'Emo' Lana Del Rey takes flack for sad songs

Lana Del Rey. Picture: Bang Showbiz

Lana Del Rey. Picture: Bang Showbiz

Published Jul 20, 2017

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Lana Del Rey thinks she is responsible for the amount of sad songs being played on the radio.

The 'Born To Die' hitmaker says that when she was starting out she struggled to get her depressing music heard, but nowadays it has become mainstream to pour your heart out.

She said: "There's been a major sonic shift culturally. I think I had a lot to do with that. I do. I hear a lot of music that sounds like those early records. It would be weird to say that it didn't. I remember seven years ago I was trying to get a record deal, and people were like, 'Are you kidding? These tunes? There's zero market for this'. There was just such a long time where people had to fit into that pop box. "

Despite receiving a lot of criticism, the 32-year-old star says she's never contemplated quitting music and it only made her more determined to carry on.

Lana — who releases new record 'Lust for Life' on Friday — told Pitchfork: "I so double downed. [The early criticism] made me question myself - I didn't know if it was always going to be that way. You can't put out records if 90 percent of the reviews in places like the Times are going to be negative. That would be crazy. 

"It would have made sense to step all the way back, but I was like, Let me put out three more records and see if I can just stand in the eye of the storm. Not shift too much. Let me just take some of the [production] off so you can hear things a little bit better; I thought people were maybe getting distracted. I did the same thing with Honeymoon. Everyone around here heard it and was like, 'It's a cool record, but you know it's not going to be on the radio, right?' 

"And I was like, 'Yeah. I told [record executive] Jimmy [Lovine] when I signed, 'If you want to sign me, this is all it's ever going to be.'" I was just so committed to making music because I believe in what I do. All I had to do was not quit."

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