Lana Del Rey Talks About Relationship Violence In Ivor Novello Award Speech Paul McCartney Ribs Bruce Springsteen

The atmosphere at the 2024 Ivor Novello Awards at Grosvenor House in London on Thursday night (May 23) turned from a mild banter between two of rock's most active old men to a serious moment from one of today's most influential songwriters about the importance of talking openly about domestic violence;

Lana Del Rey, 38, received a Special International Award celebrating her career and influence, during which she denounced the rise of relationship-based violence. “When I first started, I think a lot of things were written about how the songs were kind of navel-gazing and just about me and my experience with challenging relationships,” Del Rey said, according to Evening Standard.

“Now I think what we've seen is that these songs weren't written about a small world of people and women, we see a lot of things written about difficult relationships,” Del Rey continued. “And even when COVID started, the second epidemic in the United States (we saw of) interpersonal violence, it increased by 300 percent. So, you know, I think it's amazing that female singers, you know, have the freedom to write about whatever they want.”

The singer added: “It's always been creepy to think that writing about your relationships might be something that could be seen as gratuitous, pretending to be vulnerable. I heard it a lot. But I mean it's a very vulnerable thing, not just for women. But for men. I've learned so much over the last few years from my peers about getting through hard times in music.”

The mood was decidedly raised when Sir Paul McCartney, 81, took a swipe at a young Bruce Springsteen, 74, while presenting the Boss with the Fellowship of the Ivors Academy, the organisation's highest honour. While inaugurating the Academy's first international songwriter inducted into the Fellowship – following in the footsteps of Elton John, Kate Bush and Macca himself – the former Beatle had fun while presenting the award to the Jersey rock icon, according to NME.

“Like Bruce's concerts, I'll keep this short,” McCartney said in a joke about Bruce's legendarily long concerts, adding the quip that he couldn't think of a more fitting recipient for the honor, “other than Bob Dylan . or Paul Simon, or Billy Joel, or Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift. The list goes on.”

Sir Paul then got into one last showdown about Springsteen's stamina. “He's known as the American worker, but he admits he's never worked a day in his life,” said the equally indefatigable pop legend.