MTV correspondent Gaby Wilson waited until the very end of her interview with Lana Del Rey to drop the loaded question: "Before I let you go, there's been a lot of conversation this past week about an old song of yours, "Cola", potentially having been about Harvey Weinstein". The question is dropped casually, either from a neutral standpoint or from a genuine desire to deflate the controversy. "Is there any truth to that"?
Lana Del Rey replies that she supposes there is: "When I wrote that song, I suppose I had a Harvey Weinstein/Harry Winston-type of character in mind." The 2012 song was featured in her third EP Paradise, as well as the reissue of her debut studio album. At the time, it drew widespread controversy for the provocative opening line: 'My pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola'. When asked about the line, she jokingly attributed it to a quote from her then-Scottish-boyfriend, ex-Kassidy frontman Barrie-James O’Neill. Her inspiration for the recently controversial lines 'Harvey’s in the sky with diamonds and he’s making me crazy/ All he wants to do is party with his pretty baby' was chalked down to a vision of "a benevolent, diamond-bestowing-upon-starlets visual, like a Citizen Kane or something". It fit in squarely into her earlier preoccupations with Lolita figures and a doomed attraction to powerful older men.
There was some cheeky irony on display as well, but this will probably be lost in interpretation. The rising wave against powerful Hollywood figures who have used their clout for sexual coercion appears to be growing in momentum and fury. Lana is ready to leave the song in the past, while expressing her solidarity with the bold sexual assault survivors who have risked additional humiliation by bringing their stories of pain, guilt and survival to the public realm: "I thought it was funny at the time, and I obviously find it really sad now. I support the women who have come forward. I think they're really brave for doing that." When Wilson suggests that the time had come for the song to be retired, Lana agreed without hesitation: "Definitely. That would be the only right thing to do."
When coupled with her decision to remove the American flag from her imagery - and the recent reference to nuclear tensions with North Korea in her "White Mustang" video and her song "Coachella - Woodstock In My Mind" - Lana stays true to her newfound commitment towards greater political awareness. The chapter of her career when patriotism and patriarchal figures served as aphrodisiacs in her lyrics and imagery is closed. Her longtime producer Rick Nowels once compared her her poetic prowess to Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, but she has only recently signalled a similar interest in addressing contemporary socio-political issues in her ouevre.
She also stays a few steps away from full disclosure, however. Lana sang and wrote the titular song for Weinstein's 2014 film Big Eyes, after having a heavily-photographed lunch with him in Paris that year. He even joined her backstage during her 2013 tour. If there is anything more to their working relationship, she opts to hold her silence. When describing Jhené Aiko, who will feature as one of the opening acts for her upcoming 'LA To the Moon' tour, she said, "I feel like she's had a really big story, a long story that she's shared a lot of and I haven't shared a lot of my story 'cause I never really felt like I wanted to". In time, she may decide to share more of her story and the role Weinstein might have played in it.
