Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant born June 21 1986, better known by her stage name Lana Del Rey, is an American singer/ songwriter. Del Rey started performing in clubs in New York City at the age of 18 and she signed her first recording contract when she was 20 years old with 5 Points Records, releasing her first digital album "Lana Del Rey aka Lizzy Grant" in January 2010. Del Rey bought herself out of the contract with 5 Points Records in April 2010. She signed a joint contract with Interscope, Polydor, and Stranger Records in October 2011.

(Wikipedia)

Her original story was that she lived in a trailer, writing her own songs and was discovered from there becoming a viral internet sensation. Along with her image, usually 50's and 60's styling, this makes her seem like an indie artist. This is also represented in several of her music videos where sepia effects and many conventions of indie music videos are used. Many of her photos make her seem young and sexually aware but also naive.


The image above shows her as sexualised appealing to the male audience whereas the photo below makes her seem more innocent.

 

She suffered an alcohol problem at the age of 14 forcing her parents to send her to boarding school, this is reflected in some of her lyrics. Her lyrics of many of her songs also suggest she has maybe been in a damaged or abusive realtionship.

A lot of her attention and publicity is online and through the media. For example on youtube she has thousands of views on many of her videos.



She also has many followers on twitter. 












Her website http://www.lanadelrey.com// shows her in a positive light and is carefully constructed to show her in the best possible way. It immediately plays her most recent song as soon as you enter the site forcing the audience to listen and therefore advertising the song. There are easy to follow links further showing her at her best for example this live performance http://www.lanadelrey.com/news/watch-video-games-live-on-later-with-jools-holland/ 
Her radio 1 live lounge gave her publicity as all the radio 1 listeners will have listened to her successful cover. http://www.lanadelrey.com/news/goodbye-kiss-radio-1-live-lounge/

 Born to die              

This music video is very much in contrast to the one for video games as it is very polished, clean cut and artistic. Lana Del Rey is shown as more sexualised right from the start as we immediately see her with a man wearing no clothes. This video seems more mainstream as it has a typical love story. She is also shown sat on a big chair wearing a crown symbolising her being a 'queen' this shows her as mainstream as it implies people should look up to her and she has more power than other people. She is consistently shown wearing white throughout the video as she is in many of her music videos showing a consistent theme. This video seems to have had a lot oe time spent on it and a higher budget again making her seem more mainstream. Her image seems to have changed in her music videos from indie to mainstream in the course of 2 or 3 singles.

National Anthem

Lana Del Rey then released this video which is 8 minutes long and created lots of controversy. She plays Maralyn Monroe and the video is recreating JFK's death which is a huge event in American history. JFK is played by A$AP Rocky who is a rapper very well known in America, this may publicise her more as his fans will now want to watch this video. The controversy created by the storyline will also have created many views. This video is a lot more cinematic than her earlier ones and is more of s story.

Ride                              

This is also a very cinematic video lasting over 10 minutes. It begins with a voice over by Lana Del Rey which makes it seem like more of a film than a music video. 

 After watching several of Lana Del Rey's videos it becomes clear that they are actually a very well thought out system and are more of a series. The same man who appears in born to die also appears in some of her other videos and the sam themes also follow through. This enables her fans to follow her visual journey aswell as her musical journey. 

Interview on Absolute radio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3VDrNcy_HI

 Review

(guardian.co.uk)

Curves-and-chrome Americana … Lana Del Rey. Photograph: Ross Giilmore

The elaborate stage set for Lana Del Rey's European tour is an art deco marvel framed by a pair of lion statues that look as if they were half‑inched from The Great Gatsby. Yet the 26-year-old glides out to a very different movie theme: Giorgio Moroder's grim synth madrigal from Scarface. Perhaps it shouldn't be that surprising. Both are classic American texts about glamour, excess and reinvention.

Since her breakthrough in 2011, Del Rey has been roughed up by critics obsessed with her authenticity, unwilling to be seduced by her sultry repackaging of curves-and-chrome Americana. If the artist formerly known as Lizzie Grant is indeed a ruthless gloom-pop replicant perfected in a record industry laboratory, the public seems unbothered. Del Rey's debut, Born to Die, has shifted over 3.5m units.

She begins with the sullen Cola, a track with an already notorious opening line that the audience sings along with her, although their reading is far less aloof. Perhaps most striking is how poised Del Rey remains, highlighted by continuous video close-ups. She sings huskily, adopts characters, throws in some Spanish – but every frame projected on to the giant screens could double as a cover shoot. It's a remarkably controlled performance. She even manages to keep a straight face while singing, on Body Electric: "Elvis is my daddy, Marilyn's my mother, Jesus is my bestest friend."
There are missteps. Any subversive David Lynchian subtext is made text during a soporific cover of Blue Velvet. But Young and Beautiful, her contribution to the Gatsby soundtrack, sounds magnificent. After an enthusiastic reaction to Video Games, National Anthem initially seems an underwhelming finale. But then Del Rey hops down from the stage to facilitate cameraphone portraits with dozens of fans. She gives great Gatsby but takes even better selfies.