Oh, Lana. We’re not just saying it—so is Twitter. There’s a reason why the phrase was trending worldwide recently: Lana Del Rey’s Beyoncé and Cardi B slut-shaming comments did not fly over well. And as soon as you see what the star posted to her Instagram page, you might just understand why.
On Wednesday, May 20, the 34-year-old “Born to Die” singer took to the social media platform to pose a “question for the culture.” She posted screengrabs of a lengthy letter calling out sexist standards in the music industry—in Lana’s case, the Grammy-nominee took issue with the criticisms she’s received in the past over supposedly “glamorizing abuse” in her music. “I’m fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorize abuse,” she wrote in the letter. “When in reality I’m just a glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing are very prevalent emotionally abusive relationships all over the world.”
Social media users didn’t necessarily have a problem with Lana’s defense of her music; instead, they took issue with the finger-pointing language she used to convey it. The star decided to call out almost exclusively Black women in music, such as Doja Cat, Cardi B, Kehlani, Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé—the sole exception being her mention of Ariana Grande—in an effort to compare her struggle to theirs. Given the, uh, ongoing legacy of racism in the music industry and beyond, let’s just say that Lana’s observation fell flat. Big time. You’ve been warned:
Now that Doja Cat, Ariana, Camila, Cardi B, Kehlani and Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé have had numbers ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, fucking, cheating, etc. — can I please go back to singing about being embodied, feeling beautiful by being in love even if the relationship is not perfect, or dancing for money — or whatever I want — without being crucified or saying that I’m glamorizing abuse??????
Lana even went on to suggest that she “really paved the way” for women in the industry “to just be able to say whatever the hell they wanted to in their music.” As if that claim wasn’t riotous enough (has she even seen Bey’s “Lemonade”?!), her letter concludes unceremoniously with some sudden self-promotion: Her new album is out in September, and she’s working on two books. Looks like Twitter already knows what they’re skipping.
In response to the stan war, viral rapper Doja Cat coyly commented: “gang sunk that dunker,” which can basically be summed up as a basketball reference to say, “points were made.” Whether that’s in reference to Lana’s post or her critical commenters, however, is up for interpretation.