IN DEFENSE OF LANA DEL REY

Poor girl. Lana Del Rey kinda blew it on SNL this weekend. Her awkward, pitchy performance did not make a good case for running out to purchase her debut album, Born to Die, due January 31st. I am going to defend her a little bit here (like the host of SNL that night Daniel Radcliffe did) because I think this performance was the exception as opposed to the rule for her. I have included a live performance from her appearance on UK show Live....with Jools Holland singing her gorgeous single, Video Games, and a recording from the crowd at Nouveau Casino of Born to Die. I think she sounds pretty good and looks at least a little more comfortable here than on SNL. Aside from her lack of experience performing live, I think her management probably booked her on SNL a little too early. She was terrified!! Now, one could also argue that if she's not ready, she shouldn't be in a position to be booked on such a huge stage. You'd be right. But she was and she did. Yes, it was super weird and ghoulishly awkward, but I'm willing to give Lana a second chance because all of her songs released so far are pretty outstanding. Let her get a little experience under her super tiny belt and maybe she'll redeem herself. She was just booked to play the South by Southwest music festival on Monday, by the way. Are you going to give her another shot? Watch the performances below and see if you like her better.