I listened to the song “Video Games” and was pleasantly surprised to find I actually liked her voice. Del Rey’s voice has an old quality to it, something similar to a star of the 40’s with a slight twist. Imagine the sultry quality of Julie London’s voice.
The issue was, as I listened on, I found her voice was almost too sultry to listen to. It seemed a little too forced at times as she was delivering juvenile lyrics that were driven with obvious sexual overtones. Basically, I found this music was not my taste, I appreciate her voice, but not her music.
The story could have ended there, I would have moved on to the next video and forgot about her, but I decided to glance down at the comments before leaving the page. I found the usual contradicting comments, some stated, “I predict she will make it big in 2012” or “one of the best voices EVER!!!!”.
However some were not so nice, with “does she have any vocal range at all?” and “She’s a little rich girl and she’s trying to prove she’s indie, but she’s not working for anything. She’s daddy’s little girl.”
After a little more research, I found copious amounts of blogs bashing Del Rey’s attempt at a music career and in return many furious fans attempting to stick up for their beloved new artist. Curiosity welled up inside of me as I wanted to know who this Del Rey character was.
Del Rey is actually Elizabeth Grant. The name was given to her by her producer as a reflection of her style. She started publicizing her singing career on YouTube, loading her songs and awaiting a responsive fan group, and she got it.
Del Rey was momentarily signed in late June of 2011 to Stranger Records in order to produce a few EP’s, her first being “Video Games.” After the success of that single, she was signed to Interscope Records in October with the intent of releasing her debut album by the end of January 2012.
Now comes for the controversial part, the part I have been holding out to inform you because it is the reason people have turned on her music career, and I want you to be prepared. Are you sitting down? Here we go…
Del Rey’s father is domain investor and millionaire, Rob Grant. Meaning Rey has inherited her father’s wealth and is a millionaire as well. I know, I’m shocked as well.
I’m shocked because I honestly couldn’t believe that people were judging an artist’s music by the artist’s financial situation, but it’s true. I’ve seen a large amount of music blogs dedicated to the hopeful demise of this young fledgling artist, all because she is well taken care of.
I want to make this clear, I am in no way arguing my point because I am in defense of Del Rey’s music career. I honestly have no attachment to her career as I won’t be listening to her music regardless. However, I do find it worry-some that people are arguing against new musical endeavors on such a judgmental basis. To be honest, their argument holds no water.
If I was to apply these standards elsewhere, it looks like many will have to change their music taste. “Vampire Weekend” is an American Indie band made by all Ivy League students. All four members of the band met and formed the band while attending Columbia University, how privileged is that? I guess I’ll have to stop listening to them now. Lady GaGa was raised in the Upper West side of Manhattan, an upscale residential area of New York. Looks like she’ll be losing fans as well according to this theory.
As you can tell, I’ve made my point, and it’s just simply ridiculous to base ones opinions of music on such material things. In regards to Del Rey’s career, it doesn’t help that she lost her one shot at redemption just recently. Del Rey was scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live (SNL) this past Saturday, Jan. 14. She performed, and she bombed. When I say bombed I mean she was obviously nervous as her voice was extremely shakey and her stage presence was almost none existent.
This may have hurt her career temporarily but I highly doubt this means she has lost her place in the music world. Saturday Night Live was her first live performance ever in the United States, and I’m sure there will be plenty more live performances where she will get the chance to redeem herself, from the SNL experience, and I’m sure she will.
photo credit: ew.com
