joy of doing it it. Nothing new here in your reaction. Same as ten years ago when a million think pieces came out about me feigning emotional fragility or lying about coming from no money when that was the truth. My aim and my message are clear. That I have control of my own story. If the women I mention don’t wanna be associated with me that’s absolutely fine by me."