{"id":400224,"date":"2026-01-31T07:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T07:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/400224\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T07:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T07:49:10","slug":"the-artist-lana-del-rey-called-the-toughest-woman-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/400224\/","title":{"rendered":"The artist Lana Del Rey called the “toughest woman” ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lana<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n

Fri 30 January 2026 22:00, UK <\/p>\n

When Lana Del Rey<\/a> wanted to collaborate with one of her idols, she was put through the wringer. Despite Del Rey being one of the biggest names in modern music, cementing her star status the second her debut dropped in 2012, she still wasn\u2019t getting an easy ride.<\/p>\n

The story goes like this: it was 2019, Lana Del Rey had just hit a whole new peak with Norman Fucking Rockwell!<\/a>. The record was one of the most critically acclaimed releases of the year, and instantly became a fan favourite from her discography, as suddenly the sound seemed to switch up in a way they welcomed with completely open arms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Del Rey seemed outright and confessional. \u201cGoddamn, man child, you fucked me so good that I almost said, \u2018I love you\u2019,\u201d she sings on the first line of the first track, opening up an album full of candid feelings and personal scenes clearly plucked from her life. For the first time, it seems like the suggestion of Lana Del Rey being a character was falling away, and what was left was the truth.<\/p>\n

Part of that might have been inspired by Del Rey\u2019s idols<\/a>. In her eyes, both Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell are \u201clike unicorns\u201d; an artist like them only comes by once in a blue moon. So when she tried her hand at getting Baez to duet with them, Del Rey was more than happy jumping through hoops for what she saw as a true honour.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2019, Lana, whom I\u2019d heard about from my granddaughter, Jasmine, invited me to sing with her in Berkeley<\/a>. I said, \u2018Why? Your audience could be my great-grandchildren\u2019,\u201d Baez remembered to The New York Times. Del Rey, instantly humbled to even be talking to one of her heroes, replied simply, \u201cThey don\u2019t deserve you\u201d.<\/p>\n

Baez wasn\u2019t just going to say yes. Getting Del Rey to prove how serious she was, she sent her out on a challenge as the modern singer recalled, \u201cShe told me she lived an hour south of San Francisco and that if I could not only find her but also sing the song\u2019s high harmonies on the spot, she\u2019d do it.\u201d All she knew was the house\u2019s colour and a vague direction. Del Rey drove around for hours until she found it, sang the song, and proved herself, at which point Baez finally said, \u201cOK, that\u2019s good. I\u2019ll sing with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other artists of Del Rey\u2019s stature might have been sent off on a goose chase like that and thought \u2018screw you\u2019. But to her, it simply proved what she always knew and admired about Baez, calling the folk star, \u201cthe toughest woman I have ever met\u201d.<\/p>\n

To Del Rey, Baez is the ideal of a true powerhouse and the pinnacle of artistic strength. \u201cI think the secret to real success is to make sure you\u2019re always emotionally intact. I learned that from Joan,\u201d she said as the two became friends after their duet. Del Rey would later write their friendship into her song \u2018Dance Till We Die\u2019, singing, \u201cI\u2019ve been coverin\u2019 Joni, and I\u2019m dancin\u2019 with Joan,\u201d as a homage to the nights they\u2019ve spent salsa dancing.<\/p>\n

Despite the closeness, though, Del Rey has never lost sight of the honour. \u201cI recently said to her, \u2018I just want you to know that I\u2019m keenly aware that, in this lifetime or any other, I have no right to be standing shoulder to shoulder with you.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

To which Baez candidly replied, \u201c\u2018Oh, shut up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still) Fri 30 January 2026 22:00, UK When Lana Del Rey wanted to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,24567,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-400224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-lana-del-rey","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}