Lana Del Rey is the foundation of women’s success in the music industry, and so she should be treated as such.
The music industry has been steadily suffering, with little to no original work behind songs nowadays. Especially after this week’s 66th Annual Grammy Awards, which once again just proved that artists who have genuinely dedicated so much of their time to creating such a unique sound will always be robbed.
Lana Del Rey was yet again snubbed by the award show, despite her entire discography having paved the way for artists who wouldn’t even be recognized without her influence.
With her immensely successful decade-long career, releasing eight official albums and two unreleased ones, Lana’s impact has been nothing short of iconic. Within seconds, her sound is instantly recognizable, influenced by Marilyn Monroe’s soft and sultry voice and reminiscent of Priscilla Presley’s look and style.
Rather than conforming to generalized pop music standards, Del Rey’s music tells a story like no other, with romantic undertones and poetic lyricism. On the surface, it may appear that she’s singing about a great love, but when one takes a deeper dive into the song’s meaning, it shows the complex nature of her romantic relationships.
She tells real stories about her experiences with abusive men, as well as a lust for toxicity and drugs, through a romanticized lens. Her songs speak volumes about the true nature of being a hopeless romantic and how sometimes that quality can be detrimental, developing a skewed perception of what love looks like.
If her influence is that powerful, why was she standing on the sidelines, applauding for the very artists she influenced rather than taking an award home herself? Well, the answer is very simple. Despite being one of the most influential artists of our time, the Recording Academy holds negative biases and grudges against the singer and her art.
According to a recently leaked statement from one of the voters, this person didn’t vote for her because they “haven’t taken Lana Del Rey seriously as an artist since her infamous SNL performance and never will.”
Del Rey’s SNL performance was one of her first live shows, and naturally, she was nervous, as well as a little under-rehearsed, with many critics emphasizing how her voice sounded different from the original song.
Despite her Saturday Night Live performance being 12 years ago and at the beginning of her career, when artists usually have occasional slip ups as newbies to the industry, the academy voters continue to misunderstand and discredit her success based on their own prejudices.
This isn’t the first time Del Rey has faced controversy surrounding the subject matter of her music. With multiple references to Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita and an ode to The Crystals’ song “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)” in her music, she’s no stranger to getting into hot water. Having had to defend herself and her art constantly proves that so many people refuse to understand the genuine substance behind her songs.
In a controversial 2020 Instagram post titled “Question for the culture,” she expressed her frustrations with the constant backlash from the industry, writing, “I’m fed up with female and alt singers saying I glamorize abuse when in reality I’m just a glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing very prevalent emotionally abusive relationships all over the world.”
Regardless of what people thought of her, she fought back against misguided claims alleging her work was problematic when, in fact, she’s always talked about the hardships of being in love, and she would never let the industry change that. But award shows refuse to see past the controversy and her unwavering commitment to producing original work rather than succumb to the industry’s ongoing trends.
New generation artists such as Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, and Nessa Barrett have expressed how powerful her influence has been on their music. There’s no doubt that Lana Del Rey pioneered a sound that so many have tried to replicate or at least learn from.
The 2024 Grammys spotlighted female artists who are wonderful in their own merit and deserve their awards. Yet winners such as boygenius, Billie Eilish, and Taylor Swift wouldn’t have been possible without Del Rey’s presence. Nominated for four categories and losing in all four, despite her enormous impact, proves that the Grammys don’t recognize the talent and immense influence Lana Del Rey has had on the world.