Ultraviolence, Post-Modern Feminism, Anti-Feminist, or In-Between: Analyzing how Feminism is Portrayed in Lana Del Rey’s Album, Ultraviolence
“He hit me and it felt like a kiss,” are shocking lyrics, so it’s no surprise that they caused an uproar among the public. Lana Del Rey is a pop-artist whose controversial lyrics caused a debate among scholars regarding the portrayal of topics like abuse. Del Rey released the album Ultraviolence in 2014 and the album reached number one in music charts. The album tells the story of a woman who is deeply in love with a man despite his abusive nature. Following the release of the album, many feminists criticized the album for its glorification of an abusive relationship, while others viewed it as the epitome of post-modern feminism. Not only did this album serve as a turning point in Del Rey’s career, but it raised questions about the artist’s portrayal of feminism and its place in society. Artists like Del Rey play a critical role in defining social norms regarding gender and sexuality, so it is important to examine what Del Rey’s album implies about modern feminism. In Lana Del Rey’s album Ultraviolence, Del Rey exposes the complexities of post-modern feminism through illustrations of female independence, depictions of an abusive relationship, and displays of conflicting emotions.
Post-modern feminism is the current wave of feminism. Third wave feminism came before post-modern feminism and scholars recognized it for its focus on inclusivity and diversity. However, during third-wave feminism, society still rejected many women as feminists for not portraying stereotypical feminist values. For example, if women were housewives they may have been called anti-feminist. Consequently, post-modern feminism focuses on women’s individuality and independence. Unlike 3rd wave feminism, post-modern feminism accepts more women who adhere to traditional stereotypes that society previously viewed as harmful. According to the theory of post-modern feminism, if a woman is empowered through her independence, she is free. In this paper, I examine Lana Del Rey’s album Ultraviolence through the lens of post-modern feminism.
Throughout the album Ultraviolence, Lana Del Rey highlights female independence through feminine personas that reject societal norms and embrace their individuality. Maragaux Feldman characterizes the women portrayed in Del Rey’s album as “undutiful daughters,” meaning that they have a commitment to pursue their unique desires, rather than confining themselves to specific roles that are enforced by society. Del Rey’s album exhibits women in stereotypical positions such as housewives, as well as women in subordinate positions in relationships. Ultraviolence celebrates stereotypical roles that third-wave feminists would have considered degrading positions. Del Rey illustrates post-modern feminism through the importance of female independence, which can also be seen in specific songs.
The feminine speakers in the songs “Fucked My Way Up To The Top” and “Brooklyn Baby” exhibit feminism through their commitment to independence. There is a strong link between independence and post-modern feminism based on the value of sexual and personal freedom. The song “Fucked My Way Up To The Top” describes a woman who gains power in the music industry through her sexuality. The speaker in the song is empowered by her success, which is highlighted in the lyrics, “Life is awesome, I confess/What I do, I do best.” The female character portrayed in the song uses her sexuality as a source of pride, demonstrating that her independence is liberating. The song “Brooklyn Baby” tells the story of a woman who defends her relationship, despite its unconventionality and the age difference in the relationship. In the song “Brooklyn Baby,” Lou Reed is referenced in the chorus. Lou Reed was a guitarist and independent artist who sang about stigmatized topics such as abuse, addiction, and drug use. Therefore, he serves as a symbol of rejecting the status quo in Del Rey’s song, which furthers the individuality of the speaker. The chorus of “Brooklyn Baby” describes the speaker as liking jazz and poetry, which are symbolic of femininity. The speaker is characterized as embracing feminism through these symbols. The speaker’s rejection of societal norms combined with her femininity builds a character that embraces feminism through her independence. While post-modern feminist values of independence are clearly displayed in Ultraviolence, the abusive relationship shown in the album highlights the conflicting nature of embodying independence.
In the album Ultraviolence, multiple forms of abuse are discussed, which shed light upon the dangers that women face in the current day and how they interact with post-modern feminism. Throughout the album, critics identify five behaviors of male domination, which are marginalization, subordination, stereotyping, violence, and domestic workload. These behaviors are components of the abusive relationship portrayed in the album. However, the speaker of the album seems to welcome these behaviors through her commitment to stay in the relationship. Matheus Gomes Alves argues that Del Rey’s music reveals the contradictory aspects of post-modern feminism. While Del Rey’s album shows a woman who is both sexually and personally independent, the woman still faces the danger of abuse. The abuse that the feminine speaker undergoes in Ultraviolence calls into question the post-modern feminist value of independence.
Scholars recognize intimate partner violence (IPV) as a global issue involving an abusive partner. Victims of IPV commonly experience psychological problems, which may make it difficult for them to make judgements regarding their partner and relationship. When considering the speaker’s decision to defend her relationship in Ultraviolence, it is important to consider the psychological effects of IPV because the speaker may be in a state of emotional distress. Del Rey illustrates the harsh reality of abuse where a victim stays in their relationship instead of leaving. Through depictions of abuse in Ultraviolence, Del Rey highlights the conflict between female independence and abuse.
