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Lana Del Rey has uploaded yet another rebuttal after facing a backlash over a recent Instagram post.
The Grammy-nominated star took a lot of heat on social media last week, after a lengthy statement she posted in which she claimed that many artists have recently achieved success singing about themes that the media has “crucified” her for in the past.
However, while listing the singers and rappers in question, many took issue with the fact she’d listed predominantly women of colour, including Beyoncé, Doja Cat, Camila Cabello and Nicki Minaj.
Having already branded accusations of racism “bullshit”, and insisted her critics are only after “drama”, the Norman Fucking Rockwell singer has now uploaded a six-minute video, once again shooting down her detractors and attempting to clarify her initial comments.
“I don’t want to beat a dead horse and I don’t want to go on and on about this post thing, but I just want to remind you that in that post, my one and only personal declaration that I’ve ever made – thanks for being so warm and welcoming – it was about the need for fragility in the feminist movement,” she began.
“And when I mentioned ‘women who look like me’, I didn’t mean white like me. I meant the kind of women who other people might not believe because they think, ‘oh, well look at her, she fucking deserves it’ or whatever. There’s a lot of people like that, you know?”
Referencing fellow singer FKA Twigs – who wasn’t name-checked in her original post – Lana continued: “I just think it’s sad that the women I mentioned, whether they sing about dancing for money or whatever – the same stuff, by the way, that I’ve been singing about and chronicling for 13 years...
“The difference is when I get on the pole, people call me a whore, but when Twigs gets on the pole, it’s art... I just want to say, you know, the culture is super sick right now, and the fact they want to turn my post, my advocacy for fragility into a race war, it’s really bad. It’s actually really bad.”
After pointing out that she had spoken about the importance of giving reparations to Native American communities like the Navajo, she added: “I just want to say, to all of the other women out there who are like me – good girls, good-intentioned, who get fucked up the ass constantly by the culture just because you say what you really mean – I’m with you, and I feel for you, and I know that you feel for me, and I’m super strong, you know? You can call me whatever.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t add one Caucasian, 100% Caucasian person into the mix of the women that I admire, but it really says more about you than it does about me.”
It should be noted that Lana did mention Ariana Grande in her post, having collaborated with the singer and Miley Cyrus last year on the track Don’t Call Me Angel.
“And I think that what’s interesting is the very first time I decide to tell you anything about my life or the fact that I’m writing books that chronicle that fragility, that 200,000 hateful spiteful comments come in and my phone number leaked and comments like “you fucking white bitch”, you know?,” she added. “It’s the opposite of the spirit of the advocate, it’s what causes fragility. But it’s not going to stop me, period.”
Although she didn’t go into specifics, Lana went on to mention that she’d spoken privately to “a couple of the girls” mentioned in her original post, but that they had a “super different opinion of my insight”.
She concluded: “I’m not the enemy, and I’m definitely not racist, so don’t get it twisted. Nobody gets to tell your story except for you... so, god bless and fuck off if you don’t like the post.”
At the end of her initial statement, Lana announced that she would be releasing her new album – her seventh under her Lana Del Rey moniker – in September, and that it would feature “tinges of what I’ve been pondering”. She has since clarified that this would be called Chemtrails Over The Country Club.
Lana released her most recent album Normal Fucking Rockwell last year, reaching number one here in the UK, receiving an an Album Of The Year nomination at the Grammys.