During the past decade, perhaps nobody in pop music was bigger than Taylor Swift. Some might call her the most influential artist in pop, but Swift has her own pick for that distinction and its Lana Del Rey.
Swift spoke about her admiration for Lana Del Rey while accepting the Woman of the Decade honour at the Billboard Music Awards, saying that she has watched Lana Del Rey as one of her favourite artists of the decade.
Taylor mentions how Lana was criticized early on her career, and then slowly but surely, she turned into the most influential artist in pop.
“Her vocal stylings, her lyrics, her aesthetics: they’ve been echoed and repurposed everywhere in music,” said Swift. She mentions Lana being nominated for Album of the year at the Grammys because she just kept making art. And that example should inspire all of us, that the only way forward is forward motion, that we shouldn’t let obstacles like criticism slow down the creative forces that drive us.
She went on to share an expansive list of other young female artists she admires, including Lizzo, Billie Eilish, King Princess, and a bunch of others: “And I see that fire in the newer faces in our music industry whose work I absolutely love. I see it Lizzo, Rosalia, Tayla Parx, Hayley Kiyoko, King Princess, Camila Cabello, Halsey, Megan Thee Stallion, Princess Nokia, Nina Nesbitt, Sigrid, Normani, Her, Maggie Rogers, Becky G, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai, and so many other amazing women who are making music right now.”
This fifteen-minute speech was the same one during which Swift went after Scooter Braun and accused his supporters of showing “the definition of white male privilege in our industry.”
Lana Del Rey is a master at creating new worlds in her music.
