Andrew Eaton-Lewis: The business Grant works in enthusiastically objectifies women

IS LANA Del Rey a fake? It’s very unclear what this question means, yet it’s been asked relentlessly in recent months, to the point where it’s impossible to discuss Del Rey without addressing it.

An interview with the BBC on Friday felt like a carefully planned damage limitation exercise: “My publicists say they have never seen someone be more fictionalised,” she said, a riposte unlikely to silence those who think her publicists were the ones doing the fictionalising all along.

Let’s examine the charges. 1. Lana Del Rey used to be Lizzy Grant, and her new name was thought up “by a series of lawyers and managers”. That’s a quote from Del Rey herself, so no fakery there. This is the simplest charge to answer, since musicians have been changing their names forever (including David Bowie and Lady Gaga, both namechecked in Del Rey’s defence). Last week I got a press release for a new album on Fife indie label Fence Records. “Seamus Fogarty,” it began, “is one of very few acts on the label who chooses not to adopt a stage name”. I’d not noticed this before, but it’s true. And why do King Creosote, the Pictish Trail et al do this? Because, like Del Rey, they are trying to create an appealing image – just a very different one. No one questions their authenticity.

And so to charge 2. Del Rey turned herself into a sex object to get famous. Yes, the contrast between sex bomb Del Rey and dressed down Lizzy Grant is striking (and her lips do look bigger now). But if there’s an issue, it’s that the business Grant works in enthusiastically objectifies women. When this is cited as evidence of her fakeness – ie: it’s her fault – it just looks like misogyny.

As for charge 3. Del Rey’s label tried to bury her past, well, as revealed on Friday, Lizzy Grant’s album – the one which vanished from iTunes – will be re-released this year at Del Rey’s request. It’s already on YouTube.

So what’s the problem? Not fakery, really. If you want to know who writes Del Rey’s songs, read the album credits. And even if someone helped with that “homemade” clip for Video Games, they didn’t manufacture 20 million people to watch it. The problem is just that the Del Rey campaign has been handled a little clumsily – which, judging by the BBC interview, is now being addressed.

It all makes me think of something Neil Tennant once said when asked if he admired anything about U2 – whose epic rock was naively regarded by their fans as more “authentic” than the Pet Shop Boys’ allegedly shallow pop. Their “fantastic marketing”, he replied