Lana Del Rey On ‘SNL’: Review Revue

Robbie Daw | January 16, 2012 10:06 am

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!