Who Is Lana Del Rey?

BY OLIVIA PASCALE-WONG

Elizabeth Grant, who most people know as Lana Del Rey, was born in New York City and raised in Lake Placid, New York. This one-of-a kind artist has had an overnight success, as well as some heavy backlash.  Grant’s controversial persona has caused her a critic-fueling rise into fame.

Studying metaphysics in college, which was later dropped for a more passionate interest in music, Grant found her talent at a young age. She learned guitar from her uncle when she was a kid, and her musical abilities were limited to the few chords he taught her.

“I realized I could probably write a million songs with those six chords” Del Rey said on The AudioDB.

Coming up on the scene, Grant took inspiration from her fellow artists in and around the city of Manhattan. It wasn’t until 2008 that she started to release music under the name Lizzy Grant.  As years of writing and performing went by, Grant started to morph herself into the inevitably more marketable “Lana Del Rey.”  This sudden change of persona rose accusations of phoniness and a questionable identity for this fresh star. With everybody so intrigued by the new sensual and provocative nature of Lana Del Rey, one has to wonder, who is this girl?

“Lana Del Rey came from a series of managers and lawyers over the last five years who wanted a name that they thought better fitted the sound of the music. My music was always kind of cinematic, so they wanted a name that reflected the glamour of the sound.”  Grant said in a 2010 interview.

However, she insists that Lana and Lizzy are the same person. “I wish I could escape into some alter ego, just so I could feel more comfortable on stage, but I feel the same as Lana as I do Lizzy.” Grant said in an interview with The National.

Only two months after Del Rey’s highly anticipated first couple of tracks was released, they were deleted from the US iTunes store.  This mysterious act was questioned by fans and media at the time.  Grant insists the decision was not due to embarrassment, but because she was concerned with confusing her fan base.  Rumors of a calculated strategy spread quickly.

Years later, with a developed and improved appeal, Del Rey released her first official album Born To Die.  It raised controversy yet again with its suggestive collection of film-noir pop songs.  The track list hosts retro and diverse tunes, with rich melodies and clever, catchy lyrics. The album has captured the attention of both American and UK audience as well as fuelling her critics’ fire. The feel of Born To Die seems to be out of touch with the world today, some may even consider it a fictional fantasy.  With soothing progression and melody to match, a listener will find themselves humming and singing Del Rey’s most personal lyrics. The music has an eerily nostalgic vibe heavy on Americana themes, including images of surfing, Coney Island, Frank Sinatra, and Marilyn Monroe.

The biggest argument of Del Rey’s critics is, essentially, that she’s an “Instagram” pop star.  In other words, Instagram users enjoy the ability to improve their substandard photos by making them look artsy with special effects, in the same way Del Rey’s “talent” is improved through a hotshot producer, a hipster stylist, and a dab of cologne.

Lizzy Grant has created art through glamorizing and taking her personal experiences to appealing and provocative extremes, which makes for the evoking music of her alter ego, Lana Del Rey.  Is she a phony or a captivating artist? Well, that’s up to the listener to decide.