Lana Del Rey: That’s why glorifying her ‘old’ body is so wrong – and a sad example of body shaming
Yes, it’s that time of year again – another woman in the public eye has been the victim of fatphobia and body shaming. This time it’s Lana Del Rey who’s being criticized for – get this – her body has changed over the years. A scandal? Not really.
Lana Del Rey has garnered a very solid and die-hard following since the release of her debut single “Video Games” in 2011 – perhaps only surpassed by Taylor Swift’s “Swifties”.
Lana Del Rey has been idealized as the ultimate indie girl – in part because of her looks
Aside from music, she was also admired early on for her looks, and her distinctive style from her early music videos — long eyeliner, dreamy eyes, and retro pastel hues — has shaped numerous trend movements and spawned zealous imitators. In a way, she’s been hyped up as the ultimate indie pixie dream girl.
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But as is the case when you honor people of flesh and blood for something and put them on an untouchable pedestal – at some point the illusion of the “perfect” role model collapses.
“Lana Del Rey Weight Gain” is trending as a search term on TikTok
And some people on the internet just can’t seem to get over it. If you type “Lana Del Rey” into the TikTok search bar, one of the top results is the hashtag “Weight Gain.” Scrolling through the videos here, you’ll find hundreds of videos showing her supposedly “radical transformation,” from her early days in music to the present day.
Thin is not always beautiful – when will that finally be out of the question?
Some videos even feature music excerpts from Lana Del Rey’s own music – the song “Young and Beautiful” is particularly popular, in which the singer sings, among other things: “Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful .” It’s not just her physical transformation that gets the spotlight—change is equated with decay, skinny with “beautiful” and heavier with “ugly.”
Body nostalgia is just body shaming that’s well hidden
But there is an even more subtle form of body shaming that Lana Del Rey is experiencing on the internet right now. Namely from fans who only post video compilations with excerpts from their younger years to support them. And consciously exclude images from today. And some attentive users rightly criticize that. A video with almost 500,000 likes reads: “I hate it when fans say they don’t bodyshame anyone and then refuse to post pictures of Lana after she gained weight.”
Toxic beauty images still linger in the minds of our society
As people get older, their bodies change. That’s a fact. But women, especially those in the public eye, are still expected to look 30 as they did when they were 18 – age, illness, pregnancy, all of that shouldn’t be seen on their bodies.