Several years ago, Ashlee Simpson had her infamous “Saturday Night Live” lip-syncing incident, which led to a brief but explosive online chastising. Simpson’s gaffe is now long gone from the public’s radar, but Lana Del Rey recently became the next vocalist to place herself in an entirely different kind of Internet limelight than she’s used to – and it’s not a positive change.

At this point, many have no doubt heard about Del Rey’s, well, let’s just say less-than-lustrous recent performance on the late-night sketch comedy show. In short, she became Web fodder quickly and wasn’t shown much mercy for her set, the most vilified being her rendition of the hit song “Video Games.” From tweets to blog posts, Del Rey has been lambasted across the board.

I’m not going to sit here and write that her performance on “SNL” was in any way enthusiastic or engrossing. It wasn’t. Singing and swaying around with an expression that says “I really have to sing this song again?” does not make an impressive showing, especially on a show like “SNL,” which prizes high-energy performances.

But let’s all take a step back here. And when we do, I think we’ll see that the reaction to Del Rey’s performance is going a little bit over the top for a couple of reasons.

First and foremost, expecting Del Rey to give a high-energy performance of the likes of Rihanna or Britney Spears is like expecting “Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace” to have turned into “Bridesmaids” over the course of its transition to 3-D. It’s just not going to happen.

Del Rey’s vocal style is essentially the lilting, low-energy one that was on display on “SNL.” She’s not going to all of a sudden amp up her style into something that isn’t what made her popular. This implies two things. One, that much of the show’s audience may not have been familiar with “Video Games” (not a carousing song in itself). Two, that Del Rey, with her overly low-energy stylings, may not have been the wisest choice as a musical guest on a late-night comedy show.

Another aspect of this entire situation that I think we need to address is one with which few, if any of us, have ever been exposed to. I’d be willing to bet that performing on “SNL,” a show with a storied history and a huge weekly viewing audience, is a tad nerve-wracking. I don’t think I could do it without a hyperventilation session or two backstage before stepping in front of the camera.

This alone may have led to Del Rey giving an even more reserved performance than usual. And while Del Rey may have been able to handle the pressure better than she did, nerves deserve a look as a partial culprit.

Now, what’s going to happen to Del Rey, who is set to release her album titled “Born to Die”? Nothing bad, if you ask me. Though the album has initially been receiving mixed reviews, I’ll guarantee you that many more people know Del Rey’s name now than did before the “SNL” performance.

By extension, I think this will translate into increased album downloads. Whether that’s from more fans or from people satisfying an almost morbid curiosity to see if the album mirrors the “SNL” episode, I’m not sure.

The bottom line is that, while perhaps embarrassing and a minor hit to Del Rey’s reputation, the Internet inferno surrounding her performance will die out almost as quickly as it was lit. Who knows, maybe all it will take is some poor future musical guest to forget a lyric or trip on his or her shoe to become the next in a sure-to-be-infinite series of musicians who, at some point or another, make a mistake on live television.

Have you ever forgotten lyrics on live television? If so, email Bain at abain@media.ucla.edu. “B-sides” runs every Monday.