Fabergé and Lana Del Rey. Photo: Courtesy of Fabergé; Getty Images
As soon as TikTok became “a thing” sometime towards the middle of 2019, many of us have been desperately, pathetically trying to theorise it in real time, forcing meaning onto an app that constantly eludes sense with its refreshing irrationality. Still, I've been thinking lately about why I find TikTok so inherently funny as a form. Then, as I spent hours watching (and studying) “Lana Del Rey Jukebox Musical Set In The North”, my answer came into clear focus.There's a hilarious absurdity in the amount of labour people will spend, alone in their room, trying to create a reality for the purpose of this app. With 18 million views and counting, constant demand for the next installment and commenters suggesting real-life venues for the production’s premiere, Fabergé – the drag queen nom de guerre for musical theatre graduate Joel Edwards – and their Lana Del Rey musical just so happens to perfectly illuminate the zaniness of TikToking as a practice. There may not exist any music on Earth so unsuited to the musical theatre form than the anti-resilient narcoticism of Lana Del Rey’s discography, but the beauty lies in Fabergé’s solitary overcommitment to the bit. On TikTok, you start with the premise of doing something to simply make yourself laugh and then – in Fabergé’s case – you stay awake at night, listening to Lana Del Rey songs, wondering how they’ll fit into the mythology you’ve quarter-heartedly created. VICE spoke to Fabergé about one of TikTok’s finest creations.VICE: I’m so glad that 1) someone had the passing thought of a Lana Del Rey jukebox musical set in the north of England and 2) that someone had the initiative to actually put that thought into action.
Fabergé: That’s the thing. I was literally on the toilet and I was singing Lana Del Rey to myself and I said, “Do you know what? This sounds really funny in a northern accent.” Then within 10 minutes it was on TikTok and that was that. I went to the theatre that night and didn’t check my phone, then got home and checked it and it had about 800 or so likes. Then people kept asking for more.What song were you singing on the toilet?
I was singing “Summertime Sadness”. It’s such a bizarre turn of events because I am a very casual Lana Del Rey listener but I just found myself singing her one day. Then people kept asking me to do certain songs, which I then had to Google. Here’s an idea: “West Coast” but the west coast is Lancashire.
One west coast to another, isn’t it?Are these Lana videos based on your own experiences of having to sit in on others workshopping their musicals?
We joke but I honestly think that in a few years, if I hadn’t have done this, someone else would have. Not that we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel, but musical theatre is in a really interesting place in the UK at the minute, just because the whole industry took such a hit during COVID. You can really tell that a lot of producers are scared to take any risks, so they’ll just go for anything that seems familiar.I love jukebox musicals – I really do, I think they get such a bad rep because people think they can’t enjoy something that isn’t highly intellectual. So, I wanted to poke fun of it – to poke fun at musicals, at jukebox musicals – but I also wanted to show that I love this.I get that from watching the videos. I love that on the one hand it’s absolutely absurd to be converting Lana’s music – music that is narcotic, slightly monotone, fundamentally anti-musical in some ways – into a jukebox musical, but on the other hand, there’s this beautiful pathos to your videos as well. Some of these performances are really, really good, especially the “Norman Rockwell” one.
I watched that video back and thought, ‘This is a bit much, I think’. I watched it and thought there’s not much that’s funny about this, but then the comments have been saying “you understand camp better than anyone I’ve come across”. It was a funny comment initially but then I realised what a lovely compliment it was.Do you have flatmates? Like, is someone in the other room hearing all this going on?
I do. He’s very busy and he can also sleep through a marching band so I’m not particularly worried. I feel more sorry for my neighbours than anyone else. Do you feel you actually have to build out the lore of this musical now that there’s demand?
I do feel like that. At night, I’m literally like, “So Julie… met this guy…and then the end of the musical will be when she’s older…” On the one hand, I’m like, none of this matters. but then I do find myself thinking about all these songs and wondering where they’d slot into this hypothetical musical. Maybe one day I’ll actually flesh this out. Maybe that’ll be my project for this year, I might write the book for it.What’s the process of making one of these videos now? I imagine it starts with a YouTube backing track?
Yep, first one I find I’m like, ‘that’ll do’. I listen to Lana Del Rey now in my spare time, she’s become my number one artist on Spotify. Then when I find a song that’d sound good when someone dies, I sing it — though not too many times.How do you feel about this ridiculous idea that you came up with on the toilet potentially being the thing that’ll break you?
