Lana Del Rey thinks the coronavirus pandemic has been causing ''existential panic'' in people because they can't distract themselves with ''buying shoes''.

The 35-year-old singer has said the global health crisis has forced people to look ''deeper'' inside themselves whilst spending time in lockdown and made them have a ''mild meltdown'' as a result, because they couldn't go shopping to distract themselves from their problems.

She said: ''I think there's been existential panic for a long time but people haven't been paying attention to it because they've been too busy buying shoes. And shoes are cute. I love shoes. But now that you can't go shopping, you have to look at your partner and be like, 'I've lived with you for 20 years, but do I even know you?'

''You realise maybe you've only ever allowed yourself to scratch the surface of yourself because if you went any deeper, you might have a mild meltdown for no reason, just out of the blue, and no amount of talking could explain why.''

And the 'Summertime Sadness' hitmaker thinks panic is part of people's ''genetic makeup'', but insisted she would ''get a lot of s***'' for talking about the subject.

She added: ''It's just a part of your genetic makeup. You could just be prone to panic. I think a lot of people are that way. I got a lot of s*** for not only talking about it but talking about lots of other things for a super-long time. I don't feel justified in it because I'm not the kind of artist who's ever going to get justified.''

Lana also said she believes the virus is a ''reflection'' of what's happening inside ''the individual home''.

During an interview with Jack Antonoff for Interview magazine, she added: ''I subscribe to the idea that what's going on in the macrocosm, whether it be in the presidency or a virus that keeps us isolated, is a reflection of what's going on in the individual home and inside bedrooms and what people intimately talk about.''