"SNL" Host Daniel Radcliffe Defends Lana Del Rey's Widely Panned Performance

[JamesG]

Lana Del Rey's "SNL" Performance Defended by Daniel Radcliffe
1/17/2012
by Rebecca Ford


Daniel Radcliffe has come to the defense of Lana Del Rey for her widely panned "SNL" performance.

The Harry Potter star, who hosted the episode and introduced Del Rey, told the press that he didn’t think her performance "warranted anywhere near that reaction."

"It was unfortunate that people seemed to turn on her so quickly," he told press during the BAFTA nominations event.

"I also think people are making it about things other than the performance," Radcliffe added. "If you read what people are saying about her online, it's all about her past and her family and stuff that's nobody else's business."







Del Rey, who gained her fame through YouTube, is one of only a few artists to ever appear on "SNL" before the U.S. release of their debut album ('Born to Die' is due out Jan. 31 on Interscope).

During her performance, she was visibly nervous, and, after she performed 'Video Games' onstage, the singer was slammed on Twitter by many, including actress Juliette Lewis.

“Wow watching this ‘singer’ on SNL is like watching a 12 yearold [sic] in their bedroom when theyre pretending to sing and perform #signofourtimes,” wrote Lewis, who is also a singer and has opened for the Foo Fighters and Chris Cornell.

Lewis later deleted the post and changed her tune regarding her opinion of the singer.





NBC’s Brian Williams wrote a note to the editors of Gawker –which the website published -- also skewering Del Rey’s performance:

"Brooklyn hippster [sic] Lana Del Rey had one of the worst outings in SNL history last night — booked on the strength of her TWO SONG web EP, the least-experienced musical guest in the show's history, for starters."







The publicity, however bad, may have helped the sexy singer out.

After being widely panned for her performance, it was announced that Del Rey had landed a spot on the bill for the annual SXSW Music Festival, scheduled for March 13 through 18 in Austin, Texas.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...dcliffe-282671

[robyrob]

its not really my style of music, so I checked out a few lines of the song and fast forwarded through the rest of it

i don't see what the big deal is - they usually have horrible taste in musical guests, and half of them don't even really sing on the show anyways - when was the last time they even had a real rock band on the show? (other than Paul McCartney and Wings maybe?)

[UMFaninMD]

I've never heard of Lana Del Ray until now and from what I saw Saturday night, I think she needs to polish her game a little bit. I do agree that a lot of people are so used to autotuned voices with layers of computer effects that when they hear a real singer's voice, flaws and all---and they just stand there and sing instead of hopping around with 30 background dancers, it sounds horrible and looks boring to them.

Maybe the moral of the story is that the entertainment industry should back off a little on finding headlining talent through social media. Just because you're attractive and get some nice comments on YouTube, doesn't mean you're ready for the big time.

[MrCleveland]

It wasn't bad...there were worse performances on SNL!

Sinead O'Connor and Ashley Simpson are examples!

[Reverend Jim]

Originally Posted by MrCleveland

It wasn't bad...there were worse performances on SNL!

Sinead O'Connor and Ashley Simpson are examples!

[Sophia's Wrinkles]

Originally Posted by MrCleveland

It wasn't bad...there were worse performances on SNL!

Sinead O'Connor and Ashley Simpson are examples!

Agree with her message or not, Sinead O'Connor sang that song beautifully.