Lana Del Rey covers Rolling Stone August 2014

[Sitar 22,173]

Assuming the worst? I'd say objectively critiquing her responses in interviews based on the information at hand without allowing myself to be prejudiced by the fact that I love her music. If anyone's assuming anything here it's you assuming the worst about her interviewers. Are you really telling me with a straight face (no pun intended) that you don't see a pattern of behavior here? You really think all these different interviewers are uniquely unfair to her and provoke this kind of response from her, but not their other interview subjects?

 

I think it's the job of a journalist to be adaptable to their subjects and not succumb to such press bait by willfully upsetting their subject. Like damn how edgy of him to specifically detail the pitfalls of this interview when he clearly saw how uncomfortable that very aspect of fame--i.e., interviewers presenting her in a way she's not okay with--made her. The pattern of behavior you're observing seems to be a chain reaction of her portrayal in the media upsetting her, leading to more questions about this uncomfortable topic and an all around distrust of interviewers, rather than her "throwing a hissy fit at interviewers." If you ask me, the solution is not to keep portraying her like someone excessively uncomfortable with media! It's a really snakey move, stepping outside of the actual profile and describing all the details that make her sound psychotic without any context. So yes I believe him very capable of pushing her over her limit.

[veniceglitch 375]

I really wonder how the age thing came up, how she felt when it did, and how the media will react to it. Obviously, she's done nothing to dissuade people from thinking she's a year younger til now, so I wonder what changed. I mean, it's a year, so who cares. But it's Lana, so lots of gadflies might.

[evilentity 13,303]

I think it's the job of a journalist to be adaptable to their subjects and not succumb to such press bait by willfully upsetting their subject.

In other words you think she should be treated with kid gloves and get special treatment because she complains about it or whatever reason.

 

If you ask me, the solution is not to keep portraying her like someone excessively uncomfortable with media!

So you want them to falsely portray her? If you ask me, the solution is for her to either learn to become comfortable with the media or stop giving interviews. Or at least stop taking it out on the interviewers.

 

So yes I believe him very capable of pushing her over her limit.

Seems to me a pretty low bar.

[Sitar 22,173]

In other words you think she should be treated with kid gloves and get special treatment because she complains about it or whatever reason.

 

So you want them to falsely portray her? If you ask me, the solution is for her to either learn to become comfortable with the media or stop giving interviews. Or at least stop taking it out on the interviewers.

 

Seems to me a pretty low bar.

 

Nope, none of your alternate wordings, simply what I said, so you can stop that. I don't think she is taking it out on the interviewers. But imo you would like to see it that way because it's very in line with your view of her. A view that's been perpetuated not by Lana, but by interviewers. It seems wild to me that you recognize that even her stopping interviews altogether would be a better option, yet you don't react with sympathy but vilification.

 

EDIT: Which isn't to say we should always sympathize with her. But this is a big anxiety for her and it seems very serious and upsetting. It's just cruel to deny her that.

[PrettyBaby 2,213]

It is endlessly fascinating to me how a sensitive person can simply stand up for herself and refuse to play the diplomacy game, and get called a bitch for it.

 

Apparently there is pressure in some form for Lana to do interviews. I say good for her for knowing to call it quits this time. (After, what, seven hours of interview time the day before?)

 

Yes, indeed there is a place for treating different people differently, and treating more-sensitive people with greater sensitivity. It's called emotional intelligence, and anyone who works with people would do well to at least consider it in their approach. (I don't usually extoll the virtues of EI because I think it gets overemphasized these days compared to other forms of intelligence... But completely ignoring it is just as ridiculous.)

 

Whether the established players like it or not, Lana is going to have to find her own approach to the game. If a journalist triggers her red flags, then she has the right to enforce her boundaries by ending the interview. (He even says she told him it wasn't about him. That's a conciliatory move. Artless? Maybe. Hissy fit? Hardly.)

[GirlAfraid 33]

All I have to say about the end of the interview:

 

 

 

[slang 1,509]

I think she did really well in this interview, at worst coming off as someone who says odd things or just speaks her mind (no news there). At 7 hours maybe outtakes will be published later. Any references to leaks in interviews are really important to me. Half of these seemed instigated by the interviewer; half by LDR. The problem with the leaks/unreleased is that you don't really know LDR without knowing them, which raises an interesting conumdrum if in fact she thinks of them as a private expressions. But that's too simplistic an interpretation. Trash Magic (one of the leaks LDR mentions), has one of her best early live performances on youtube. It is hardly private now and was hardly private when she gave the performance. I just wish there would be an interview more exclusively about the leaks/unreleased and AKA and what their future and their status is for her. At least, if she evaded that topic, there'd would be more talk about her future projects (which is *woefully* lacking here).

 

Most inspiring thing said: After talking about "losing her car", she reveals that the desire to become a singer is what motivated her to cure her alcoholism, but I don't suppose there's going to be very many Internet echoes of "Music sobers up LDR", like there were for the "I wish I were dead" or "feminism is uninteresting".

 

The end meltdown is her best statement about what bugs her about the media and should gain her sympathy. I understand LDR getting especially frosty about the idea that it's her lack of confidence wrt the media as opposed to a lack of respect from the media that is the root cause (I mean she just said it and they just forgot it). 

