The problem with Lana Del Rey?

Lana Del Rey shot to fame following the release online of her single Video Games. Uploaded to Del Rey's Youtube in late 2011 it has 35,668,699 views. Del Rey's genre, which she dubs,'Hollywood Sad-Core' creates a sound not heard on the airways in a long time. It is an incredibly catchy, sad, beautiful and troubling song. Couple the beauty of the song with Del Rey's stunning looks and you have an internet phenomenon.

Video Games made Del Rey a star, but becoming an internet phenomenon is no longer enough, Justin Bieber changed the game. The evolution of the 'Biebs' has changed the way music works, it is not enough to have over 35million views on YouTube, now you have to translate that into actual record sales, which Del Rey did, her debut entered the top ten in several European charts and went to No. 1 in Germany. However, as the saying almost goes, 'The Internet gives and it takes away.' There was a backlash against Del Rey, not immediately, but there were rumblings of dissatisfaction from the internet right from the start.

In a pre-internet world, the most musicians and artists had to deal with was snotty reporters and reviewers complaining about them. Growing up a huge music fan, I bought NME, Hotpress (Ireland's attempt) and Rolling Stone (when I could afford it), I devoured articles about my favourite bands and musicians, glazed over the ones I had no interest in and patiently read my favorite reviewers views on new music. At all times I ignored anything I didn't like. The internet has changed all that, with the advent of blogs, social networking and the severe decline in 'print media' reviewers and journalists have lost their control on what we listen to, instead you become the reviewer, your opinion (the one you always believed was right anyway) now carries weight, no where is that more clear then Del Rey.

It began, the way it does for a lot of women in music, with her looks. When I read the numerous blog posts about her appearance, I had the distinct impression that people were saying 'She's too pretty to be sad' or questioning her place in the 'Indie' scene because of her looks. Then, as the internet began to delve into her past, it became about certain features on her face. 'Her lips are fake!' the blog-sphere cried! As if that was somehow the crime of the century. The uncovering of the theory that her lips might be fake led to people delving deeper and deeper into the life of the pre-Del Rey, Lizzy Grant. The internet discovered that Grant/Del Rey, had a previous music career. Shock, Horror, Oh the Humanity! Grant/Del Rey released Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant in January 2010.

As if that wasn't enough scandal it was then said that Del Rey subsequently bought the rights to the album from her label in order to take it out of circulation. To me this means nothing. Ok, that's a lie it means something. At best it meant she didn't want her previous album following her around as she tried to recreate and re-brand her image and career. At worst, according to the blogosphere, it meant that she was created and manufactured in order to seem original and to give the illusion of undiscovered musical talent. Even if the worst scenario is true, so what? Del Rey, her manager, her label or whoever lied to us. Music exec's have been lying to the public since saying the Monkees were playing their own instruments.

Yet, this was the core complaint from 'indie' bloggers, that they had been tricked or used somehow to further this girls career. She hadn't paid her dues! She lied to us! Once again, I give you The Monkees. It seemed to me, following the Del Rey investigation, that the internet that had pulled her up to a star of moderate success now felt that she no longer deserved it.  Unfortunately, several lackluster performances, seemed to point to that being true. Maybe she didn't deserve it.

In the UK she preformed on Later with Jools Holland and The Johnathon Ross Show. I saw both performances as they were shown and felt that Del Rey was nervous. Very nervous. In addition I was keenly aware of how polished her sound is (that'll be post-production for you) and how that doesn't neccessarily translate over to a live performance. I didn't feel Del Rey did badly, just that she was nervous. I pondered how difficult it must be to go from relative obscurity (I didn't buy her first album, did you?) to phenomenon overnight. I won't go into the number of stars that a decent performance on Jools has created, or the fact that the last time I saw a relatively unknown singer on Johnathon Ross was Adele. These are big shows in the UK and Ireland and a decent performance on either or both will guarantee you radio play for months.

If that wasn't stressful enough, then came the now infamous SNL performance. I was reminded of the Ashley Simpson incident almost immediately after watching Del Rey. No one can deny that in terms of the audience that SNL brings in it was probably the most important performance of Del Rey's (early) career. Did she live up to the hype? Not really. Was it a global conspiracy to trick internet users? Unlikely. Once again she struck me as nervous, as someone who had faced incredible public scrutiny over such a short space of time. She struck me as someone who knew this moment would follow her for the rest of her career, for good or bad.

Similarly to the Ashlee Simpson incident, there was a backlash. Ashlee Simpson mimed, and covered it up, or tried to (and don't get me started on that harrowing 'ho down' she did). It was car crash television. Del Rey though, to me, not so much. Ok, I'll admit, she bombed it. There I said it! Are you happy now? Crave Online, in the tagline for their blog post called Del Rey's performance 'How a viral "sensation" confirmed an industry's deceitful desperation - with one terrible performance.' A bit harsh? I thought so, but it was practically calling her the next Madonna compared to some of the tweets and blogs out there. I reiterate that while the performance was not a great one, I don't think it deserved the backlash it got, including but not limited to, rumors floated around online, that the singers impending tour had been cancelled in order to give her some distance between the disaster (although management denied this to HuffPo).

The most interesting part of Del Rey story is not Del Rey. It is not even about Lizzy Grant, or her wealthy upbringing, her (rumored) plastic surgery or previous album releases, it was the internet and the power it's users now wield. People felt betrayed, they felt they had been sold something that wasn't real (but when is the music industry ever real?). The internet has created a world where the truth reigns free (or at least someone's opinion of the truth). People no longer rely on major news outlets, they get their news from Twitter, or blogs or sites like HuffPo or Daily Beast. User generated information, news, opinion and rumor now rule how we see the world. So, understandably people feel angry when they are 'lied' to, but what exactly did Del Rey do? She changed her appearance, changed her sound, may or may not have been created by the music industry purely to create viral buzz to increase downloads and sales. Is anyone actually surprised? Show me the crime in here? Show me where Del Rey deserves to be demonised? Nowhere.

In Ireland we're know as a nation of begrudgers. We hate success. Ask any Irish person on the street if they like U2 and they'll probably tell you that Bono is a giant male sex organ (or Prick as we'd say in the vernacular), yet when U2 play here they sell out. Who's buying the tickets if we hate the lead singer? We applaud our home grown talents, we encourage them, see them in small concert shows, but the minute you make it outside of Ireland, you're dead to us. Too big for your boots. As a friend is fond of saying about Bono 'It's far from sunglasses indoors that he was reared.' The reaction of the Internet to Del Rey, makes me wonder if it's entirely populated by Irish people, intent on building you up so they can tear you down.

At the end of the day, what could be more egomanical then tearing down the icon you helped create?