Lana Del Rey: Can Artifice Survive in the Age of Adele?

Why is it that everyone and their dog must be in love with Adele? Yes she is great but there is so much more music in the world, immense indie playlists that the world will never hear if we keep considering "variety" a choice between Adele and Britney Spears.

On another note I personally think Lana's voice is amazing- it's sophisticated, sultry, unique, vintage and most important of all, imperfect. If people aren't used to it then fine- I just find it annoying how they complain everything is autotuned and then hate on an artist because they're voices aren't the norm.

I'm personally a synth/electropop fan but I like a song if it's well written- an authentic voice doesn't mean much for a song if it's not catchy, which is why I don't like Florence.

Music and performance are the only things that matter to me. I don't care about looks (authentic or fake), your background, or if you are on an independent or mainstream label. Music should be about music, period.

@PieterVL Very nice rebuttal. So far I am impressed at how many people have valuable things to say in response to the haters. I liked LDR as soon as I heard her and the SNL performance didn't seem strange to me at all - she was nervous. It's a shame that many people will not let themselves hear more from her because of a poor introduction. Hopefully she canmark@markalanjohnston.comkill it on Letterman and come out strong. I also can't help but think LDR sure is getting alot more press out of the SNL thing than if it went well.

And Adele is a little overrated in my opinion....she can sure bellow, but doesn't really emote very well in her music. Very much like Bonnie Raitt, a vocalist with a pleasant and strong voice but not much character or variation in her recorded tracks.

But hold on a second: all of our radio hits currently playing besides Adele are just as phony as LDR! I was seriously unimpressed with that SNL performance; but Rihanna, J-Lo or any other manufactured Top 40 artist performs in the exact same untalented, commercially calculated way--they're just smart enough to dance and use better lighting/staging/etc.

So to maybe paint your picture with the appropriate-sized, (rather larger) brush: Adele as a powerful singer puts many of the fake pop act's vocalists to shame, not just LDR.

I thought Lana Del Rey is innovative, complex, purposeful and deep. Her twirls were very freeing and self exposing but done slow enough to be subtle. Her hand movements will/should be a classic! She is a very young girl that is giving everything she has got from the depths of her soul and voice. She was not singing with emotion she was singing emotion. Bravo I say bravo.

When I first saw Adele on SNL, I had no clue who she was. Our stations weren't playing her yet and yet, by the next morning, I woke with her song in my head and no annoyance. Her performance made me want to Google her in order to find out more. When I first saw LDR on SNL, I had no clue who she was. And all I could think was what the hell am I listening to? Her performance made me want to Google her for an explanation to the train wreck. Nothing I found on her made me want to hear any more from her. The baby voice is grating, the baritone is bizarre, the lyrics forgettable (as in I don't recall a single one).
And to all the "hater haters": your campaign makes me think "The lady doth protest too much."

OMG Nightmare? I kept on getting a prompt that told me my posts weren't working, and Eek--look what happened below! Moderator...clean up in aisle 9!

@thedude798, I am actually a fan of Lana Del Rey's and personally don't buy into ANY of the distractions like Name Changes (Bob Dylan anyone?) or white noise & Chinese Whispers like 'whose your daddy'--(Carly Simon's father was "the Simon' of Simon & Shuster.) If you look over the article with fresh eyes, you will see that I REPORTED/REPEATED 98% of what is being said/written about her, 1% dedicated to sticking up for her (she DOES write her own songs and a lot of the backlash sounds like JEALOUSY) and perhaps 1% to making the article 'provacative' by claiming that Lana Del Re could be an elaborate ruse and artifice. Nothing tabloidy about it.
I am wishing Lana Del Re the best, and am the LEAST of her worries right now. My only issue with her is that she blew it on Saturday Night Live, and took the place of another deserving band or singer who would have BLOWN it out of the park. SNL is not the 'X-Factor' there are no 'Do Over's' due to nerves. You get one chance and one chance only, (a chance that others wait YEARS to get). I've read countless reports 'from Google' that suggest many of her past live gigs 'were underwhelming' and she said it herself recently that she doesn't expect Coachella to invite her on the bill because quote: 'I just stand there' when singing. If she wasn't subpar 'live', and had more stage presence, I gurantee you no-one would bother picking on her. Fact is, her ascent after signing to Interscope has been rather quick for a newcomer which reeks of some sort of possible Payola- and in this economy when we have an Adele--why should we bother investing in someone new, who has shown us that she may very well be a disappointment? I was rooting for her pre-SNL, but that was TERRIBLE. She doesn't play and instrument, she doesn't dance, and besides being very charming in interviews, does not bring that to her 'live shows'. SNL is not a dress rehearsal, and her team (after seeing the dress rehearsal) should have at least brought her down to ONE song, (which has been done before for a musical guest). Instead, she admitted to MTV that she had not practiced all week because she was busy with work, and that just doesn't cut it. She should have killed in her performance--End of discussion. She has talent, but as ou can see in these made for TV audition shows...so DO a lot of people, and being just 'good' isn't good enough an longer. You have to be a STAR.

@thedude798, I am actually a fan of Lana Del Rey's and personally don't buy into ANY of the distractions like Name Changes (Bob Dylan anyone?) or white noise & Chinese Whispers like 'whose your daddy'--(Carly Simon's father was "the Simon' of Simon & Shuster.) If you look over the article with fresh eyes, you will see that I REPORTED/REPEATED 98% of what is being said/written about her, 1% dedicated to sticking up for her (she DOES write her own songs and a lot of the backlash sounds like JEALOUSY) and perhaps 1% to making the article 'provacative' by claiming that Lana Del Re could be an elaborate ruse and artifice. Nothing tabloidy about it.
I am wishing Lana Del Re the best, and am the LEAST of her worries right now. My only issue with her is that she blew it on Saturday Night Live, and took the place of another deserving band or singer who would have BLOWN it out of the park. SNL is not the 'X-Factor' there are no 'Do Over's' due to nerves. You get one chance and one chance only, (a chance that others wait YEARS to get). I've read countless reports 'from Google' that suggest many of her past live gigs 'were underwhelming' and she said it herself recently that she doesn't expect Coachella to invite her on the bill because quote: 'I just stand there' when singing. If she wasn't subpar 'live', and had more stage presence, I gurantee you no-one would bother picking on her. Fact is, her ascent after signing to Interscope has been rather quick for a newcomer which reeks of some sort of possible Payola- and in this economy when we have an Adele--why should we bother investing in someone new, who has shown us that she may very well be a disappointment? I was rooting for her pre-SNL, but that was TERRIBLE. She doesn't play and instrument, she doesn't dance, and besides being very charming in interviews, does not bring that to her 'live shows'. SNL is not a dress rehearsal, and her team (after seeing the dress rehearsal) should have at least brought her down to ONE song, (which has been done before for a musical guest). Instead, she admitted to MTV that she had not practiced all week because she was busy with work, and that just doesn't cut it. She should have killed in her performance--End of discussion.