Journo Responds To Lana Del Rey 'I Wish I Was Dead' Controversy

The journalist who wrote Lana Del Rey's now infamous “I wish I was dead” article has responded to the singer's claims that the interview was “calculated” and that there were “sinister ambitions” behind the piece.

The Guardian's Tim Jonze has penned a piece about the controversy, denying that he was “leading” Del Rey to her answer when he asked whether she thought the idea of dying young was attractive to her, in the same vain as some of her idols like Kurt Cobain and Janis Joplin. Audio of the part of the interview in question was also provided, with Del Rey stating the now infamous line.

“It's not pleasant asking a pop star if she thinks the idea of dying young herself is attractive – it's a dark question, but it's not a leading one. She has every opportunity to say no,” Jonze wrote.

“And she can hardly complain about the subject matter: she'd been talking about her icons all dying young, she named her debut album Born To Die and had spent much of the 50 minutes previous to this point telling me how miserable she was.”

Del Rey, whom Jonze referred to as “delightful company” during the interview, didn't go as far to accuse The Guardian as misquoting her, something that Jonze acknowledged in his piece.

“She's not alleging that I made up her quotes, nor is she claiming that they've been “twisted” or that we've printed them out of context,” he wrote.

“Instead she seems annoyed by the fact I wanted her to say interesting things and asked questions that caused her to do so. Well sorry, Lana, but that's just me doing my job.”

Read the full piece here.

Del Rey's latest album Ultraviolence debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart overnight.