Lana Del Rey Reveals Her Vulnerabilities

Lana Del Rey has been taking quite a beating since her much-criticized 'SNL 'performance -- scrutinized over her singing ability, her authenticity and her sincerity (which we didn't hate on like everyone else -- we know the pressures and headaches of live TV performances). A thick skin is needed in this business, and "It" girl Del Rey is attempting to have one.

However, she's revealed some vulnerabilities, like that fact  that she's sincere and is sober because she has to be.

In her chat with The Telegraph, Del Rey showed a knowledge of her critics and acute self-awareness, saying, "I'm 100 percent sincere." She felt the need to say it, because people question it. She is also painfully apprised of the fact that there are detractors hoping for her quick demise and who want to see her stumble and fall. Del Rey said, "People just want to see me go off the rails. That’s the only reason they’re watching. They just want to see what happens." That's more than enough reason to prove' em wrong, right?

While many starlets say that they survive the harsh media by not reading their own press, Del Rey is not immune to it. She knows people think she's all hype and no substance, and the following statement makes that abundantly clear. "I don’t really have any gimmicks," she declared. "I don’t actually do anything that’s strange. I don’t even wear weird things." Perhaps that's a nod to top-of-the-pops Lady Gaga and her meat dresses or Rihanna and her skimpy attire? Could be.

Del Rey continued, "I have taken my music to labels for years, and everyone just thought it was creepy. They thought the images with the music were weird and verging on psychotic." Despite the rejection, she soldiered on and things started happening, so it's not really fair for people to assume she is a label-created, manufactured pop star. She finished, saying, "And then, one day, its like people decided it wasn’t actually too strange, it was actually too perfect. The fact that it could even be considered pop is a revelation to me."

Her assertion of her music as creepy puts her 'SNL' perf in perspective, now doesn't it?

As for her battle with the bottle? It's not as dramatic as it sounds. In fact, it's pretty common issue among teens. She had an existential crisis –again, nothing that most adolescents don't face.

She said, "When I was very young I was sort of floored by the fact that my mother and my father and everyone I knew was going to die one day, and myself too. I had a sort of a philosophical crisis. I couldn’t believe that we were mortal. For some reason that knowledge sort of overshadowed my experience. I was unhappy for some time. I got into a lot of trouble. I used to drink a lot. That was a hard time in my life."

She has been sober for eight years and would only assert that her drinking problem was "bad enough that I had to stop."

There you have it. Lana Del Rey: sincere and sober. Are you a believer?