Becoming Lana del Rey
Last year I had the privilege of going to see Lana at her concert in Boston at Fenway Park, and as I usually do I embraced the opportunity to get into character. I love it because it’s a challenge for me to try to look exactly like the person, sort of like putting together costumes for Halloween. I try to get down every detail. I couldn’t decide which version of her I wanted to be but I thought about doing what she did most recently, and that summer she had collabed with Kim Kardashian for SKIMS. After watching the video, I knew that was the look I wanted to recreate.
My partner at the time had gotten me a SKIMS gift card so I used it to buy the pink slip from her SKIMS photo shoot which was also a part of her collection for SKIMS - the website had some left in stock so I got lucky. I found a pink bow at Forever 21 and cut it to my liking and since my hair was super super long at the time I could really mimick the Sharon Tate look that Lana was going for in the photo shoot, I even did my makeup the same. I chose a heart-shaped furry red purse to match the furry red blanket that she used in the shoot and I wore clear heels to just really complement the look - the heels had to be minimal and just blend because the look was so complete on its own. The only thing I was missing was the gloves, I forgot about them and it was too late to order.
I loved how it came out and to top it off my partner at the time agreed to do a photo shoot with me of all Lana’s photos from Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (DYKTTATUOB). They came out more magical than I could ever have imagined. When this album came out I was really depressed about a lot of things in my life so embodying the energy of it where, the artist was less than happy, channeling that I was able to express my own feelings so creating this art helped me a lot.
After we finished I combined some videos that she took of me while we were shooting and added the Jon Batiste Interlude track from the album. Jack Antonoff truly captured the soul of Jon Batiste on it, I always think about how his wife must have been blown away when she heard this track. It is one of the most beautiful tracks and Lana is just in the background singing like an angel on and off. When I listen to it it takes me to a sort of heaven filled with artists where we are all just using our imaginations at the same time. Antonoff has really channeled a lot of divine creations in the last few years of his career.
And lastly the below is a recorded video from which I sing short snippets from some of the songs off of DYKTTATUOB, because singing brings me such deep joy. I only recently reclaimed this part of me though, it had gone so silent over the years. It is another way I can safely release big emotions. Especially when the music is similar to Lana or Holly Macve, which is like that ‘sultry sadcore’ music, I will be singing and humming all day. This is my first time posting on YouTube so I am not sure if you can click to play it below or it may take you to YouTube.
Jennifer Diane is a writer, artist and intuitive based out of New Jersey. Healing with the Occult is a guide that shares hidden, transformative knowledge to assist with self-mastery.
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