Lana Del Rey is putting the kibosh to rumors that one of the tracks on her latest album, Honeymoon , is about controversial rapper and celebrity BFF Azealia Banks.
In an interview with NME , Lana was directly asked if the rumors were true and the song “Art Deco” was indeed written about the controversial 24-year old rapper. “Definitely not,” Del Rey responded. “I have no idea where people got that from. I just don’t know what the correlation is. That song is actually about a group of teenagers who go out every night.”
The correlation, it seems, is that the pair of pop stars have formed an unlikely friendship. According to Paper Mag , the pair have struck up a friendship based on mutual respect for each other’s music dating back to November 2011.
“Since each burst onto the scene in late 2011, Banks and Del Rey have supported one another like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid scoping out the fringes of pop culture.”
Which, in turn, is how the pair have become inextricably linked to each other every since. In 2014, Azealia posted a series of Tweets in which the outspoken artist believed Lana Del Rey deserved the Grammy win for her album Ultraviolence , as reported by Gigwise .
Ultraviolence should of won best rock album.
— azealiabanks (@AZEALIABANKS) February 9, 2015
Imma let u finish Beck…. BUT, Ultraviolence was the best rock album of the year
— azealiabanks (@AZEALIABANKS) February 9, 2015
She’s also posted many favorable Instagram photos of herself and Lana over the years. At one point, when Del Rey graced the cover of Maxim, Azealia went out of her way to show her props, captioning the photo, “Look at my b**chhhhh,” as a sign of friendship and not in a derogatory manner.
Meanwhile, when Lana Del Rey was asked by Galorein a 2014 interview who she “f***s with” in the music industry, her response was also a shout out to Azealia Banks and their friendship.
“I f*** with Azealia Banks because I have the same artistic inclinations as her and the same taste in men,” Del Rey said.
Which makes the jump that Lana might write a song about Azealia all the more plausible considering they do indeed share a friendship together. One Reddit post summed it up best when discussing the possible connection between Lana Del Rey’s “Art Deco” and her thoughts on Azealia Banks.
“All of the lyrics…would make sense if they were about her,” the user commented. “Everything apart from the title, as Azalea is anything but art deco. I know they’ve hung out and showed mutual admiration for one another.”
Azealia herself commented on the possible connection via Twitter earlier this Fall. What makes her reply so striking is how restrained she was about any possible rift between her and Lana.
@MR_CAMARADERIE @littlebambambi that’s why I’m just trying to ignore it and stay out of it.
— azealiabanks (@AZEALIABANKS) September 19, 2015
Photo by Cassandra Hannagan/Getty Images
Considering this is the same rapper who waged social media war on another pop star, Iggy Azalea, with numerous tweets and interviews slamming the Aussie star, Banks’ response to Del Rey’s “Art Deco” only proves to show how strong their connection to each other really is.
Lana Del Rey, meanwhile, also addressed the potential Bondrumors in the same article, claiming she would have done the theme song for the new Spectremovie had she been asked in the first place.
“I would’ve done it if I was asked but I wasn’t asked. I love all the Bond music that’s been put out over the years and I love soundtracks in general. There are a couple of songs on this record that have a Bond feel, like ’24’ and ‘Swan Song’.”
[Photo credit Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images]