We Were Born to Die

In Response to Lady Gaga vs. Religion?

http://jesus-meetpopculture.blogspot.com/2012/01/lady-gaga-vs-religion.html

Much attention has been paid to Lady Gaga in her quest to find unique ways of incorporating religious elements into her music and music videos. In Veronica's blog post, she excellently articulated the different ways in which Lady Gaga has given her own personal, and often controversial, vision of Christ images in her music. As I watched Lady Gaga's past few music videos on youtube, I was instantly reminded of another artist.

If anyone is familiar with Lana Del Rey, she also has recently released a song which channels a more elegant, refined Gaga. Del Rey's lyrics as well as imagery within her music video speak multitudes of the way in which she has interpreted the lyrics. She manages to juxtapose the imagery of American culture with Christianity, and ultimately equating it with death.

In her video, Lana sports a crown of flowers, as she sits upon her throne on the altar (as a priest would), in what looks to be some sort of sacred Cathedral. The music video itself is flooded with symbolic imagery; very similar to what Gaga does in her own videos. It seems as though the usage of Christian symbols in this and other videos has gained popularity and become the norm.