The Mysterious Lana Del Rey
Who is Lana Del Rey?
On the surface, she appears to be an American indie artist who sings about drugs, fast cars, and despicable men. Yet, dig deeper into her lyrics, melodies, and music videos, and you’ll discover the layers of complex qualities that shroud her artistic persona and foreground her mystery.
Before Lana Del Rey was created, there was Elizabeth Grant, the daughter of an upper-middle-class family in New York. At age fourteen, Del Rey was sent to boarding school to deal with an alcohol dependency problem. In college, however, she began studying metaphysics philosophy and singing in sultry New York bars under the pseudonym May Jailer. After striking her first deal with a record label, Del Rey released a three-song EP under the name Lizzy Grant. When the EP underperformed, she became aware that her contract was doing little for her career and in 2010, broke it off and moved to London.
An Image that Sells
In 2011, under the name Lana Del Rey, she released a homemade music video entitled Video Games. This new persona launched her career into stardom as her unique & intimate sound resonated immensely with the public. In the subsequent years, Del Rey faced criticism for this sudden change as followers felt it was manufactured and ingenuine.
While Lizzie Grant and Lana Del Rey are/were marketed as different people with different sounds, they boil down to one individual who sings about the same or at least similar subject matter. Lizzie Grant's song, “Kill Kill,” for example, talks about being in love with a dying man, while Del Rey's songs center around themes of mortality and wishing for things she cannot have.
In my opinion, this rebranding surged from a need to survive in the music industry and to resonate with the public, which pressured her to present herself in a new way.
Lana Del Rey’s current image marries fashionable 60s and 70s aesthetics. Her hair is darker and higher, and she wears a signature heavy black eyeliner— this vintage look is used as a portal to old Hollywood glamor that her songs romanticize. Many have also compared her outer image and music’s subject matter to the life of Priscilla Presley. The song, “National Anthem,” for instance, feels like it took a page straight from Pricilla's life. At only fourteen, Priscilla met twenty-four-year-old Elvis, whom she married at twenty-one. After, she was quickly swept up in the life of the rock star and made a princess to The King. Having later moved into Elvis' Graceland estate, she became trapped with no life of her own (more in her book Elvis and Me or the movie Pricilla).
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Her Music
Through her Americana reimagining in ballads or trip-hop, Del Rey explores dark aspects of relationships and a yearning for the mundane. Her lyricism explores what it feels like to get swept up in chaos (listen to “Summertime Sadness”) that often stems from toxic relationships & substance abuse (listen to “Dealer,” “Off to the Races,” “Lolita,” “Ultraviolence”). Through her writing and hauntingly beautiful acoustics, she unpacks the roller coaster of emotions that have left her broken (listen to “Black Bathing Suit,” “Get Free,” “Norman Fucking Rockwell”).
Once having dug herself into this feeling of melancholy, Del Rey pines for simpler times. These times are often associated with small-town white American life (listen to “Tulsa Jesus Freak “or “Yosemite”) and partaking in ordinary tasks like playing video games or going to the market (listen to “Video Games “or “Chemtrails over the Country Club”).
My friend Abbie once said she wouldn't be surprised if Lana sang about a Waffle House in Alabama, given that she’s sung about meeting her boyfriend by a taco truck (listen to “Taco Truck x VB”). I agree.
Ultimately, the image of Lana Del Rey is that of a woman scorned by life’s chaos but learns to rise above the madness and make her way within it. In the end, Del Rey is addicted to danger and madness and will return to them time and time again (listen to “West Coast”, “Wild At Heart,” “Fuck It Love You”).
Her Controversies
This wouldn't be a full Lana Del Rey analysis if I didn't mention the controversies her persona has encountered. On top of her rebranding criticisms, Del Rey has been criticized for romanticizing a white America that never existed and appropriating Latino and Native American culture. Her album Norman Fucking Rockwell alludes to the 60's painter Norman Rockwell, who significantly contributed to the creation of an “ideal” white small-town America through image. Additionally, in her music video for “Ride,” Del Rey wore a feathered headdress, and in the song “West Coast,” she explicitly claims to be Cuban when in reality she's of Scottish descent.
Lana Del Rey has attempted to be many things, leaving her persona bound by some level of mystery. This may accentuate the appeal of her music for some, yet for others, it might only fuel confusion and distaste.
