Last week Lana Del Rey announced American tour dates, with ‘the famed Nikki Lane’ joining her as support. On the surface this seems like a fantastic choice – who better to have on tour with you than such a close friend and recent musical collaborator? What some people might not realise is that Nikki has faced some hate from Lana’s fans on social media, even before this announcement.
Lana and Nikki’s friendship and musical connection was born many years back through them both working with producer Dan Auerbach. They have since sung together live many times and recorded the stunning ‘Breaking Up Slowly’ for Lana’s album Chemtrails over the Country Club. Lana has said that Nikki is ‘one of my very, very, very best friends and one of the most talented singers, arguably in the world.’
So why are some Lana fans so unhappy? What exactly has Nikki Lane done to deserve this level of toxicity?
I became a serious fan of Nikki Lane as soon as I saw that picture of her standing on top of a bull, looking like the coolest queen bitch I ever saw in my life. Her music too is full of blistering confidence, serious rock and roll sass, a wild country heart and independent spirit that encapsulates the soul of what I want from my favourite music artists – so much so that I named this blog after her anthem Highway Queen. She inspires me every damn day. You can understand why Lana would want her as a friend, collaborator and ally in this messed up music business.
I came to Lana late because I used to have an aversion to commercial pop music and her tragic boyfriend themes didn’t appeal much to me at the time. Only when she ventured into a less commercial style on Norman Fucking Rockwell! and Chemtrails did I invest time in her music and became a fan. Nikki’s collaboration ‘Breaking Up Slowly’ helped cement my interest, of course.
Most Lana fans have the exact opposite trajectory. They saw Lana Del Rey and thought she was the coolest bitch of all time. They loved every second of her glamodrama apocalyptic heartbreak music. Many fans have dedicated themselves entirely to posting about her on social media, using her pictures as avatars, a ghostly reflection of who they wish they could be. To most of them it seems Nikki Lane was someone lesser, an unknown from the Americana scene that Lana brought into the spotlight.
It wasn’t just the fact they didn’t know who Nikki was that caused a lot of the hate. It’s clear to me there’s three other important reasons why some fans seem to dislike Nikki Lane.
1. They Hate Lana Being Connected to Country Music
Although Lana’s always had an individual, alternative style, her first few albums were definitely commercial with songs that aimed for the pop charts. Most of her fans who use social media seem to love this era of her music and want her to be as successful as she was with her first album. They want her to maintain that glamorous alternative pop sound. They want support acts which sound the same as this style.
What they don’t want is any kind of influence coming from the more gritty alternative Americana or country scene. Lana’s best songs spin elaborate glamorous Hollywood fantasies. They don’t want to hear about her singing about drinking down south in a honky tonk with Nikki Lane. Nikki’s Highway Queen and Denim and Diamonds musical stylings might sound too vintage or rustic to listeners used to ultra-processed pop music.
Any influence on Lana’s music is therefore feared and in fact her album Chemtrails, where Nikki appears, is one of her least successful records commercially (even though it’s clearly a masterpiece). Guitars then become a sign of musical regression, of giving up the prospect of chart and cultural dominance. And country music has never been cool (even if Nikki Lane’s version of it is very cool) so you can see where this attitude is coming from.
2. They Hate the Country Music Fashion Aesthetic
Lana’s early aesthetic was exaggerated movie-star elegance with an edge of danger. Around Norman Fucking Rockwell! this heightened style began to fade. She got into an argument on Twitter with critic Ann Powers claiming she ‘never had a persona, Never needed one. Never will.’ Lana insisted her music was a reflection of who she was. Interesting afterwards she seemed to somewhat change her public image, casting off some of the doomed gangster girlfriend looks of her past with an album cover which had a picture of her with her friends, smiling.
During this time she was often seen out and about with Nikki Lane wearing jeans, cowboy boots, hanging out in dive bars. She did not look like the Lana del Rey of the pictures on the avatars of her fan accounts.
Nikki herself runs a vintage clothing store, looks like a supermodel in cowboy boots but yet Lana fans perhaps subconsciously equate their friendship with a change towards an image that didn’t match the version of Lana they wanted.
But these fans should realise that glamour and heightened looks are also a part of country music history, sown deep into the rhinestones. If Nikki Lane helps Lana bring in diverse influences to her aesthetic and music that can only be a good thing.
3. Parasocial Relationships are Irrational
There has always been a one-sided, parasocial element to music fandom. I know it’s way too easy to lose perspective and think that because you listen to their music that you have some kind of connection to that artist. With the internet you can now tell the artist exactly what you think about their lives and careers every second of the day (yes I’m doing it right now).
Therein lies, I think, another key reason why some Lana Del Rey fans spend time on social media criticising Nikki Lane. Unlike the fans living in this parasocial, internet world Nikki is a real and actual friend of their hero. Together they spend a lot of time together, doing normal things like shopping, drinking, hanging out. Fans dedicate themselves to an artist but they will never have this kind of normal connection so they hate the ones who do.
Of course maybe they just don’t like her music. Or maybe it’s just a joke that’s gone too far and I’m overthinking things because of my own parasocial relationships.
In the end I don’t really think this hate will transfer beyond the internet. Most support acts are greeted politely at best or with indifference at worst. Fans respect Lana too much to actually hate on Nikki’s show in person – as seen by the positive reaction they got at Newport. They will reserve their collective moaning for social media. It was the same when Jenny Lewis supported Harry Styles.
But wouldn’t it be nice if Nikki’s support slot actually won over some new fans? Being a consistent support act can’t be easy. Right now is one of the toughest climates to be an independent musician. Having to go on social media and see your name being criticised more than celebrated must be soul destroying. I know Nikki’s too cool to care but as a fan, I care. I want better for women in music.
Support acts are not just there to fill in time. The word ‘support’ literally means ‘to agree with and give encouragement to someone or something because you want him, her, or it to succeed’. We should all aim to offer that to every support act going because that’s what the artist themselves are also giving them by choosing them for the tour.
Lana supporting Nikki by bringing her on tour is a beautiful thing which should be celebrated. Let’s all aim to end the endless social media scrutiny and hatred once and for all.
Support women, supporting women in music.
Highway Queens 
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