Background
Lana Del Rey shot to fame in 2011 when she released her single "Video Games", and the video she made for it got 20 million hits on YouTube. She was known as an Indie artist, as she did her own videos and had worked her way up from living in a trailer park. Her fans loved her for her determination, her own style, and her passionate lyrics and voice. However she has already tried to make it under her birth name Lizzy Grant.
This is a video of her that she did for her song "Put Me In a Movie" when she was Lizzy Grant, and you can see the differences between her then and her now.
She released an album called "Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant" in 2010 through an independent record label called 5 Points Records, and it was available on iTunes, but it was taken off because the label were unable to fund it.
She then signed with Interscope Records and Polydor and released her album "Born to Die".
This is a video of her that she did for her song "Put Me In a Movie" when she was Lizzy Grant, and you can see the differences between her then and her now.
And this is an interview she did when she was Lizzy Grant.
She then signed with Interscope Records and Polydor and released her album "Born to Die".
Music Videos
Lana Del Rey's video's started off being directed and edited by her, eg. the video for Video Games. There are lots of handheld camera shots, and all of it was filmed on old cameras, which makes it very seem very typically Indie as Indie artists tend to do things themselves and purposefully make it not perfect. There are shots of her which she filmed on her webcam inbetween shots of other people doing things like skateboarding, swimming and driving, and there are also clips from old movies, cartoons, and a video of Paz de la Huerta falling down while intoxicated. All these interesting clips make for a very different kind of music video from the usual expensive, 'perfect' music videos we normally see in the charts, which gives her that Indie feel. There is a reoccurring image of the American flag which is an iconic image that appears in most of her videos, as she is very proud of being American. This is the music video that made her famous, and when asked if she would do anything to change it, Del Rey said "Had I known so many people were going to watch the video, I'd have put some more effort into it. I would have got my hair and make-up done and tried not to be so pouty, seeing as everyone talks about my face all the time. And I'd have put more of a storyline into it."
Later on in her career she began to make more mainstream videos, and her video for Ride was more like a short film than a music video, with Lana Del Rey talking over the top at the beginning and end about her life before she became famous. The music video was 10 minutes and 10 seconds long, and the actual song doesn't start until 3 and a half minutes into the video. This video was so different to her Video Games video, with costumes, a storyline, shots of her name being put up outside a building, and it is filmed on an expensive camera this time, making it look more professional and thought out. The video still uses the quick cuts that all her videos have, and again the American flag appears.Inspirations
Lana Del Rey says her main influences are Elvis Presley, Antony and the Johnsons, Frank Sinatra, and Eminem, and this can be heard within her different songs, and her favourite artists include Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Jeff Buckley and Leonard Cohen.
Her producer, David Kahne, said "The country is fraying at the edges; she wanted to look at that edge, at destruction and loss, and talk about it."
Her producer, David Kahne, said "The country is fraying at the edges; she wanted to look at that edge, at destruction and loss, and talk about it."
Media Hype
It's kind of like she's playing the character of Lana Del Rey, because when you compare videos of her as Lizzie Grant and her as Lana Del Rey, they are COMPLETELY different people, and this is why people have a problem with her. They think that she has been made into this other person by the record label, and that she isn't being herself anymore, which is what Indie artists are supposed to be about.
She was doing really well at first, with fans admiring her individuality and her sense of style, but things turned sour when she did a live performance on Saturday Night Live. She was out of tune, out of time, she seemed distant and bored, and just generally struggled to keep the performance going. People all around the world began hating on her, with very hurtful things being posted on the internet.
But even after all this negative stuff, she is still being talked about by a lot of people, and if you use the saying 'Any kind of publicity is good publicity" then she is doing very well. Nearly everyone has an opinion on her, and although the majority of people have negative opinions at the moment, they are still keeping her fresh in everyone's mind, and this negative publicity is making people who have never heard of her interested to find out what all the fuss is about.
She was doing really well at first, with fans admiring her individuality and her sense of style, but things turned sour when she did a live performance on Saturday Night Live. She was out of tune, out of time, she seemed distant and bored, and just generally struggled to keep the performance going. People all around the world began hating on her, with very hurtful things being posted on the internet.
But even after all this negative stuff, she is still being talked about by a lot of people, and if you use the saying 'Any kind of publicity is good publicity" then she is doing very well. Nearly everyone has an opinion on her, and although the majority of people have negative opinions at the moment, they are still keeping her fresh in everyone's mind, and this negative publicity is making people who have never heard of her interested to find out what all the fuss is about.
Personal Opinion
I personally really like Lana Del Rey, and I admire how she got away from her father and his money to get her fame her own way. I think it's very easy for people with rich parents to just use that and not do anything with their lives, so I respect how she got through her struggles and used her talent to make good music and become famous. I think it's very hard for us to know the whole story as the media is full of lies and made up stories, but I don't think she deserves all those terrible reviews and comments that are online at the moment. Who are we to judge one girls life when we might not know the whole story?
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