
When Lana Del Rey dropped details of her highly anticipated 2021 album, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, in January fans were excited.
Until she started explaining herself.
Along with the album artwork and track listing, Lana, real name Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, uploaded a lengthy statement preemptively defending herself.
Against "a WOC/POC issue".
She brought it up herself in an Instagram comment on a photo of the album's cover art. The image shows a group of women gathered around a table, in a black-and-white photo.
"Yes there are people of colour on this record's picture and that's all I'll say about that but thank you," she wrote.
However, she continued, naming her BIPOC friends.
"These are my friends this is my life... We are all a beautiful mix of everything - some more than others which is visible and celebrated in everything I do."
She attempted to prove her allyship: "In 11 years working, I have always been extremely inclusive without even trying to. My best friends are rappers, my boyfriends have been rappers," she wrote.