Beyoncé, sweetie, I’m so sorry. While announcing her seventh album, Lana Del Rey name-dropped the Queen Bey, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, and Kehlani on Instagram, saying if they can get Billboard No. 1’s for being unapologetically sexy or imperfect in relationships, her early stuff should’ve been slaying the charts. “Can I please go back to singing about being embodied, feeling beautiful, being in love even if the relationship is not perfect, or dancing for money — or whatever I want — without being crucified or saying that I’m glamorizing abuse?” she asks. She’s, of course, referring to her early eras, peaking with 2014’s Ultraviolence, where she sings lyrics like “He hit me and it felt like a kiss” and “He hurt me but it felt like true love” on the title track. “I’m fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorize abuse when in reality I’m just a glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing are very prevalent emotionally abusive relationships all over the world,” she continued, saying that she thinks it’s “pathetic” that her “minor lyrical exploration” has received so much backlash. The implication is that Beyoncé, Thee Stallion, Minaj, Kehlani, Grande, Cabello, and Doja Cat don’t get hate for making music about their sexuality, flawed relationships, cheating, etc., but we’ve all been on the internet, even Miss Del Rey. “Let’s be clear: I’m not not a feminist — but there has to be a place in feminism for women who look and act like me — the kind of woman who says no but men hear yes — the kind of women who are slated mercilessly for being their authentic, delicate selves, the kind of women who get their own stories and voices taken away from them, by stronger women or by men who hate women,” she wrote, seemingly forgetting that most of the women she implies aren’t treated this way are women of color who certainly relate. Funny enough, there is a place in feminism for women who dismiss the struggles of women of color and it’s exactly for people who “look and act like” her.
But now that Del Rey has gotten this off her chest, she’s ready to contend with the feelings, both in two books of poetry and a new album, coming out September 5. Proceeds from her books will go to selected Native American foundations as her form of “reparations.” Beware: She doesn’t specify that the album is dropping in 2020 and if we’ve learned anything from another female singer who sings about complicated relationships, it’s that release dates aren’t always what they seem. In the meantime, it seems like Del Rey — and potentially the world — could benefit from a relisten to 2013’s Beyoncé and a Lemonade rewatch. Bey didn’t body Hov in front of the whole universe to be involved in a narrative like this.