Lana Del Rey’s performance on Saturday Night Live — some liked it and many hated it. But one thing’s for sure: everyone was talking about it. The expectations were high for the hyped-up “Video Games” singer, as this was her debut TV performance in the US, and it was a rare gig to get — one that relatively few artists who have yet to release their debut LP are ever awarded. (For the record, Born To Die is out January 31). Still, her just-released EP has shot up to #2 on iTunes. So somebody did something right. Head below for a roundup of what the critics had to say about Del Rey’s big American debut.
:: Entertainment Weekly got the ball rolling by noting, “Clad in a white dress, Del Rey seemed nervous and vocally shaky as she rolled through ‘Video Games’ and ‘Blue Jeans’.”
:: Spinner was fairly neutral, if not right on target, with their writeup: “No matter what Lana Del Rey did last night on Saturday Night Live, she was bound to get people talking — and critics typing.”
:: Actress/singer Juliette Lewis tweeted the following (though seems to have since deleted it): “Wow watching this ‘singer’ on SNL is like watching a 12 yearold in their bedroom when theyre pretending to sing and perform #signofourtimes.”
:: HitFix wondered if the performance was a career-killer: “Del Rey is all languid, slow-motion moves anyway, but last night those moves were reduced to parody, as her right hand grasped the microphone like it was a life preserver, while her left hand alternately ran through her impossibly thick hair, parted in the middle (which looked like a bad wig), stroked her hip, or hung limply by her side.”
:: Zap2it added, “Del Rey shuffled from foot to foot, occasionally rubbing her hip and thigh in what we assume was an attempt at performing. But it was her singing that was an utter fail. Unlike her well-done YouTube rendition of the song, she mumbled into the microphone and rushed through the words as her backing band looked on in horror.”
:: UK paper The Telegraph chimed in: “For the record, I feel sorry for Lana Del Rey… It’s clear that she’s not ready or confident enough to sing live yet, even though her voice does sound nice on record and she says she’s been singing for a ‘very long time’.”
:: Newsday quipped that “her performance, especially of her breakthrough song ‘Video Games’ was so awful that it could easily have been a Kristen Wiig skit, maybe one where she impersonates a Fiona Apple wannabe.”
:: Even NBC’s Brian Williams took a swing, via an e-mail to Gawker‘s Nick Denton: “…Brooklyn hippster [sic] Lana Del Rey had one of the worst outings in SNL history last night — booked on the strength of her TWO SONG web EP, the least-experienced musical guest in the show’s history…”
:: But perhaps Spin said it best: “Prematurely experienced internet lightning rod Lana Del Rey is the latest musical guest to be sucked into the show’s everyone’s-a-critic vortex, and here’s a hunch: All the attention will only help sales of her debut album Born to Die when it comes out… Anybody still talking about Kelly Clarkson’s totally competently sung appearance on last week’s SNL? Just us? OK, then.”
Enough of the critics. What did you think of Lana’s showing on SNL? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!
She was so stiff and her lower register vocals were dreadful. What a bore!
She is really an awful live performer, boring, and has no stage presence. I have seen many high school girls performing 100 times better than her.
Was that a contrived performance to get the press to pay attention to Lana Del Ray (who?) on SNL? Even I sing better than that girl. Did people actually PAY to get her EP?? Some people will waste their money on ANYthing these days .. I guess!!
Gosh, all that hype for nothing.
Google her on German show Inas Nacht to see her sing Video Games well live. Dunno what happened on SNLthough. A shame as she appears to have talent
She can sing. There are plenty of other performances where she shows that. The truly pathetic thing is how everyone is jumping to condemn her on the basis of one less-than-stellar performance that was almost certainly due to nervousness, rather than listening to a little more and making an informed decision (so that maybe they don’t have to back-paddle like Juliette Lewis did — saying recently on her twitter account “”Such great haunting melodies! Regardless of my own taste LIVE she’s a #FreshandYummy songwriter. Period”. She’s a very talented songwriter, read the Billboard cover story about her from this month and you’ll see that nobody is debating that. Still believe she will be big in 2012!
Chris I could not agree more! I liked her sound on the radio and thought she lokoed beautiful! I was predisposed to love her so I too tuned into SNL with high expectations. Her performance was so bad, I can see Kristen Wiig nailing a parody of it. If ever an SNL musical guest could have been better off with a lip synching scandal, Lana Del Rey is it! I hear she is also an aspiring model. She could have benefited from an outfit change as well to showcase her indisputable assets. Her performance was a lose/lose.