Popcorn Noises

“Video Games”

I know no one cares about this anymore, but I’m finally comfortable with my own thoughts on it, so…

We don’t begrudge actual pop stars their good looks, artificially made-up or not, so I don’t see the lips thing as an issue. It seems to me a fallout of confusion based on a failed marketing experiment (trying to expose a new pop singer through the “indie” blog channels), as do the raised eyebrows at her odd trailer-trash Rapunzel shtick. Y’know, the ‘It’s not my fault, I let the publicists worry about all the icky stuff while I just sit in my room and make pretty songs’ thing. The trailer-trash bit is the most interesting part of her persona, since when taken in combination with this song it suggests a way of looking for regal beauty in a seemingly messy, ignoble life. That’s an artistically worthwhile idea to explore. The somber piano cadence and orchestral arrangements work great on their own, too.

So, the problems. If she is a strong singer, she’s doing her best to hide it. She pouts too much and it turns into kind of a nasal drone. Her lyrics are about 50/50 fine imagery and uncomfortably servile attitude. “Heaven is a place on Earth where you tell me all the things you wanna do,” really? The one instance where some sense of play or ideological costumery might be present—her affected voice on “…is that true?“—is undone by all the moments of bleeding sincerity that come before and after it. She’s being honest, and the lack of self-awareness and self-possession she’s being honest about should give us pause. Her handful of other songs follow closely in this vein. Also, and this is maybe me just harping on another marketing foible that doesn’t actually matter, but I don’t see why Nancy Sinatra should be mentioned in connection to her. There’s a certain physical resemblance that’s played up in press photos, but Sinatra was a pop singer proper who knew how to take control of a song. Lana del Rey has potential, but the road is long and the way is hard that leads up from her current blog-troversial mire.