Yee-haw sadgirl Lana Del Rey has been cancelled for the zillionth time, this time over the cover art for her upcoming album Chemtrails over the Country Club which, tbh, had the potential to be a pretty good name.
The cover features Del Rey and her mates chilling at what we can only assume is the country club in question. However the selection of people featured in the photo seems a little too much like the actual makeup of country clubs IRL – in other words, heaps of people read her album art as being a bunch of white women looking like they’ve just stepped out of a time machine from problematic days past.
Perhaps preempting the controversy that would inevitably ensue, Del Rey has already issued her own statement.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ4W2J-h5pO/
“And no this was not intended – these are my best friends, since you are asking today,” she said in an Instagram comment.
“And damn! As it happens, when it comes to my amazing friends and this cover, yes there are people of colour on this record’s picture and that’s all I’ll say about that, but thank you.
“My beautiful friend Valerie from Del Rio, Mexico, my dearest friend Alex and my gorgeous friend Dakota Rain, as well as my sweetheart Tatiana.”
LMFAOOOO pic.twitter.com/Y8XUcuaPYe
— nini (@velvetropic) January 10, 2021
She went on to say that her best friends are rappers and so have her boyfriends.
Here’s the kicker: “My dearest friends have been from all over the place, so before you make comments again about a WOC/POC issue, I’m not the one storming the Capitol, I’m literally changing the world by putting my life and thoughts and love out there on the table 24/7. Respect it.”
https://twitter.com/thickianagrande/status/1348409663356887041
It’s weird phrasing, to say the least. Nobody’s asking you to name your Black or Hispanic friends, Lana.
Haters had a field day. Stans once again felt tested by the lord. Everyone else just grabbed popcorn as the drama unfolded.
Then, the memes came rolling on in:
https://twitter.com/itsscamillelove/status/1348405358755246081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1348405358755246081%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Ftriplej%2Fnews%2Fmusicnews%2Flana-del-rey-defends-chemtrails-over-the-country-club-artwork%2F13047808
lana stans when lana del rey starts to write another long paragraph on her instagram: pic.twitter.com/wJLxrRG9M7
— andres (@_andreswar_) January 11, 2021
Lana Del Rey should’ve just sat and ate her breakfast pic.twitter.com/JklaJ7p8Ir
— madimoiselle ♡ (@drivingmemadi) January 11, 2021
— pierce (@piercespears) January 10, 2021
Lana del rey publicists everytime she’s active pic.twitter.com/KhFng7s7t2
— ur_hoe_jeffro⁷𖧵IN生₁₂₇⟬⟭☾↺❦’⋈⨁ᵒᵗ²¹ 𖧶ㄴㅇㅇㄷㅅ#⃝♔₊✜˚ (@CRACK3RPH0BIC) January 10, 2021
lana’s publicist every 2 weeks https://t.co/DFqTlhxudu
— stevie (@oblivyawn) January 10, 2021
Lana Del Rey’s publicist seeing lana’s post on ig. pic.twitter.com/wfX2dfGRNC
— Bitchfest (@MeangirlRulz) January 11, 2021
every time lana del rey posts those long essays on her social media’s she gets cancelled like sis just say “☁️” and go please 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/Drs7gMQWbO
— sad boy (@boytwtt) January 10, 2021
https://twitter.com/jeongintheeyang/status/1348499780750647298
me driving to lana’s home to make sure she doesn’t make that the album coverpic.twitter.com/h3lm1nB7vV
— fab (@fabbgrat) January 10, 2021
tag yourself in lana del rey’s new album cover, i’m the iphone that nobody remembered to take out of the shot even though it’s right next to the title pic.twitter.com/1wEtmXAy8w
— Sarah McGonagall (@gothspiderbitch) January 10, 2021
i used to be such a lana stan growing up i’ll always appreciate the memories and impact she had on my life but watching her fall from grace over the years is just depressing
— ༺𝒢𐀔𝒥༻ (@gothjafar) January 11, 2021
I could have sworn we left Lana Del Rey in 2020.
— Lemon Water & Wasabi (@yosoymichael) January 11, 2021
It’s not the first time people have called out Del Rey for being seemingly oblivious to her own optics and issues of race.
Back in May she released a statement calling the music industry for “glamourising abuse”, and singling out a bunch of mostly-Black artists like Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj in the process.
When people slammed her comments as tone deaf and even racist, she accused her critics of trying to start a “race war”.
Only now, the timing of her most recent post is even worse. Del Rey herself even acknowledged the chaos taking place in the streets of the US!
Anyway, the release date for Chemtrails over the Country Club is expected to be announced later this week. We shall see if the drama is still going by then.
