Friday, May 9, 2014

Lana del Rey, The Music

Everything you need to know about Lana del Rey
 by Calmin Valentino

This sultry songstress emerged in the music scene in spectacular Hollywood fashion, capturing the hearts of many fans and setting critics alight with her persona and mesmerising vocals. This starlet has the music world by the horns and she's riding strong.

The now reinvented Lana del Rey, who was originally known as Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, was born June 21 1986, in New York City. She was raised in Lake Placid and would later return to her birth place at the tender age of 18. The singer describes her life as a comfortable one, as she was raised in a wealth family.

She went by many stage names in her struggling beginner years, on occasion being known as "May Jailer", "Lizzy Grant & The Phenomena", "Sparkle Jump Rope Queen", and eventually Lizzy Grant, while trying to make a name for herself by performing in clubs and bars. She finally released her first album "Sirens" which she solely wrote under her then stage name "May Jailer" but it would be doomed to slip through the cracks of the music world.

It was only after she took on her new persona "Lana del Rey" and signed with Interscope Records and Polydor that her star finally rose; it would be the song titled "Born to Die" that would lay out her past in ominous fashion, and the dark and strangely enchantingly video would map out what she had to leave behind to achieve her status as the star Lana del Rey.

Lana's album, Born to Die, enjoyed much success and got the thumbs up from both critics and fans alike. The video for her song "Video Games", stripped-down and as authentic as modern life compels it to be, was a collection of home video clips which she put together on her computer at the time. This song was an underground hit before moving on to mainstream radio.




Although Lana's star was shining brightly, news of her past personas would plant doubt into the minds of many fans and critics relating to her authenticity and looks, which resulted in a Lana del Rey-bashing media spree. This bashing resulted in questions being raised about plastic surgery and some well-known stars even admitting to not being impressed with her talk show performance on SNL. Lana denied the public allegations of plastic surgery, and stated that no part of her has been cosmetically altered in any way; she just has a "pouty" mouth when she sings, she claimed.

After the huge success of "Born to Die", del Rey released another album, "Born to Die, Paradise Edition". This album delivered another hit which would later be featured in the movie The Great Gatsby, "Young and Beautiful". This song once again solidified Lana's style of music which is drenched in sorrow and emotion, and held up by her truly beautiful nostalgic tone.
The singer has recently announced her new album, Ultraviolence, which will be released in May 2014, but if the waiting period is unbearable for you, del Rey has released her first track of the album entitled "West Coast". So keep a look out for her new material and get enthralled by this one-of-a-kind artist and her soothing voice.
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant managed to pull off an old and daring Hollywood trick of the trade. She reinvented herself and left Lizzy Grant behind to venture into Hollywood, now embodied by the sultry songtress Lana Del Rey, and according to her, she's here to stay.