Move over Lady Gaga and wannabes because there is a new girl in town, and she’s here to take the country by storm. Lana del Rey’s debut album Born to Die hit stores January 30th featuring her third single “Born to Die” which is set to score a place in the Billboard’s Top 10. She rose to fame with her first single “Video Games” that was released in October of 2011 winning over critics instantly with her sultry voice singing about a love she once had. So how did this blues influenced singer come out of nowhere with an instant rise to fame? We take a look at the evolution of Elizabeth Grant and how she became the newly famous pop artist known as Lana del Rey.
Lana del Rey was born as Elizabeth Grant in New York City 25 years ago. Raised in the Winter Olympics venue of Lake Placid, she was surrounded by a “really big family.” When she was 18, her uncle taught her six basic chords on the guitar. Grant already had a love for singing and when she realized she too had a talent for the guitar she packed up her things, moved to New York City and began to write songs. In 2008 Grant signed on to Interscope (record label) and released her debut album under her birth name. The album didn’t do as well as expected but she didn’t give up there.
After the first album, Elizabeth Grant had been vacationing in Florida trying to find her new influence and sound for her second album. She had a lot of friends in Florida of Cuban descent and loved the culture; she then came up with her stage name Lana del Rey. She thought the name sounded great and was easy to pronounce so she kept it; but with a new name comes a new image. With the new name and the new image there had been much talk of the woman with the cinematic voice creating buzz across the web-o-sphere and speculation of a mass produced del Rey was hitting every music blog. Reports were surfacing that her record label gave her the image of a retro vintage indie girl with urban undertones to appeal to the teenage and young adult age range to prevent another flopped record. Ms. del Rey was then being promoted by her major record label to independent magazines and music blogs creating the illusion of the starving artist rising to fame. Many people didn’t buy the facade and others did, but the plumped lipped beauty made everyone swoon with her first single called “Video Games” and the rest is history in the making.
In October of 2011 Lana del Rey released her first single “Video Games”, a ballad about a lost love which made air waves immediately in the UK giving her a spot to perform on the legendary show Later with Jools Holland without a released record yet. Then the hits started pouring, and del Rey released her second single “Blue Jeans”, which did very well. American crowds then started taking a liking to her with third single “Born to Die.” Lana del Rey on January 17, 2012 was booked to sing on Saturday Night Live where she would show America her true talent, but bombed completely. Rumors hit that the singer was nervous but others who knew of her in the beginning didn’t believe that, but it was her true fans that pulled her through the hard performance that earned her the title of the second worst performance in “SNL” history, following Ashlee Simpson’s infamous mess up. Although there is a lot of suspicion revolving around Lana del Rey and how her image and sound was created, she truly has an amazing voice and has fans who love her just for that. Lana del Rey is what the pop industry was waiting for.
