Lana Del Rey Interview: National Public Radio

[Rafael 3,510]

Lana Del Rey: ‘I Don’t Have Other People In Mind’

by NPR STAFF

June 21, 2014 7:58 AM ET

 

Lana Del Rey is one of the biggest names in music right now. She packs venues around the world, sings in the new Disney movie Maleficent — all of this from a woman who used to be known as Lizzy Grant, and remade herself in part with a viral video sensation called “Video Games.”

Del Rey is about to embark on a European tour, but first, she spoke with NPR’s Scott Simon. Hear the radio version at the audio link, and read an edited version of their conversation below.

 

SCOTT SIMON: Allen Ginsberg was an early influence?

LANA DEL REY: Yes, he was an early influence — the whole beat poetry movement, and Vladimir Nabokov, and Walt Whitman.

Do we hear this in your music, do you think?

I think the thing I really got from Ginsberg was that you can tell a story through kind of painting pictures with words. And when I found out that you could have a profession doing that, it was thrilling to me. It just became my passion immediately, playing with words and poetry.

Not everybody has thought it’s a good idea to have lines like “He hit me and it felt a kiss.”

Definitely. But that’s been the theme of my career. The thing about me is, coming from an alternative music background and singing for nine years, being basically invisible, I’m so used to writing for myself — and at the end of the day, I do it because I feel like I have to. So when I’m recording or writing, I don’t have other people in mind. It’s not always comfortable for me, but I don’t not say what I want to.

You’re perfectly entitled to say, “Listen to the song” by way of answering this, but since this is an interview, what are you trying to say in a song like “Ultraviolence”?

There are so many things, really. I guess one of them is a personal experience I had with a person who believed in breaking you down to build you back up again. And although that mindset didn’t really agree with me, there was something freeing in letting go, for me, [with] this particular sort of guru-esque character. It’s a little bit about being in love with the act of surrendering, about being confused whether that’s a good idea.

There are some people who are very uncomfortable with the idea of women surrendering. 

I know. It’s just that I don’t feel uncomfortable with it. The act of surrendering sort of puts me in a different mindset that allows me to be more of a channel — because I’m not holding on so tightly to things, I’m letting go, and I find that in letting go I become more of a channel for life to really happen on life’s terms. I mean, maybe that sounds sort of metaphysical, but that’s honestly how I feel.

I want to ask about another song: “Pretty When You Cry.”

The way you heard it recorded is the way I freestyled it. I made it up on the spot with my guitar player and left it as it was with that session drummer, and just called it a day on that song. Like the vocal inflection has its own narrative, it’s not all lyric drive, it’s just kind of moments in time that are meaningful to me left as they were, kind of untouched. The fact that I didn’t go back and try to sing it better is really the story of that song, because that’s sort of me revealing to you a facet of myself: I don’t care that it’s not perfect. That’s why that song is more important in that way than what I’m actually saying.

Is Lana Del Rey a character played by Elizabeth Grant?

No. Lana Del Rey is exactly who she’s supposed to be: Free enough to be her own person, and that’s exactly who I am. I’m not like a persona. I’m not a caricature of myself.

When you have a gift — and even people who can be a little exacting with what they think of as your lyric content, part of it is they believe you have a great gift. Do you feel it’s something you owe to yourself, you owe to the world, to keep in good repair and to give people something?

Not really. I feel a strong relationship with God and I feel my ties are with him. That’s how I honestly feel. Everything I do, I do it for somebody I’ve never met before, something in the great beyond. That’s my primary relationship, really, is with something divine. I feel a connection as real with that as I’ve ever had with anybody on this earth. 

 

Listen Here

https://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_n7jeh8WIPs1sag8mgo1.mp3

[Ziad 188]

Thanks for sharing 

[Neptune-Avenue 220]

Pretty when you cry is so interesting to me and sounds so soulful and raw.... I love her choices this era dying for a video

[DeadAgainst 1,514]

http://www.npr.org/2014/06/21/323209791/lana-del-rey-i-dont-have-other-people-in-mind

 

The comments

 

They would probably be better if this pure sweet angel had declared herself a Satanist :biblio:

[Deadly Nightshade 125]

 I’m not a caricature of myself.

 

                Noir plays softly in the background

[COLACNT 5,170]

what kind of cold ass questions 

[Platinum Greenwich 13,570]

So what if Lana loves spendin' her time in subspace, tbh. I don't see why everyone else has to make such an issue out of it.

[LiamViljoen 908]

One of the comments:

 

"what a vacuous theistic moron, with a weak voice to boot. I'm sure she'll make a ton of money for the men who chart her course, I greatly look forward to ignoring here entire output, and encouraging others to as well."

 

Ignoring her output by listening to all her radio interviews and leaving nasty comments on them to make it clear that you just wasted your time listening to that interview because you hate Lana as a singer and a person and are looking forward to ignoring her output.

 

God sometimes I just wish these assholes would find a singer they DO enjoy listening to. In fact I put money on him being a Lorde fan

[Agnese13 132]

I thought it was a good interview, thanks.

[Rem 2,392]

President Snow and Katniss Everdeen

[longtimeman 8,069]

One of the comments:

 

"what a vacuous theistic moron, with a weak voice to boot. I'm sure she'll make a ton of money for the men who chart her course, I greatly look forward to ignoring here entire output, and encouraging others to as well."

 

Ignoring her output by listening to all her radio interviews and leaving nasty comments on them to make it clear that you just wasted your time listening to that interview because you hate Lana as a singer and a person and are looking forward to ignoring her output.