Physical violence in the song “Ultraviolence” further depicts the hardships of an abusive relationship. The title of the song combines the word ultra, meaning excessive, and violence to connote an extreme form of violence. Del Rey exposes the realities of being a woman in an abusive relationship, which contrasts the freedom of post-modern feminism. In the chorus of the song Del Rey writes, “I can hear the sirens, sirens,” which alludes to the sound of ambulance sirens. Del Rey exemplifies ultraviolence through the symbol of the ambulance, which represents pain, injury, and trauma. Del Rey illustrates the victim’s perspective in an abusive relationship, which raises awareness and gives a voice to the millions of women suffering domestic violence. Not only does Del Rey portray a relationship where a woman faces physical violence, but she includes physiological abuse to create a realistic representation of an abusive relationship.
The speaker of the album also faces psychological violence where she is called names and degraded, which further affects the speaker’s perspective of her relationship. The feminine persona in “Ultraviolence” suffers psychological abuse, which is shown in the lyrics “He used to call me DN/ That stood for deadly nightshade”. Deadly nightshade is a poisonous plant, and later in the song the speaker admits that her partner also used to call her poison in reference to the plant poison ivy. The speaker’s partner degrades her through psychological abuse, which affects her self-esteem and image. The psychological abuse also affects the speaker’s perspective on her relationship because it reinforces her position as subordinate to her partner. Overall, the abuse presented in “Ultraviolence” depicts a relationship where psychological illness may affect how an individual views themself and their relationship. The effects of abuse can also be shown in the conflicting emotions that the feminine persona in the album experiences.
The conflicting emotions present in the song “Ultraviolence” reveal that the abuse the speaker undergoes and her desire for independence cause the speaker to feel a mix of emotions. The lyrics “he hit me and it felt like a kiss” blur the lines between affection and violence, shedding light upon the confusion that results from an abusive relationship. The lyrics compare the feeling of being hit to being kissed, showing that the speaker views her partner’s violence as a form of affection. As a result of the violence the speaker undergoes, the speaker experiences conflicting emotions. Later in the song, Del Rey writes that the speaker is “crying tears of gold, like lemonade,” which includes contradictory imagery. By writing that the woman is crying it implies sadness, however since her tears are made of gold this symbolizes that her pain has value. To further complicate this imagery, the tears are compared to lemonade, which connotes a mix of sweet and sour. Del Rey’s complex imagery serves to illustrate the woman’s utter confusion and conflicting emotions that result from the love and pain she experiences in her relationship. A third example of conflicting emotions in “Ultraviolence” is when Del Rey writes, “I can hear the sirens, sirens,” followed by “I can hear the violins, violins.” The sirens allude to ambulance sirens, while the violins allude to the violins used in love songs. Del Rey is juxtaposing pain and love, which are both present in the speaker’s violent relationship. Del Rey demonstrates the conflicting emotions that women feel throughout the entirety of her album, although it is most evident in the lyrics of “Ultraviolence.”
Lana Del Rey’s album Ultraviolence exposes the realities of post-modern feminism through combining an independent female persona, an abusive relationship, and lyrics of conflicting emotions. Del Rey reveals some of the caveats of feminism through her portrayal of an abusive relationship. It is still debatable if the speaker in this album wants to stay in her relationship because she accepts the treatment she receives, if the speaker is conflicted from loving her partner and her altered mental state, or if the album displays a combination of these realities. It is critical for artists to discuss sensitive topics like abuse in their music to give a voice to victims and spread awareness of these issues. Society’s values and beliefs are expressed through pop-culture, but oftentimes the darker realities of society are excluded from popular art. Lana Del Rey’s exploration of abuse, feminism, and the portrayal of women should be celebrated for the topics that it brings into the light and the questions that it poses for society.
Works Cited
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Alves, Matheus Gomes. “The representation of femininity in Lana Del Rey’s songs.” Interdisciplinary Journal in Applied Linguistics 4, no. 1 (2023): 1-17. October 24. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matheus-Gomes-Alves/publication/384076373_The_representation_of_femininity_in_Lana_Del_Rey’s_songs/links/66e9a5b5dde50b325878ac05/The-representation-of-femininity-in-Lana-Del-Reys-songs.pdf.
Del Rey, Lana. “Ultraviolence,” recorded June 2014, track 2 on Ultraviolence, Interscope Records, 2014, spotify.
Feldman, Margeaux. “Undutiful daughters: Growing up in feminism and psychoanalysis.” Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society 21 (2016): 232-241. October 24. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/pcs.2016.4.
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