During a recent conversation with The Guardian, pop singing sensation Lana del Rey experienced a media disaster by steering the interview in the wrong direction. According to Tim Jonze, Lana’s interviewer, she repeatedly expressed discontent with her life and said, “I wish I was dead already.” Reflecting the title of her debut album “Born to Die,” she mentioned several of her idols and pointed out they had all died young. Personalities like Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendrix were on her list
In our media trainings, we coach clients for follow-up questions, and advise them to choose answers which will take the interview in a direction they want to go. This training is something Lana del Rey could have used as she attempted to promote her newest album. When Ms. del Rey was asked about the title of her debut album “Born to Die,” she answered that she sees a certain “glamour” in dying young.
It was obvious that her dark-themed responses would lead her interviewer to ask further questions; probing the singer to divulge more information. It was then that Ms. del Rey mistakenly confessed that she finds the premature deaths of Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain to be glamorous and reiterated her desire to die, “I do, yeah, I do, I, you know, I don’t want to have to, like, keep doing this. You know, but I am.” She continued to disclose disturbing responses that left many of her fans shocked.
Ms. del Rey could have chosen to focus on facts that portrayed her success. For instance, she could have mentioned how her new album sold 880,000 copies in its first week worldwide. Instead, without an agenda of her own, Ms. Del Rey was at the mercy of the questioning. Had she been more proactive and chosen to develop or sharpen her interview skills in a Los Angeles media training setting, she would have been more successful. Instead, she now has to deal with the backlash that comes from negative media attention. A media interview is an opportunity to take the offense and accomplish what you will. Lana Del Rey wasted this opportunity.