As a relatively recent phenomenon, an album trailer can generate just as much interest and excitement for a musician’s record as a movie trailer can for, well, a movie. And yet, it seems that despite being an opportunity to set oneself and their music apart, those who participate in this chance for “artistic promotion” have a tendency to emulate the stylings and aesthetics of Lana Del Rey, who herself once made arguably the most unique and memorable album trailer/teaser of all time ahead of the release of Lust for Life in 2017.
That said, maybe there’s a reason that singers like Miley Cyrus (who heavily imitated Del Rey’s vibe for the Endless Summer Vacation trailer) and, now, Slayyyter have gravitated toward emulating her for their record teasers. They, too, want to exude a certain “uniqueness,” even as they appear to borrow from someone else.
As for Slayyyter, she’s been teasing WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA in many different ways for months now, complete with a slew of music videos that have also been heavily Del Rey “coded” (though some have been more Kesha and Harmony Korine coded—e.g., “Dance…” and “Old Technology,” respectively). Fireworks in the sky, tiaras, thrift store-looking fur coats, trashy milieus made to seem “glamorous”—that sort of thing. But here it’s worth mentioning that it’s ultimately Del Rey who has long been “cosplaying” the white trash queen (regardless of her protestations to the contrary). This despite being from Lake Placid and attending a private university like Fordham. Slayyyter, on the other hand, is from the Heartland, as it’s called. Though there are some who try to argue that Missouri is a part of the South rather than the Midwest. Maybe, in its way, it’s both things—which, for the purposes of WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, only further works to its thematic advantage.
However one chooses to geographically classify Missouri, there’s no denying that this environment is what has shaped the aesthetic that Slayyyter has been promoting for her third album. And while she might be from an idyllic suburb (well, idyllic by Missouri’s standards) called Kirkwood (not to be confused with Britney Spears’ native Kentwood), Slayyyter’s exposure to “the real America” throughout the course of her childhood and adolescence seems more trustworthy and legitimate than Del Rey’s (back when she was Lizzy Grant).
Maybe this is why the visuals she has carefully chosen for her album trailer add up to something truly standout. Even as it reminds one of Del Rey’s “Ride” video (and 2012 era in general). Along with kicking the promo off with an image of herself in a veil, of sorts, against the backdrop of fireworks bursting in the sky behind her. In other words, this brief scene manages to channel “Ultraviolence” and “National Anthem” in one fell swoop (and it’s also a scene that appears in the video for “Beat Up Chanels”).
Clutching her “old technology” (a “vintage” iPod from the 2000s) to her chest, the trailer then cuts to another familiar moment from “Beat Up Chanels” as she “exercises” in the front yard while wearing bunny ears and a skimpy ensemble (complete with gun heels). In another flash, Slayyyter is holding up a sheer embroidered shawl, so to speak, while wearing a Western-inspired, tan fringe jacket. This being a moment that also heavily mimics the way Del Rey holds up an American flag in the video for “Ride.”
Elsewhere in the trailer, Slayyyter stands outside the Prada Marfa “boutique” (a.k.a. art installation that proves people will still flock to a fake entity if it means they can get a worthwhile photo and video for social media). Located, more accurately near Marfa, as it sits along U.S. Route 90 and is actually closer to another small town called Valentine. That the “boutique” has come to represent the ways in which the fake (especially when it comes to designer products) can be made “real” by those who want to “believe” badly enough only adds to the overarching commentary that Worst Girl in America seems keen to make.
Evidently wanting to get her visit’s worth to Texas (it is such a long journey from anywhere, after all), Slayyyter also filmed herself in front of the massive cutouts, to use a crude word that doesn’t do them justice, of James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor (who starred in Giant, Dean’s third and final movie, together) that are located along Highway 90 as well. Though not shown in the frame of Slayyyter’s trailer, driving a convertible off to the side of these two is their fellow co-star Rock Hudson via another large cutout, also designed by artist John Cerney. This trio/overall roadside attraction being just the sort of “slice of Americana” that Del Rey constantly parades and romanticizes in her own work.
Like her influence over Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation trailer, Del Rey pervades Slayyyter’s in other, even more nuanced ways. Take, for example, Slayyyter running her hands through her hair and making it stick up so that she can give the viewer enough time to appreciate her graphic tee, which reads, “I’m proud to be a farmer’s daughter” (it’s no Pepsi logo reading as “Peyote,” but still). The kind of daughter, incidentally, that Del Rey only wishes she could be as a means to transcend into the authentic Southern broad she’s aspired to be for years now.
Going back to the Prada Marfa “store” as the trailer comes to a close, Slayyyter now sits outside of it in ballet shoes (much to Timothée Chalamet’s dismay) before an almost violent and visceral series of cuts to scenes from her Worst Girl in America videos takes center stage. In short, Slayyyter wants to remind everyone that it is she who is the true White Trash Queen. Just one of many things that make her qualified to exist under the banner of being the “worst girl in America.” Even though most people with half a brain know that the true worst in America is actually a certain Orange Creature (granted, he’s not worthy of being called a girl).
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