May 2021 - Music

Rock Candy Sweet by Lana Del Rey

Del Rey confirmed ‘Rock Candy Sweet’ was a new album in a post to her Instagram Stories, in which she responded to a Harper’s Bazaar article, published in January, titled “Lana Del Rey can’t qualify her way out of being held accountable”.

Over a screenshot of the article, Del Rey wrote in red text: “Just want to thank you again for the kind articles like this one and for reminding me that my career was built on cultural appropriation and glamorizing domestic abuse. I will continue to challenge those thoughts on my next record on June 1 titled ‘Rock Candy Sweet’.”

In another Instagram Story, Del Rey shared a screenshot of a paragraph from the Harper’s Bazaar article, highlighting lines that referred to comments she had made in January about the cover art of ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’, in which she said, “There are people of color on this records picture.”

She later elaborated on her comments, saying, “I knew what people were going to say. So when they actually started saying things, I responded and I just said, ‘I got a lot of issues but inclusivity ain’t one of them.’ It just isn’t. You can’t just make it my problem.”

The Harper’s Bazaar article also referred to comments Del Rey had made about former US President Donald Trump and the storming of the US Capitol. In an interview with BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac, she said she didn’t think Trump knew he was inciting a riot, saying he had “delusions of grandeur”.