When the Grammys aired earlier in February, my roommate and I had a conversation about Taylor Swift, who she’s an adamant supporter for. We also talked about Lana Del Rey, who I love. It brought us to discuss and debate to a certain extent why we love both artists’ music and for me personally why I think Lana’s music is better than Taylor Swifts. Now I know Taylor Swift is highly successful and has achieved incredible things. I myself have several of her songs on my playlist, and they’re enjoyable, however I do not resonate with her tone of music nearly as I do with Lana’s and I think that crucial to be a “stan” of an artist. It’s also important to note that while a 25 and 9-year-old woman/girl might resonate with Taylor’s music. In my opinion, the same cannot be said about Lana, her music conveys experiences in a deeper, moodier tone that a young girl might not resonate with, and in turn may not be interested in it.
I think that Taylor and Lana Del Rey have incredibly different styles of portraying similar emotions, therefore it’s difficult to compare them. Personally, Lana’s classic melodies, and ethereal-like vocals in her music paired with incredibly relatable lyrics is what emulates my experience with romantic love to be specific. I think the songs “Let the Light in” and “Norman F****** Rockwell” do a great job of portraying the anger and love that a person can have for their partner in any sort of relationship, specifically a dysfunctional one. There’s not a normalization, but sort of an acknowledgement of these uncomfortable feelings of anger and sadness one feels when experiencing heartbreak, for someone we know we shouldn’t feel that way for.
To me, one of Lana’s lyrics from “Normal F****** Rockwell”: “Why wait for the best when I could have you” (I feel called out) depicts how sometimes we’re bound to miss or want someone we know is not the best for us. And I think the way that lyric is not explicitly saying what it means, is what makes her songs beautiful, there is a different understanding and meaning you get from her songs the more you listen to them. These universally-felt emotions paired with beautiful classical melodies leave me feeling melancholy and even comfortable in my emotions, whether that be positive or negative ones. Which oftentimes is the reason why we listen to our favorite songs, emotional outlet and expression.
I consider myself to be a little bit of a realist, and that’s exactly what you get with Lana’s songs. Her songs explore many uncomfortable topics that many adults and even young teenagers experience such as addiction paired with drugs, sex, and love. I think that other mainstream artists portray heartbreak and love in a black and white way. If they’re writing a breakup song, it’s an anthem about their ex-partners being losers and cheaters. Or maybe if they’re in love they put out a song about how happy they feel and how love is great. However, in my opinion you can’t usually tell whether Lana is writing a love or heartbreak song, she writes in the gray area. Which to me is the most realistic. Her lyrics are incredibly relatable in the way that they expose our sexualities, destructive behaviors, and complex feelings. In the way in which we still love our ex-partners despite whatever they’ve done, and maybe even texted them or desired them after splitting. The messy real aspects about love, heartbreak and life.