She is the musical revelation of the year. Her Video Games video has been viewed 15 million times on YouTube! With her stunning looks, smooth voice and captivating melodies, she cultivates an enigmatic and offbeat universe somewhere between James Elroy’s L.A. Confidential and the surreal films of David Lynch.
Admired or criticised, Lana Del Rey leaves no-one indifferent. We take a closer look at this enchanting character as we await a new album. Let the magic take over!
By Yvo Deprelle
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"Swinging in the backyard, Pull up in your fast car, Whistling my name, Open up a beer, And you take it over here, And play a video game..." You could hardly have missed this wonderful song.
It has been everywhere this year, on the radio, TV and Internet. The deep enchanting voice and the imaginative Super 8 format video and you were immediately transported. And then she did it again with
Blue Jeans , and then
National Anthem and finally the album
Born to Die .
A picture begins to emerge and within a matter of months a star is born! Singer, songwriter and composer all in one and just 26 years old. But who is Lana Del Rey?
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From Lizzy to Lana
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First of all,
Lana Del Rey is a pseudonym, like a vintage character from a 1950s film noir. Lana is a tribute to the Hollywood star
Lana Turner and Del Rey is after the famous Ford car.
It’s all a long way from the birth of Elizabeth - Lizzy – Grant in 1986 in New York. That was where she grew up and studied aside a brief period in Connecticut. She was soon singing in church and the schools of her childhood and her uncle taught her to play guitar.
In 2008 she put out two records under her real name but with limited success.
Then came the avalanche of Born to Die. Released in 2012, it reached Number One in several countries.
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She lists among her influences Nirvana, Elvis Presley, Sinatra, Britney Spears, Eminem and Anthony and the Johnsons; a multitude of genres who are all to be found in her music which is at once soul and rock with just a touch of hip hop for a very trip hop 2012 sound.
Some have criticised her looks but this superb young woman with a very glamorous 1950s style has been taken on by Next, one of the biggest modelling agencies there is, so that should quieten a few tongues!
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From Marilyn to David Lynch, a tortured look
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The enigmatic Lana has been staking out a territory in Los Angeles between Hollywood and Mulholland Drive, Sunset Boulevard and Melrose Avenue. Film noir and fiction noir references are voluntarily recurrent in her work, cleverly done and completely fitting.
From James Elroy’s L.A. Confidential to the surreal films of
David Lynch , the videos conjure a disturbing, mysterious and captivating atmosphere. The backdrop is somewhere between the 1950s and 1990s, between Puritanism, the American dream and disappointment.
She filmed Video Games herself, creating a collage of amateur videos and Super 8 films. Youngsters flee boredom on their skateboards while drunken, 50s-style starlets stumble on Hollywood Boulevard’s red carpets. In
Blue Jeans , shot in black and white, her lover drowns in a crocodile-infested swimming pool. And Lana herself dies in a horrific car crash in the Born to Die video which greatly resembles Lynch’s Lost Highway.
Her characters seem disillusioned, caught between a golden youth and a lost generation. The girls are sadly beautiful and their deceptively knowing smiles seem to hide terrible secrets.
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Love unrequited can lead to suicide (Summertime Sadness). There are numerous patriotic references and the American flag makes frequent appearances in the videos.
In National Anthem she re-enacts the famous scene in May 1962 when Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy birthday, Mister President" to John F Kennedy. Then she plays a decidedly Jackie O-style sixties First Lady on the arm of a black president (a nod to Barack Obama?) until he dies in the same way as JFK in the Dallas shooting of November 22, 1964.
Finally, her magnificent cover of Bobby Vinton’s
Blue Velvet takes her 100 per cent into the Lynch universe. In a kind of sanatorium, a strange public made up of lookalikes and secretaries listen to her singing in fake playback as an angry dwarf pulls the plug!
Her unusual and incredibly voice covers a great range, reaching high notes and deep, always disturbing, a whispered chant. As for the music, it is like a breath of fresh air, a new 2012 version of trip hop, a blend of scratch and sampling, and sixties guitar and string arrangements (violin, harp etc).
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What now ?
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Naturally such talent and success has provoked jealousy. Many have begun criticising Del Rey, labelling her televised appearances weak or accusing her of plagiarism. At one point she even considered ending her career. Fortunately she changed her mind!
A new version of the Born to Die album has just been released (Paradise Edition) with several new tracks including the famous Blue Velvet cover for an H&M ad.
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In fact the Swedish ready-to-wear giant asked Del Rey to design an exclusive new collection for the last autumn.
With a pale pink jumper and black leggings, Lana makes her look of a smart young girl, a sixties baby doll in black eyeliner, available to everyone. Voted singer of the year by GQ magazine (2012 issue), Del Rey now has the cinema in her sights. But her many, many fans can rest assured – she is also working on a new album. We can’t wait!
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