Listen, I wouldn’t say no. I’m working in a bar at the minute. You have to throw everything at the wall and TikTok seems to be sticking for a lot of people.Do you genuinely get into the emotions of the song while you’re performing it?
The minute I’m singing I am completely committed, I don’t feel anything but Julie. Julie’s my mum’s name, by the way. I love her to bits. What’s the next Lana song on the list?
My next one was gonna be – this is a sneak preview – “Mariner’s Apartment Complex”. Do you know the old lady? I envisioned that as Julie in a few years speaking to the baby, I thought that’d be a nice opener of act 1 and closer of act 2 of her reminiscing—and I dunno! I found myself quite attached to this made up woman, so the thought of her not doing well does upset me a little bit. I think she needs to be alright in the end.
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Fabergé: That’s the thing. I was literally on the toilet and I was singing Lana Del Rey to myself and I said, “Do you know what? This sounds really funny in a northern accent.” Then within 10 minutes it was on TikTok and that was that. I went to the theatre that night and didn’t check my phone, then got home and checked it and it had about 800 or so likes. Then people kept asking for more.
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I was singing “Summertime Sadness”. It’s such a bizarre turn of events because I am a very casual Lana Del Rey listener but I just found myself singing her one day. Then people kept asking me to do certain songs, which I then had to Google. Here’s an idea: “West Coast” but the west coast is Lancashire.
One west coast to another, isn’t it?Are these Lana videos based on your own experiences of having to sit in on others workshopping their musicals?
We joke but I honestly think that in a few years, if I hadn’t have done this, someone else would have. Not that we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel, but musical theatre is in a really interesting place in the UK at the minute, just because the whole industry took such a hit during COVID. You can really tell that a lot of producers are scared to take any risks, so they’ll just go for anything that seems familiar.I love jukebox musicals – I really do, I think they get such a bad rep because people think they can’t enjoy something that isn’t highly intellectual. So, I wanted to poke fun of it – to poke fun at musicals, at jukebox musicals – but I also wanted to show that I love this.I get that from watching the videos. I love that on the one hand it’s absolutely absurd to be converting Lana’s music – music that is narcotic, slightly monotone, fundamentally anti-musical in some ways – into a jukebox musical, but on the other hand, there’s this beautiful pathos to your videos as well. Some of these performances are really, really good, especially the “Norman Rockwell” one.
I watched that video back and thought, ‘This is a bit much, I think’. I watched it and thought there’s not much that’s funny about this, but then the comments have been saying “you understand camp better than anyone I’ve come across”. It was a funny comment initially but then I realised what a lovely compliment it was.
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I do. He’s very busy and he can also sleep through a marching band so I’m not particularly worried. I feel more sorry for my neighbours than anyone else. Do you feel you actually have to build out the lore of this musical now that there’s demand?
I do feel like that. At night, I’m literally like, “So Julie… met this guy…and then the end of the musical will be when she’s older…” On the one hand, I’m like, none of this matters. but then I do find myself thinking about all these songs and wondering where they’d slot into this hypothetical musical. Maybe one day I’ll actually flesh this out. Maybe that’ll be my project for this year, I might write the book for it.What’s the process of making one of these videos now? I imagine it starts with a YouTube backing track?
Yep, first one I find I’m like, ‘that’ll do’. I listen to Lana Del Rey now in my spare time, she’s become my number one artist on Spotify. Then when I find a song that’d sound good when someone dies, I sing it — though not too many times.How do you feel about this ridiculous idea that you came up with on the toilet potentially being the thing that’ll break you?
Listen, I wouldn’t say no. I’m working in a bar at the minute. You have to throw everything at the wall and TikTok seems to be sticking for a lot of people.Do you genuinely get into the emotions of the song while you’re performing it?
The minute I’m singing I am completely committed, I don’t feel anything but Julie. Julie’s my mum’s name, by the way. I love her to bits. What’s the next Lana song on the list?
My next one was gonna be – this is a sneak preview – “Mariner’s Apartment Complex”. Do you know the old lady? I envisioned that as Julie in a few years speaking to the baby, I thought that’d be a nice opener of act 1 and closer of act 2 of her reminiscing—and I dunno! I found myself quite attached to this made up woman, so the thought of her not doing well does upset me a little bit. I think she needs to be alright in the end.