Lana Del Rey covers the August/September issue of Complex to promote Ultraviolence, which has sold alarmingly well since its June release. The record entered the Billboard chart at #1. She sold 182,000 copies in one week alone. ‘Fess up, people. Did you buy the album?

Lana’s still very upset about how she gets no respect. She’s really angry about it. This interview must have happened before she gave Rolling Stone the cold shoulder because she sounds less depressed and more full of righteous fury. I’ve already chuckled at her “F—ed My Way to the Top” song in a previous post. Lana has already said that the song is ironic and makes fun of what people think about her. The topic still weighs heavily on her mind. She talks more about it (and so much more) to Complex:

The relationship between violence & love: “I like a physical love. I like a hands-on love. [Pauses.] How can I say this without getting into too much trouble? I like a tangible, passionate love. For me, if it isn’t physical, I’m not interested. Everything I do feels so organized: touring, playing a show night after night with a couple months in between to make a record, and being in charge of all of it—mixing, mastering. Sometimes I meet people with a lot of fire and energy. Mentally, maybe we’re not that similar. Telepathically, we’re not on that same wavelength. If there’s a physicality and a chemistry, that ends up winning for me every time because it’s the opposite of what I have every day.”

Her guilty pleasures: “Smoking is one of them. Sugar, coffee. I must have 13 cups a day. It’s a shame about the health consequences because a lot of great things happen over coffee and a cigarette. A lot of great songs were written.”

Why does she smoke onstage? “Dude, I have to. I can’t get through it. I’m a chain-smoker. It’s crazy. That’s why I try to play mostly outdoor festivals. Because 45 minutes into the set, when you’ve still got 45 more minutes to go, you need to smoke.”

On “F—ed My Way Up to the Top” “It’s commentary, like, ‘I know what you think of me,’ and I’m alluding to that. You know, I have slept with a lot of guys in the industry, but none of them helped me get my record deals. Which is annoying.”

Her state of mind: “I am a little f—ed up. This whole experience has f—ed me up. It’s been hard. I was in a good place when I wrote my first record because I wrote it for fun, but then, I felt like everything that went with the record was heavy. I was also trying to deal with stuff with my family. The world was heavy for a couple years. That’s why I liked Dan [Auerbach]: He was casual. It didn’t have to be so serious.”

On all the scrutiny: “The good thing about catching so much grief from critics is that you literally do not f—ing care. It put me in a mind frame where I expect things not to go right, because they generally don’t. But it’s not a pessimistic place. The music is always good, in my opinion. That’s what I expect now from my career, that the music is going to be great and the reaction’s going to be f—ed up.”

Her “calculated” appearance: “It’s funny, because my process was natural. I remember making ‘Video Games,’ and I did my makeup as I did it every day. I put my hair up like I did. I was wearing a dress and filming myself. I didn’t think that the juxtaposition with this found footage that I had taken from people’s honeymoons on Super 8 would get the reaction it did. The reaction to everything six years prior to that, from the day when YouTube was actually born, was a non-reaction. People just didn’t care.”

But she has gold & platinum records! “Yeah, but I still didn’t find that community of people I was looking for, like the way Bob Dylan found his friends, or the respect of being a writer. Because that gold and platinum stuff, it doesn’t mean as much if you’re walking down the street and you can hear people saying things about you. That doesn’t even out.”

[From Complex]

Lana keeps contradicting herself in this interview. She tries to say that criticism doesn’t matter — “That’s what I expect now from my career, that the music is going to be great and the reaction’s going to be f—ed up.” Then she confesses to being upset about not walking down the street and being treated like Bob Dylan. She cares a lot.

Lana claims she didn’t score record contracts by sleeping with dudes, and I’ll take her word for it. She’s already dealt with rumors that her daddy bought her a contract, and that’s equally absurd. I’m not saying that record execs don’t sleep with artists, but they won’t invest their time and money in someone who won’t sell. That’s just business, you know? I’m so tired of hearing that all female artists have banged their way into success. Lana only has a record contract because she brings in money. She may give insufferable interviews, but she does have talent.

Photos courtesy of Complex magazine