 

God sometimes I just wish these assholes would find a singer they DO enjoy listening to. In fact I put money on him being a Lorde fan

That comment stuck out a mile to me as well. It makes me thankful I'm not in the public eye - just thinking of being Lana (no matter who she is or what she's done, she's still just a person), and seeing somebody who has never met me deciding that they hate me so much they want to dedicate part of their future to putting me down. If a high school student said that to someone in their class you'd assume that they had some serious problems, but on the internet adults* just go ahead and say stuff like this.

 

* I'm assuming this guy is an adult, but whenever I read a comment like this, what I'm hearing in my head is a three year old screaming "you're a poopyhead and your face looks like poop!"

[lafleursauvage 323]

Great interview, thank you!! i love her thoughts on God

[BlueJeans 2,603]

Interesting, I always wondered how Lana thought about God, cause sometimes she uses sentences that led me to think that she didn't really believe in him like "I am my own God", "God's dead I say that's all right with me" (although she didn't write it per se, she did choose it) ... So reading about her relationship with God was an interesting add...

[PrettyBaby 2,213]

I think this comment bothers me more:

 

Lyrics like "He hit me and it felt like a kiss," whether lifted from Goffin and King and whether referring to an AA group with an abusive leader, is seductive and therefore pernicious to vulnerable young, and not so young women.

 

 

When scaring people away from talking about reality doesn't protect us; it just leaves us more ignorant and vulnerable.

 

Lana Del Rey's songs are usually *in the moment* ...that is, from the perspective of the narrator as she is experiencing/perceiving. "Ultraviolence" presents the awe that the younger narrator felt when she was in the presence of the man who offered to guide her. Yet it's also past-tense, and I believe the minor tones of the music (not sure how well I'm explaining this) hint at the regret the narrator feels reflecting back on it now.

 

I hardly come away from this song with the message "brainwashing is romantic and awesome, I should totally go out and find my own guru!" In fact, there's something strangely therapeutic about hearing from another woman who's been through a controlling experience and come out the other side with mixed feelings about it. Even if her final assessment of her situation differs from mine about my own experiences. If that makes any sense.

 

Some people want to believe they're too smart/moral/whatever to fall for the long con. But I believe that when we think we're immune, that can be when we're the most vulnerable.

[DeadAgainst 1,514]

Interesting, I always wondered how Lana thought about God, cause sometimes she uses sentences that led me to think that she didn't really believe in him like "I am my own God", "God's dead I say that's all right with me" (although she didn't write it per se, she did choose it) ... So reading about her relationship with God was an interesting add...

 

"That’s my primary relationship, really, is with something divine."

 

"Being a mistress on the side

It might not appeal to fools like you

Creeping around on the side

Would not be something you would do

But you haven't seen my man"

 

It seems more as if she is implying "surrender" to God (to put it in simple terms) ... but she seemed to be happy with people thinking UV was about a literal relationship (because she is a bad bitch) until NPR forced the issue

[slang 1,509]

Interesting, I always wondered how Lana thought about God, cause sometimes she uses sentences that led me to think that she didn't really believe in him like "I am my own God", "God's dead I say that's all right with me" (although she didn't write it per se, she did choose it) ... So reading about her relationship with God was an interesting add...

She talks about her belief in God in this article. It's not inconsistent with what she says to NPR. Also what she says is pretty scarey.

 

http://lanaboards.com/index.php?/topic/1385-original-sin-an-interview-with-lana-del-rey-john-calvert-october-4th-2011-0707/?p=34637

 

here's the excerpt:

You also told Pitchfork that God has saved your life a million times, which strikes me as in opposition to your music. Because, in films based in small town America, religion is frequently a patriarchal, repressive and evil presence, with the archetype you portray acting as a force in subverting it.

LDR: I think there’s a division of organised religion similar to what you’ve described. But where I’m concerned, my understanding of God has come from my own personal experiences… because I was in trouble so many times in New York that if you were me, you would believe in God too. When things get bad enough, your only resort is to lie in bed and start praying. I dunno about congregating once a week in a church and all that, but when I heard there is a divine power you can call on, I did. I suppose my approach to religion is like my approach to music - I take what I want and leave the rest.

What kind of ‘trouble’?

LDR: Any and all. When I was in New York I had nowhere to live, and I was trying to find a way to be a musician… Just trying to survive, which is fucking hard by the way. So I got myself into a lot of situations I didn’t plan on. [Pauses] I think what I was going for was something beautiful, but I kinda got myself into trouble along the way. Sorry, that’s pretty vague.

[BlueJeans 2,603]

Thank you very much

[Creyk 11,495]

I find it pretty amazing that she didn't put much effort in Pretty when You Cry, just made it up on the spot, and yet it's an amazing song. Sounds great, the lyrics are fine and the vocal delivery is charming. She could just go and make up a bunch of songs in one go and feed our mad love for her for years. (What a great source of leaks that would be)

[HausOfMark 85]

i listened to this! its such a great interview!

[GirlAfraid 33]

For real though. This guy couldn’t even be bothered to muster up some enthusiasm. It’s almost as if this program fell into his lap at the last minute, didn’t have a choice in the matter and didn’t even know who the hell Lana was. And I can’t even be bothered to browse through comments made by bitter pseudo-intellectuals who think that they’re so damn clever and worldly (but then again this is NPR and their listeners are notorious for spewing venom at anything veering towards the mainstream).