Lana Del Rey responds to criticism over 'insensitive' new music video
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey has responded to criticism over her 'Candy Necklace' video - the latest release on her new album.
At just over two and a half minutes long, the clip has been referred to by Del Rey as an 'Official Visualizer' more so than a fully-fledged music video.
Yet critics have been quick to call the singer out for allegedly handling some very serious topics in an 'insensitive' manner.
But taking no time at all, the award-winning musician has since fired back at such criticism.
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Del Rey's latest album, Did You Know There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, was first released to excited fans just last Friday (24 March).
Distributed by Interscope and Polydor Records, the album features 16 songs with the likes of Father John Misty, Bleachers and Tommy Genesis featuring on a few tracks.
Such tracks include the album's single 'A&W' alongside 'The Grants' - a reference to the singer's real name, Elizabeth or 'Lizzie' Grant.
The sixth song on the album is titled 'Candy Necklace' and features Grammy-award winning musician, Jon Batiste.
In just a matter of days since the accompanying 'visualizer' video was uploaded to YouTube, a storm has broken out online slamming the singer for her 'insensitive' decision.
Fans and critics of the star have now taken to Reddit to battle it out, with one user claiming the 'Candy Necklace' video sees Del Rey 'playing the Black Dahlia'.
Incase you didn't know, the Black Dahlia refers to the gruesome murder of Elizabeth Short that took place back in 1947.
Short was found brutally mutilated in the Leimert Park neighborhood in Los Angeles and has since become one of the most highly-publicised murder cases to this day.
The Reddit user explained: "People have been getting upset about people basically profiting and glamorizing murders and such."
Defending the singer's artistic choices, a second user responded: "I don’t even think Lana is an artist who’d use that sort of thing for 'exposure' or 'personal gain', she’s simply an artist lol.
"She’s not a 'pop star', it doesn’t work in this context."
However, not everyone was as on board with Del Rey's 'Dahlia' get-up.
One Instagram user wrote: "This was a horrible gruesome murder, her anus was dilated, her smile was slashed to the ears, she had slashes on her boobs, she was found cut in half."
They continued: "The press lied to her mom and told her she won a beauty pageant to get personal information on her daughter and after they had the info then they told her that her daughter was actually murdered."
The critic noted that what happened to Short was a 'real thing', before concluding: "God forbid we think it's a little insensitive to make a music video with the theme 'meta Black Dahlia'".
While many fans rushed to the 'Ultraviolence' singer's defence, it was Del Rey herself who responded to the claims.
Directly replying to the Instagram comment, she stated: "It's not insensitive when you started the same way and you could've ended up that way," seemingly referring to the Black Dahlia.
"But," she continued, "that hasn't been how the story played out and no one knows how it will. So, leave if you don't like the idea."
The response has since sparked a debate about separating the art from the artist, with one social media user claiming: "Artists always touched complicated topics. Art is never just about sensitivities and comfort."
"I love Lana but the further away she is from social media, the better for her. She has a huge 'foot-in-the-mouth' syndrome," posted another.
A third added: "Honestly she needs a better PR team because she doesn’t help her cause."
What do you make of it?