The makings of an icon: how Lana Del Rey’s debut album prepared her for stardom
When Lana Del Rey released her debut single ‘Video Games’ in 2011, the singer was quickly accused of being an industry plant due to the rapid speed with which the piece became a viral hit. In reality, Del Rey had been trying to make it as a singer for years, working with a handful of different producers under a variety of alternative stage names in an attempt to get her songs heard.
Born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, the singer found herself struggling with alcoholism as a teenager, resulting in her being sent to boarding school. Afterwards, she began playing guitar and writing songs, which spurred her to perform in underground bars and open mic nights around New York. Here, the early signs of Del Rey’s success began to shine through – all she really needed to captivate people was her voice and a few simple chords.
After recording several demos, such as an album called Sirens, which featured songs such as ‘Drive By’, ‘A Star for Nick’ and ‘Pretty Baby’, she was scouted during a live performance and signed to 5 Points Records. Sirens had used one of Del Rey’s many pseudonyms, May Jailer, but she soon ditched the name in favour of Lizzy Grant. With this name, she released an EP, Kill Kill, in 2008, which sowed the seeds for her debut album.
Two years later, the singer would release Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant, using a slightly different spelling of Rey, which was only available online. The album contained 13 tracks, one of which – ‘Yayo’ – she would rework for her 2012 EP Paradise, released via the major labels Polydor and Interscope. Lana Del Ray was taken off sale after just three months due to 5 Points’ lack of funding and is now only available to stream on sites like YouTube and Soundcloud, although fans have also made rare bootleg vinyl copies.
The album is a fascinating documentation of Del Rey’s development as an artist. There are many of her signature hallmarks present, such as cinematic strings, gorgeous melodies set to gentle guitars, themes of sadness and complex relationships, and imagery she has typically become associated with, such as motels and trailer parks.
‘Kill Kill’ is the opening track, which sees Del Rey ask, “Do you know I am going to leave you?” It’s a sultry yet sad number with a jolting riff that contrasts the smooth-sounding keys, instantly setting the tone for the album. The record weaves between playfulness and seduction, with ‘Queen of the Gas Station’ seeing Del Rey muse about a man she finds hanging about the gas station, finding herself most at home when she’s surrounded by neon lights, cigarette smoke and cheap drinks.
On tracks like the mellow ‘Oh Say Can You See’ and the rock-infused ‘Raise Me Up’, Del Rey uses quintessentially American imagery. Her use of language is so vivid and loaded that it is hard not to feel completely immersed in her world – despite it sounding far from luxurious. On the slightly ominous ‘Mermaid Motel’, Del Rey somehow makes trips to Coney Island, watching heavy metal music videos on television and staying in dingy motels sound sexy, whispering many of the lyrics over a pounding beat.
She has brought this penchant for vibrant, unconventional imagery to much of her subsequent work, referencing many of the same places and motifs found in Lana Del Ray. The album also sees her explore relationships with the same sense of romance she does on Born to Die, moving between obsessive infatuation (‘For K Part 2’) and disintegrating love (‘Pawn Shop Blues’).
The singer doesn’t shy away from taboo topics either, as she has so often done throughout her career. The lines “beat me and tell me that no one will love me better than you do” mirror “he hit me and it felt like a kiss” from 2014’s ‘Ultraviolence’, for example. The themes of ‘Put Me In A Movie’, where Del Rey sings with a confronting tone, “Come on, you know you like little girls,” reflects many of the themes of age-gap relationships and abuse in Born to Die, too.
Additionally, signs of Del Rey’s varied approach to instrumentation are on display here. Albums like Born to Die, Honeymoon and Lust for Life feature trap beats and electronic textures – something that can be heard in songs like the thumping ‘Brite Lites’, which you can imagine playing in a dimly lit club that you stumble upon at 3am, unsure of how you got there.
Lana Del Ray might not be her best work – it lacks a sense of total cohesion – but the album prepped the singer to assume the iconic status she would soon acquire, becoming one of the most authentic, idiosyncratic and innovative voices in the music industry. From the mischievousness of ‘Jump’ to the heartbreaking beauty of ‘Pawn Shop Blues’, Lana Del Ray sees the artist standing on the precipice of success, something that she managed to achieve just over a year later with ‘Video Games’.