Del Rey’s ‘Meh’ Meme

February should be an interesting month for Lana Del Rey.

Del Rey made her national debut on “Saturday Night Live” Jan. 14. It was only the second time, the first being Natalie Imbruglia, that SNL presented a musical artist before a debut album dropped. The performance came in the midst of a media blitz for the YouTube darling, who was put on the cover of the latest Billboard issue as the mag’s No. 1 pick for 2012.

The article noted her “octave-spanning pipes” honed in a church choir and her homemade video for “Video Games” that at press time had accumulated more than 20 million views.

But the article also noted the downside to fame. Del Rey was the target of online criticism from those who have questioned her musical credentials. She had little success in 2010 with an album called Lizzy Grant aka Lana Del Ray (Grant is her birth name), which existed on iTunes for all of two months. Her father just happens to be millionaire domain investor Rob Grant, and she apparently has had a protected life (“boarding-school background”).

But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and Del Rey had a chance to have a big impact on SNL. Instead, “Video Games” was presented with little flair. People like Juliette Lewis, Eliza Dushku and Perez Hilton tweeted some unflattering assessments. (Lewis: “Wow watching this ‘singer’ on SNL is like watching a 12 year old in their bedroom when they’re pretending to sing and perform.”)

And then there was NBC News host Brian Williams, father of the talented Allison Williams. He wrote to Gawker chief Nick Denton, saying the performance was “one of the worst outings in SNL history.” Denton posted the email. Then NBC asked to take it down. “That was sent in confidence as friends and absolutely never intended to be public.”
Denton just put that correspondence online next to Williams’.

Eventually, SNL host Daniel Radcliffe came out in support of his musical cohort.

“It was unfortunate that people seemed to turn on her so quickly,” Radcliffe said at the BAFTA awards nominations. “I also think people are making it about things other than the performance. … If you read what people are saying about her online, it’s all about her past and her family, and stuff that’s nobody else’s business.”

Del Rey was scheduled at press time to perform on “Late Night With David Letterman” Feb. 2 and later that month on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”