[litewave 519]

On the other hand, those little outbursts are kinda cute.

[COLACNT 5,171]

i think people are still unsure of whether or not she's actually as fragile and insecure as she often (willfully) portrays herself to be -- so they poke and prod at her supposed tender areas because they're attempting to provoke and/or analyze certain reactions that are either expected or contradictory to what they already think 

 

'considerable glamour', brains, beauty, and a seeming lack of inhibition -- what does this woman have to be so insecure about? the questions are so personal because there will always be that question of ~authenticity, regardless of what she says or does

 

people just don't understand that most if not all of the characteristic attributes they (attempt to) impose on her are likely to be true and simultaneously untrue 

[Platinum Greenwich 13,588]

All I can say is, I feel for Lana. Flighty moods are something I deal with as well, and let me tell you how volatile it is, dealing with people who know just how to drive you over the proverbial edge.

[evilentity 13,303]

Nope, none of your alternate wordings, simply what I said, so you can stop that.

OK, then explain to me how my characterizations of what you said are inaccurate.

 

I don't think she is taking it out on the interviewers. But imo you would like to see it that way because it's very in line with your view of her. A view that's been perpetuated not by Lana, but by interviewers.

Really? Where do you think this view of her came from? Am I just imagining her Twitter tantrum over the Guardian interview or the numerous other frosty interviews and interviews she's cut short over the years?

 

It seems wild to me that you recognize that even her stopping interviews altogether would be a better option, yet you don't react with sympathy but vilification.

No, I'm not sympathetic to the fact that she can't seem to handle being asked expected interview questions or have the grace to just politely say "no comment". If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen.

 

It is endlessly fascinating to me how a sensitive person can simply stand up for herself and refuse to play the diplomacy game, and get called a bitch for it.

Sorry, but this is just excuse-making for shitty behavior. There's also a complete double standard being applied here to Lana and her interviewers.

 

If a journalist triggers her red flags, then she has the right to enforce her boundaries by ending the interview.

And he/she has the right to print how it went down.

 

 

My main objection here is I don't think most of you defending her behavior are being objective. If this was an artist you disliked or had never heard of acting this way I don't think most of you would respond the same way. Except perhaps those of you who celebrate any and all confrontational drama even when unjustified because it's "sticking up yourself", a trend in our culture I find really disturbing. Or perhaps those like @@PrettyBaby who think those mean ol' journalists should have to dumb down their interviews to the level of their subject's emotional intelligence no matter how low it is.

 

On another note that pic in the Rob-style Hawaiian shirt is so fucking hot.

[Thunder Revenant 20,695]

I don't think the job of a journalist is to praise the person he/she is portraying to the skies, however, in many recent interwievs, the interwievers keep provocating her for no obvious reason. And of course a journalist will/has to print down how the interwiev was. However, no matter which artist is interiweved, i don't see the reason behind some of his questions apart from upsetting her. The other ones were just the same old questions all over again. So many interesting things you could ask her .. Questioning her is one thing, but trying to make her look like a fool is just boring, childish and has nothing to do with serious journalism. So I don't see how this interwiev is supposed to be a good portrayal ... Haven't actually seen a good one. there are the admiring ones, and the bashing ones and then there are these super-provocating-without-any-point ones. The latter "genre" applies to this RS interview.

 

"I find the nature of the questions difficult. 'Cause it's not like I'm a rock band and you're asking how everything got made and what it's like touring in arenas and what are the girls like. It's about my father. It's about my mental health. It's fucking personal." sums it up very well.

[PrettyBaby 2,213]

@@evilentity Didn't you say you're borderline INTJ/P? There's no way you're really this judgmental. Why do you insist on playing devil's advocate when it comes to Lana Del Rey? Cynicism, while the opposite of naive idealism, is no more objective; it's just biased in the opposite direction. There is nothing particularly truthful, or brave, in such an approach.

 

Withholding judgment is not the same as defending. It is simply admitting "I don't know," putting a pin in it, and waiting for more information to pass judgment. Waiting forever if necessary; not everything needs to be decided. This is my approach to life in general, and my intent in discussing LDR or anyone else. I'm not saying I'm always successful at avoiding bias, but I do consistently try.

 

If there's a source of bias in my assessment of LDR's choices, it's not from liking her music. It's from identifying intensely with the reactions she inspires in others. The things people say about her often echo criticisms directed at me in my own life, and I'm honestly baffled by many of them. In my case, being "highly sensitive" has less to do with injured feelings or low EI/EQ (though they do factor in), and more to do with a tendency to be overwhelmed sooner than others by certain forms of environmental stimuli. For me, processing social cues is an exhausting task. So when people like me ask to be treated a certain way, it sounds like we're saying we don't want to work as hard as others, when really we're saying we ARE working hard, to the point of fatigue and rapidly diminishing returns. Does this make any sense? (For anyone who's interested in learning how to work/live with the sensitive people they know, I highly recommend "The Highly Sensitive Person" by Elaine Aron.)

