levelheaded: Lizzy Grant’s America

 

You may have never heard of Lizzy Grant, but you’re probably familiar with her stage name, Lana Del Rey, a name that the singer claims she decided upon because “it sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue.” Lana Del Rey the persona in many ways embodies this justification for her namesake. She is a creation made to look and sound “gorgeous,” an adjective that, when paired with the phrase “the tip of the tongue,” is easily linked to to the hyper-sexualization of women in contemporary America.

 

At the start of this week’s poem, Laura Romeyn references Lana Del Rey’s second record, Born to Die, to present a fearless character “Slouched by the pool / in a high-wattage one piece, then swinging in the backyard on a big / plastic swing.” Here, and throughout the poem as a whole, Lizzy Grant awaits us like a glossy magazine spread. The “plastic swing” hints at the artificiality of the scene. The main character’s sole purpose is to please someone else. She’ll “fix / you a drink […] watch you play video games,” wear “your favorite sundress, your favorite perfume” and, then—ta-dah!—have sex with you.

 

While the Romeyn’s  line breaks often seem intended, the poem’s justified text suggests that the its form may dictate its content. This is significant because it mirrors the way that Lizzy Grant must meet the restraints of Lana Del Rey. The poem and its main character are stuck inside a box.

 

The scariest thing about “Lizzy Grant’s America” is that women in general may suffer the same plight. While the consequences of the poem’s images are undeniably disturbing, the images themselves are at least partly alluring. The poem is fun to read, the character pleasurable to envision. What does is say of us that we are so easily drawn into this world? That some part of us may even desire what Lizzy Grant offers—someone whose total mission it is to fulfill our fantasies, even at the cost of losing her self?

 

 

– The Editors