In a recent interview with Complex, singer Lana Del Rey discussed song selections including “F**ked My Way Up to the Top” and a cover of Nina Simone’s “The Other Woman” for her recent album Ultraviolence and the perceptions that many have about how she became successful.
The 27-year-old admitted to having a number of relationships with famous folks in the music industry while lamenting that all of this sex was not beneficial to her career.
On covering “The Other Woman”:
I had a long-term relationship for seven years with someone who was the head of a label and I felt like I was that change of routine. I was always waiting to become the person who his kids came home to, and it never happened. Obviously I had to seek other relationships, and I felt like that became a pattern. I was younger—24, 25 at the time. I had known what I wanted to do for a long time. I had been serious about music since high school, and I stopped drinking when I was 18. By 24, I was a pretty serious person. I thought I was a writer, and I was a singer. I thought I knew what I wanted my path to be. The people I was drawn to were already established, but they were probably looking for someone more on their level, age-wise. But I love the idea of wrapping up the record with a reference.
On her original “F**ked My Way Up to the Top”:
It’s commentary, like, “I know what you think of me,” and I’m alluding to that. You know, I have slept with a lot of guys in the industry, but none of them helped me get my record deals. Which is annoying.
Del Rey was in a relationship with Kassidy ex-member Barrie-James O’Neill from August 2011 until June 2014. She was also linked to alternative rocker Steve Mertens, who produced her first album.
