Lana Del Rey

Inventing a Ghost in Manhattan

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant's first attempt under the name Lizzy Grant failed. The album went unnoticed in 2010 and was pulled from digital stores shortly after its release. There was no trace of the baroque elegance that would come later (or of the lips that sparked conspiracy theories on alternative music forums).

The transformation happened in London. There, Lana Del Rey was born as a visual concept before a musical one. The artist locked herself away to edit homemade videos using footage from old films and scenes of decaying Hollywood. But the industry didn't get the game at first.

And the gamble paid off.

In 2012, she released Born to Die. The album sold more than 12 million copies even though critics tore it apart for its supposed lack of authenticity. The British press was the first to buy into the story of a femme fatale trapped in a 1950s aesthetic.

The disaster of Saturday Night Live occurred during the promotion of that album. Her performance was so erratic that NBC received complaints live on air. That night, Lana Del Rey became the internet's punching bag (and, in the process, a martyr of melancholy pop).

The media noise nearly buried her.

But instead of retiring, she chose to embrace auteur cinema. In 2013, she premiered Tropico, a 27-minute short film directed by Anthony Mandler. The piece blended biblical iconography with figures such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. It was her way of saying she was not a radio singer, but a creator of atmospheres.

Finding Refuge in Analog Production

In 2014, she broke away from her commercial sound. She brought in Dan Auerbach (frontman of The Black Keys) to produce Ultraviolence at his Nashville studio. The result was an album recorded almost entirely live, with saturated electric guitars and a distortion that pulled it away from the charts.

The industry expected a second Born to Die packed with hip-hop beats. Instead, they got a dense, dark work that the press began to respect. It was at that point she stopped being a marketing product and became regarded as a serious songwriter.

Her connection to film grew closer with Big Eyes, directed by Tim Burton. In 2014, she composed the film's main theme and earned a Golden Globe nomination. Lana Del Rey's voice fit the closing credits of a psychological drama better than a club in Ibiza.

She spent the following years refining her formula with Rick Nowels. Together they created Honeymoon in 2015 and Lust for Life in 2017. On the latter, she collaborated with The Weeknd and Stevie Nicks, proving she no longer needed to hide behind an enigmatic persona.

Everything changed again in Nashville.

The maturity of America's great chronicler

In 2019, she released Norman Fucking Rockwell!, produced by Jack Antonoff. American critics gave it the highest score of her career. The album moved away from heavy production tricks to focus on piano and lyrics about the decline of the American dream.

From there, her work pace became relentless. In 2021, she released two distinct albums: Chemtrails over the Country Club and Blue Banisters. On both projects, she moved decisively away from the glamour of Los Angeles to portray rural life and family ties.

Her ability to write complex lyrics led her to publish the poetry book Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass in 2020. She wasn't chasing mass sales with this move. She wanted to establish herself as a literary voice in an industry that only consumes three-minute singles.

In 2023, she recorded Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. The 77-minute project featured interludes of religious sermons and collaborations with Jon Batiste. The album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom, making her the female artist with the most UK number ones of the 21st century.

In 2024, she confirmed her foray into country music with the project titled Lasso. For this production, she once again worked with Jack Antonoff in sessions held in Muscle Shoals and Nashville. The album features sound engineer Luke Laird and was recorded using tape microphones from the 1960s.