Lana Del Rey – the curse of great expectations

And there's no remedy for memory of faces
Like a melody, it won't lift my head

I wrote my first article about Lana Del Rey at the end of last year and published it some weeks ago before the whole SNL debacle and the raging backlash that followed. Meanwhile hundreds of pages and millions of words have been said about the subject .

 Here's one part of the SNL performance (in case you've missed it)!

The ones that hated the full lips beauty before felt avenged and didn’t miss the chance to yell “I told you so!!!” as loud as they could.

Lana del Rey was made into this larger than life phenomenon that came to save mainstream pop with her dark indie vibes, unusually sexy voice and emotionally charged lyrics and videos.

She was beautiful, different, young, rich - an all around perfect 10 for some.

She was also a highly bankable “product”, a shiny retro infused plastic wrap, a make believe without substance for others.

She was this and that; she was everywhere – that’s how huge expectations were created around her.

And then she did an awful job as the singing guest for Saturday Night Live. The beautifully colored balloon exploded and no fireworks came out. Everybody expected perfection and it wasn’t delivered. She was so awkward, almost terrified, her voice was all over the place, changing keys and generally not meeting all those expectations.

The thing is I heard Lana Del Rey singing live in other clips and she sounds wonderfully – I guess we all forgot she’s a human being and one socially awkward at that despite her apparent physical perfection. I think she just lost it in the face of all the pressure and unfortunately she happened to be on live television and not home alone as many of us are when we lose our shit.
I also thought she redeemed herself when she performed on "Late Show with David Letterman". While it's clear she's not a natural performer and sometimes the nerves get the best of her, Lana Del Rey is still a great talent.

Here you have a spectacular live performance of hers for comparison (she's also singing the same song -Video Games).

I still think that’s something there, she deserves more chances than this before being crucified. Unfortunately the only thing people love more than a success story is a huge fall from grace.

I honestly don’t care if she’s been manufactured in a Hollywood basement – I don’t take her at face value! The fact is she released an amazing album that I can listen for days (my fav song from the album is now "Lucky Ones") – so even if that’s true the girl is sitting on gold.

  Photos

We have to accept not everybody’s is a social butterfly, some people are just awkward and weird and uncomfortable and stiff and that’s ok too even if they are famous. We’re all human, right?