 

But this isn't supposed to be about me

 

I don't think this was a terrible job on the interviewer's part. I think he went too far in a few cases, like we all do sometimes, but saying he "triggered her red flags" is intended as a neutral description of what happened, not accusing him of wrongdoing. I'm glad he gave his account of how it went down. (But it is HIS account.) An interview is not a fixed, physical commodity. It is an interaction between people, colored by the personalities of each, and that is okay. I'm not trying to pronounce judgment on one party. I'm trying to leave open the possibility that even in a situation of conflict, NEITHER party is necessarily in "the wrong."

[veniceglitch 375]

Funny. The Fiona lyric, "You fondle my trigger, then you blame my gun," feels relevant here. But it's a two-way street, for sure: Lana provokes the media by saying strange/unsettling things in interviews and in music then refuses to account for them; the media provokes Lana by asking her difficult and triggering questions, and then sensationalizes her dramatic and/or uncooperative response. Neither side is innocent at all.

 

I've said before that Lana's willful solipsism is what really rubs people (in the media and in general) wrong. In an age of interconnectivity and transparency, with an emphasis on social cooperation, Lana basically says 'fuck that.' In this interview she admits she's very selfish, says no therapist could possibly know her better than herself, says she doesn't need money, is glib about smoking, etc. Basically, she comes off like an obstinate 17-year-old. Some part of her refuses to grow up. I love this about her in many ways, but it will continue to work against her as she ages and people expect more candor and less defensive posturing from her. I hate to say it, but her extreme 'selfishness as a virtue' stance reminds me a bit of Ayn Rand at times (who is adored by angsty teenagers who cannot see a world beyond their own.) There's an interesting thing here about Mammalian vs Reptilian thinkers/creators. It's about the workplace, but it's applicable to anything. I think Lana, right now, is Reptilian.

 

'While mammals need others from the day they’re born, reptiles are adapted to living on their own. So, as they grow--whether we’re talking about the culture of crocodiles or a corporation--they have lives that are "individually oriented and socially isolated," they live in a world, Porges says, "defined by risk and not sharing or benevolence or creativity," and so the defining features of a reptilian workplace are embedded in defense and fear.'

[DeadAgainst 1,514]

This is how Introverts act. After a while, you just need to recharge, especially after being grilled for two days straight.

 

[litewave 519]

In an age of interconnectivity and transparency, with an emphasis on social cooperation, Lana basically says 'fuck that.'

 

Lana resonates with beat and hippie ideals. Those people were not against social connection; they sought social connection on a deeper, more visceral level than the bureaucratic, formal, rationalistic interactions that are common in our modern society. The emotional undercurrents have the power to destroy a social order or transform it into something more living. As you said, it's a two-way street.

[essiductonto 170]

I think she has a right to be angry that interviewers and journalists talk more about her personal life than her music. A lot of it has to do with the fact that her being a woman makes the media more inclined to view her as a "celebrity" than a "musician." She doesn't display the greatest amount of emotional maturity in handling how shitty and sexist the media is, but I don't think it reflects that poorly on her.

[Platinum Greenwich 13,588]

'While mammals need others from the day they’re born, reptiles are adapted to living on their own. So, as they grow--whether we’re talking about the culture of crocodiles or a corporation--they have lives that are "individually oriented and socially isolated," they live in a world, Porges says, "defined by risk and not sharing or benevolence or creativity," and so the defining features of a reptilian workplace are embedded in defense and fear.'

 

New album "Ouroboros" coming soon, tbh.

[kik 1,563]

If she would shop for a good psychologist instead of a world-renowned clairvoyant, she might find a good one who won't tell her things she already know about herself, but practical everyday life tips, like how not to give a fuck about what other people think because you cannot control what they think and how they perceive things, how to communicate her discomfort, how to assert herself and set her limits regarding what she's comfortable to talk about. In short, how to get out of an uncomfortable situation like a lady.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To know if the interviewer was mean spirited when asking those personal questions, we can't really tell. We don't have all the conversation and mostly, we can't hear the voice tone and see his eyes. When you get into personal stuff, you have to be extremely tactful, diplomatic, human. Being able to make people at ease and making them open up is a gift.

[DeadAgainst 1,514]

I hate to say it, but her extreme 'selfishness as a virtue' stance reminds me a bit of Ayn Rand at times (who is adored by angsty teenagers who cannot see a world beyond their own.) There's an interesting thing here about Mammalian vs Reptilian thinkers/creators. It's about the workplace, but it's applicable to anything. I think Lana, right now, is Reptilian.

 

'While mammals need others from the day they’re born, reptiles are adapted to living on their own. So, as they grow--whether we’re talking about the culture of crocodiles or a corporation--they have lives that are "individually oriented and socially isolated," they live in a world, Porges says, "defined by risk and not sharing or benevolence or creativity," and so the defining features of a reptilian workplace are embedded in defense and fear.'

 

Except that Ayn Rand was an atheist, and Lana is a mystic. Your article is the sort of thing written by extreme Extroverts who want to encourage corporate groupthink; good traits if you want to be in middle-management but not necessarily if you want to be an independent artist.

 

This describes her better than anything: http://www.carlkingdom.com/10-myths-about-introverts