Lana Del Rey announces new album ‘Rock Candy Sweet’ – challenging accusations of “cultural appropriation and glamorising domestic abuse”

The announcement comes mere days after the release of her seventh album, ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’

Lana Del Rey has announced a new album ‘Rock Candy Sweet’ – a record that she claims will challenge accusations of “cultural appropriation and glamorising domestic abuse”.

The announcement comes only a few days after she released her seventh studio album ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’ last Friday (March 19).

The singer announced ‘Rock Candy Sweet’ in a post on Instagram. It will be released on June 1.

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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”.

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Del Rey later clarified her comments, which she said publications had taken out of context: “Trump is so significantly impaired that he may not know what he was doing due to his significant lack of empathy and the wider-ranging problem is the issue of sociopathy and narcissism in America,” she said.

“The defensive note was unnecessary, as nobody had significantly criticized Del Rey for ‘including’ people of color in her upcoming album,” the Harper’s Bazaar article read. “And her need to disassociate herself from the Nazi-led riot on Capitol Hill was also curious given Del Rey’s longterm public opposition to former president Donald Trump.”

In her Instagram Story, Del Rey wrote in red text over a screenshot of the above passage: “You’re right it would have been unnecessary if no one had significantly criticized everything about the album to begin with. But you did. And I want revenge.”

See Del Rey’s Instagram Stories below.

Lana Del Rey new album Rock Candy Sweet June 2021
Credit: Lana Del Rey official Instagram

Lana Del Rey new album Rock Candy Sweet June 2021
Credit: Lana Del Rey official Instagram

Last Friday, Del Rey released ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’. In a five-star review, NME’s Rhian Daly wrote that “Lana Del Rey is at the peak of her game – just don’t expect her to come down anytime soon”.

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