There’s a short clip doing the rounds of Lana Del Rey posing for a selfie with a fan. All is polite until he tries to direct the shot by moving the phone towards, presumably, a more flattering angle. Anyone who has experienced the shock of opening the camera app to see myriad chins rather than a beautiful vista will understand his motivation. But Del Rey is not having it. “You know what? Fuck it,” she says abruptly and walks off.

I feel for the fan, who looks shaken, but it made me like Lana Del Rey infinitely more. You hardly ever see bad behaviour from pop stars these days, thanks to a smartphone culture that monitors their every move – even Solange couldn’t smack Jay-Z in a hotel lift in privacy – so in that moment of frustration, she seemed less sad-chanteuse-bot, more worn-out human being.

For another classic of the genre, it’s worth revisiting Liam Payne’s dead-eyed smile as he drifts down a red carpet, posing for selfies that are so joyless it makes one wonder if happiness could ever exist again. Which sort of sounds like a Lana Del Rey song if you think about it.

• Rebecca Nicholson is an Observer columnist