Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence and Feminist Politics (2015)
The voice of the feminist movement never really left - but over the past year, it's risen from a dormant state. Feminism was never exclusive to policing men. We also judge women themselves on the way they choose to reinforce the concept. While the social media era has made it accessible for people to voice their thoughts, the P.C. era has made it almost mandatory to do so.
For better or for worse, celebrities are joining the debate and Lana Del Rey is currently one of the biggest and most polarizing names in music. On her sophomore effort, Ultraviolence (2014), Del Rey recalls the classic 70’s rock energy, spotlighting dirty guitar riffs and her signature husky vocals. She sings of her affection toward an unnamed man who physically abuses her, and declares her preference for being the woman "on the side." The record is infinitely different to all other commercial releases from current female pop vocalists, and in that way, she’s breaking the norm and doing what feels right to her. A woman in charge of her artistic direction - isn’t that a feminist statement in itself?
The 2000’s were a shallow time in commercial music. Most radio hits consisted of pre-packaged hip-hop & rap records tailor-made for mass consumption, and it wasn’t until late in the decade that the landscape started to shift. In parallel, we fully digitalized music. We stopped fighting the inevitable and began to welcome the idea that music should be consumed in more accessible terms. Some artists have gone as far as to promote and favor the free propagation of their material.
Music releases are now forever intrinsically and fundamentally tied to social conversation. As an artist, if you fail to make waves online, there's little chance you'll make an impact on radio and otherwise. A millennial herself, Elizabeth Grant a.k.a. Lana Del Rey, exercised her understanding of this, and she paraded herself on YouTube long before discovering her fame in 2011 when her D.I.Y. “Video Games” clip garnered international attention and became a viral hit. She was widely criticized for being what people felt was inauthentic, but found a huge cult following with online hipster community, Tumblr. She followed up her 2012 debut, Born To Die with the Paradise (EP) the following year. Her trip-hop tinged tunes voiced love letters to gangsters and personal confessions of naughtiness. She quickly became the cool kid’s darling.
For her second full-length LP Ultraviolence, Del Rey brought The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach on board, altering her sound from a dreamy bop to a smoke-filled haze. The transition was worth it as the album debuted at number one on Billboard. It packs the punches of its success and should be considered a radical release for a pop act, regardless of any personal opinions on her authenticity. There are no radio-ready tracks on the record and sonically, it's heavy and unpolished. Most of the songs were recorded live with a seven piece band. Auerbach, a major rock star in his own right, spoke of the recording process - "Nobody does that, there hasn't been a number one pop record that was recorded like that in forty, fifty years." Lyrically, the record is also hard to digest. The songs feel deeply personal and many of them detail her appeal to being and experiencing things that other females would feel shame over sharing with the world. She elaborates on her longing for a man who abused her. "He hit me and it felt like a kiss," she sings on the title track. The contents of the record are shocking, especially considering so many women in media and music now are speaking up against misogyny. It's extremely unusual to have a major artist who admittedly finds freedom in submission.
The concept of feminism is being used as a marketing tool by many artists who hide behind the word but rarely act upon or fully understand the notion of feminism . For example, it's not uncommon to hear white women speak of their freedom and rights but then speak out against the same issues when it comes to women of color. It's also not uncommon for feminism to be misconstrued when it comes to female sexuality when some use nudity as a means of expressing sovereignty and others criticize and "slut-shame" the same acts in the name of feminism. Lana Del Rey herself has expressed a great disinterest in the topic, which earned her tons of bad publicity from media outlets and top feminist voices, but who's to say that as a woman you can feel confident and sufficiently in charge that you don't feel the need to constantly reinforce your authority?
As a young woman, she took charge of a major project and delivered an incredible body of work that was both critically acclaimed and trailblazing. She's unafraid to discuss personal kinks in her music, an idea that usually applauded and deemed as groundbreaking in male musicians. Music, as an art, form should awaken something within the individual. We're not perfect, so why would we ever seek perfection from our favorite musicians? There's something liberating about this record and how it prioritizes immediate pleasure over responsibility, a mentality that permeates heavily on many generations, especially millennials. In the end, we often prefer authenticity over aspiration, and as a proud feminist myself, I see a lot of power in a woman who's genuine and true to herself.
