Recent internet upstart sensation Lana Del Rey may have landed herself on the illustrious list of botched Saturday Night Live acts after an uninspired January 14 performance of two tracks from her forthcoming debut album, Born to Die. That Del Rey missed her stride in the performance has become background noise in a storm of criticism, mirroring previous musical performance controversy on the high-profile sketch comedy show. Watch video of the performance after the jump.
Though she has since changed her mind about Dey Rey’s performance, actress and musician Juliette Lewis was one of the high-profile social media reactions to Del Rey’s lackluster performance. Just after a performance of the singer’s breakout song “Video Games,” Lewis tweeted “Wow watching this ‘singer’ on SNL is like watching a 12 yearold [sic] in their bedroom when theyre [sic] pretending to sing and perform #signofourtimes.”
Perhaps sensing political fallout, Lewis’ January 15 tweet read “Such great haunting melodies! Regardless of my own taste LIVE she’s a #FreshandYummy songwriter. Period”
Many voices from the world of Twitter chimed in, and it was soon apparent that Del Rey’s nervous and poorly-timed performance teased out a painful question for any recently-discovered start: is she ready for prime time?
Of course, Del Rey is not alone in failing to impress in an SNL performance; consider Ashlee Simpson, TV on the Radio, or even Kanye. For Del Rey, the performance could be bump in the road or the nail in the coffin: how she recovers from the gaffe will likely hinge on the reception of her forthcoming debut Born to Die, due out from Stranger Records on January 30.
SPIN editor Christopher R. Weingarten was astute enough to note that SNL’s social media presence may actually be benefiting from the negative attention, pointing out that she show may gather “extra free press “by making its musical guests’ appearances “worthy of comment from the snarky post-Gawker cyberworld,” further proving the age-old adage of all publicity is good publicity.
For those of you who remember Del Rey from her internet buzz rather than her one-time SNL performance should look out for her forthcoming debut Born to Die on January 30.
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