LANA DEL REY

Lana Del Rey performs at the KROQ Weenie Roast 2017 at StubHub Center on May 20, 2017 in Carson, California

Elizabeth Grant AKA "Lana Del Rey" is a pop singer that was recognized for her song and music video "Video Games" in 2011. Most people know her for the song "Summer Time Saddness" because the remix with Cedric Gervais was played on the radio in 2012. She has an extensive fanbase and has sold millions of albums, with 2014's "Ultraviolence" and 2017's "Lust for Life" both landing at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Lana Del Rey's Music Video for "Video Games"

Lana Del Rey has had multiple songs and albums as Grammy Nominations. "Lust for Life" was nominated as Best Pop Vocal Album. Del Rey collaborated on a song for The Weeknd's "Beauty Behind The Madness," which was given a Grammy nod for Album of the Year. Del Rey's Paradise EP was nominated as Best Pop Vocal Album, while her song "Young And Beautiful" for the movie The Great Gatsby (2013) received a nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media.

A clip from Lana Del Rey's 2017 Music Video for "Love" on her newest Album "Lust for Life"

Del Rey's work isn't made up of numerous radio hits, but she's created songs and videos that have received more than a billion views on YouTube. Her aesthetic often pairs American iconography with darker perspectives. The viral hit "Video Games" mixed vintage footage, old cartoons, Hollywood imagery, an unsteady Paz de la Huerta outside the Chateau Marmont and shots of Del Rey herself. "Blue Jeans," which came out after "Video Games," was another popular DIY video.The video for "Born to Die" was a much more elaborate affair. It included two tigers and evoked Rebel Without a Cause with its car wreck ending. For the "National Anthem" video, Del Rey portrayed both Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Marilyn Monroe, alongside rapper A$AP Rocky's John F. Kennedy.

Lana Del Rey's Music Video for "National Anthem"

As a teenager in the small community of Lake Placid, Del Rey started drinking heavily. She'd attended Catholic school, but her parents sent her to Kent School, a boarding school in Connecticut, because of her drinking. Boarding school wasn't a complete cure, but by the age of 18 Del Rey was sober. Instead of attending college right away, she went to live with her aunt and uncle on Long Island; her uncle taught her to play guitar. Though Del Rey soon enrolled at Fordham University in the Bronx, where she studied philosophy, music became her true focus.

Elizabeth before she took on the name "Lana Del Rey"

Del Rey, then still known as Lizzy Grant, started her career with open mic nights and club gigs. In 2006, she entered a songwriting competition; she didn't win, but a judge on the panel helped her create a demo, which led to her signing with the indie label 5 Points. With the $10,000 she earned for this deal, Del Rey moved into a New Jersey trailer park.By the time her first album came out, Del Rey had decided she wanted to work under a new name. She flirted with names like Sparkle Rope Jump Queen and May Jailer before settling on Lana Del Rey, which was selected on a trip to Miami in part for its evocation of coastal glamour.Del Rey got back the rights to her first album so as to avoid confusion with her new name. She also dyed her blonde hair and adopted a more retro, glamorized image — at one point describing herself as "gangster Nancy Sinatra." Living in London and focused on songwriting, she produced what became the viral hit "Video Games."The news that Del Rey had signed with the label Interscope made some wonder if "Video Games" was a marketing ploy and not a video she'd created herself. There was also speculation that her father was a millionaire who'd bankrolled her (Del Rey has said her family was never wealthy). In 2012 Del Rey appeared on Saturday Night Live and was criticized for looking nervous and singing hesitantly. However, her first studio album was still a success, as were subsequent releases.

Lana Del Rey's Evolution of music videos by Billboard since 2008

Albums

Born to Die 2012

Paradise 2012

Ultra Violence 2014

Honeymoon 2015

Lust for Lfe 2017

Norman Fucking Rockwell 2019

Recent Singles

Mariners Apartment Complex

Venice Bitch

Movies

Now is Good 2012

The Great Gatsby 2013

Maleficent 2014

Big Eyes 2014