Lana Del Rey had a few choice words for a critic who reviewed her latest album.
On Wednesday, writer Ann Powers tweeted a link to her review of “Norman Fucking Rockwell,” imploring readers to open their heart to “one more deep dive” into the artist’s “messy subconscious.”
Powers said that Del Rey is “at her most instantly compelling, a pro asserting her future spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” but that the album is also “a repository of masochistic out-breaths and bad-girl flexes.” She wrote that Joni Mitchell was a “clear inspiration” in “Del Rey’s pursuit of legible expressiveness” but that, in comparison, the younger singer’s lyrics are “uncooked.”
Del Rey was apparently irritated by the review, and fired off two puzzling tweets at Powers.
In one, she insisted that there’s nothing “uncooked” about her, writing that she has “never had a persona” and “never needed one.”
Del Rey went on to lambast Powers and tell her to not “call yourself a fan” because her “gift is the warmth I live my life with and the self reflection I share generously.”
Well, it seems Lana isn’t pleased when she’s not reviewed the way she wants. HuffPost has reached out to Powers for further comment. Powers told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday: “It is a critic’s responsibility to be thoughtful and honest to herself in responding to artists’ work, and an artist’s prerogative to disagree with that response. I respect Lana Del Rey and hope that her music continues to receive the passionate appreciation it has received for years.”
She also tweeted a note of thanks to those who have sent “support” and called Del Rey’s album “a deeply compelling, crucial album.”
This has been updated with Powers’ response to Del Rey via the Los Angeles Times.
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