Lana Del Rey‘s version of pop stardom looks a little different than Taylor Swift‘s, but both musicians have followed the path most true to their artistry. Del Rey’s journey landed her a headlining slot at Coachella earlier this year, where she rode to the stage on the back of a motorcycle. Swift, on the other hand, is on the latest leg of her career-spanning stadium tour. The pair have appeared on music and the Grammy Awards stage together, but they’ve also shared more private conversations about their long-term goals.
“She’s told me so many times that she wants it more than anyone,” Del Rey recently told BBC News about Swift’s position as a world-dominating pop star. “And how amazing – she’s getting exactly what she wants. She’s driven, and I think it’s really paid off.”
The Eras tour continues later tonight in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Swift has sold out three consecutive nights. The run is scheduled to extend through December with more shows in Europe and North America. Last year, when she was named Time’s Person of the Year, Swift spoke to the magnitude of the tour, saying: “I wanted to play a show that was longer than they ever thought it would be, because that makes me feel good leaving the stadium.”
She added: “Every day, I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud,” she said. “Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs. Then I had three months of dance training, because I wanted to get it in my bones. I wanted to be so over-rehearsed that I could be silly with the fans, and not lose my train of thought.”
Swift recently transformed the entire show with the addition of a section dedicated to The Tortured Poets Department, her 31-track eleventh studio album and eighth full-length release in half as many years, if you could the four Taylor’s Version recordings of her earlier studio albums. Del Rey appeared on “Snow on the Beach” from Midnights.
Back in 2019, Swift praised Del Rey during a speech at Billboard’s Women In Music event. “I’ve watched as one of my favorite artists of this decade, Lana Del Rey, was ruthly criticized…in her early career and then slowly but surely she turned into, in my opinion, the most influential artist in pop,” she said. “Her vocal stylings, her lyrics, her aesthetics, they’ve been echoed and repurposed in every corner of music.”
She added: “She just kept making art. And that example should inspire all of us, that the only way forward is forward motion. That we shouldn’t let obstacles like criticism slow down the creative forces that drive us.”