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Before iTunes released her EP this week, Lana Del Rey had already been making the rounds in the music blogosphere, albeit with mixed reactions. Her title track, “Video Games,” was selected “Best New Track” by Pitchfork in late September, and ever since then, it’s been a battle between critics and fans to see who can answer the essential question of the moment: Is she legit or not? Music critics have been throwing disses left and right at this blooming Internet sensation, who they claim is just a rip-off of Nancy Sinatra, a repackaging of an already been-there-done-that old Hollywood vixen mystique. But there’s an undeniable appeal to her act (if that’s what it is) that partly stems from the music itself, which is sexy in a lush, sprawling sort of way, and partly from the cool videos that accompany her tracks (picture frayed shorts and retro cars, both of which are featured in the spliced-together found footage that make up the music video for “Blue Jeans.”) Not to mention the fact that Lana del Rey is hot; she’s got the whole pouting lips big eyes and even bigger hair thing going on.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO1OV5B_JDw&w=560&h=315]

Perhaps something worth mentioning is that Lana Del Rey is actually the stage name of one Lizzie Grant, a fact that she and her record label don’t really attempt to hide. It seems the issue here, ladies and gentlemen, is that Lana Del Rey and all the mystique surrounding her character is very much a construction, an image built up and kept up by the hype. And it also seems that people are noticing this construction and subsequently taking issue with it.

Which brings me to my point: Lana Del Rey is one of many in a line of Internet music sensations that are simultaneously overhyped and over criticized for their self-conscious construction, which is unfortunate, because oftentimes this hype draws attention away from actual matters worth discussing, like the music itself. It basically funnels down to what I’d like to call the Lady Gaga phenomenon, a pop act whose act takes center stage over her art, getting everyone’s panties in a bunch for no reason, while the music’s sitting in the corner unnoticed. Yes, Lana Del Rey isn’t doing anything revolutionary, and neither is Lady Gaga (as Carole King/Etta James devotees would point out for the former, and David Bowie/Freddie Mercury would for the latter). And yet the other camp cries out that, in fact, the reverse is true: Lana Del Rey is something special, worthy of the hype, and Gaga’s a genius, dammit. And they’ll fight and argue and bicker about it till the next big YouTube star comes in with a flying tortoise act and songs that spew rainbow glitter. That’ll keep them busy for a while.

Blame it on the age we’re livin’ in, and the self-conscious consumers of media that it has made us. Our appreciation for music, it seems, is marked by a biting cynicism that draws our attention away from the real stuff worth considering. The fact is, I’d like to think that “Video Games” is a decent song, maybe not anything to write home about, but certainly not deserving of the stream of backlash it’s been receiving.

 

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