judyxberman asked: Saw that you left a comment on my Flavorwire post about Lana Del Rey pointing out that British critics especially love her. (I had totally forgotten "Video Games" was the Guardian's #1 single of 2011.) I'm wondering why you think the critical conversation about her has been so different in the US vs. the UK. Are Brits less hung up on authenticity? Did the song's mainstream success take her outside the realm of indie cred-griping?
Basically yes and probably :)
To be honest though I was a bit surprised that the authenticity thing reared its head so vigorously (and venomously in some cases) among US critics, and I think Brits are just as quick to play the “manufactured!” card, so it’s not quite that simple. I think British pop has often (though not always) had more overt character-building and persona-play and so on than American pop - we have an appetite for it, which may be a Bowie thing or a music hall thing or who knows: light entertainment is the root and destination of British pop so maybe we’re generally happier to say “OK, she’s playing a role, let’s sit back and enjoy the show”. The flipside being that maybe we don’t get someone like Tune-Yards so easily, because we’re expecting theatricality to have that winking, “here’s my character” element to it?
The song’s success in the mainstream probably helped because it meant the terms of discussion changed from “here is someone faking it to try and be successful” to “here is someone being successful, is it any good?”. But on the other hand success doesn’t guarantee critical adoration - the other US/UK divide I noticed this year was Adele, where UK critics were a LOT warier of her and US critics were all “undeniable!”
