Lana Del Rey was presented as an indie artist who wrote songs on a trailer park and was swooped up by a record company and revealed to the world. When looking deeper into this story we can find that in fact Elizabeth Grant had already had a shot at the music industry, aged 20, which failed and so she tactically reinvented herself with a new name and possibly a collagen lip enhancement she became a mysterious and deep character - but it worked. In October 2011 she signed a joint record deal and released Video Games to YouTube in August gaining in excess of 20 million views in the first five months.
Video Games and other earlier videos shown on YouTube are grainy and worn which links to the whole indie artist look that was desired, not clean cut or manufactured. The videos seem to have been done with a handheld camera as the footage seems personal and spontaneous with meaning instead of a random compilation of shots showing cars and naked girls. The earlier videos have consistent cuts to Lana singing, I am personally hypnotized by these shots as the emotion and mystery in her eyes as she sings to the camera are extraordinary. The videos seem to tell a story but ones that only the people involved really understand, the story portrayed to us is confusing and follows no particular structure apart from the cuts to singing. The shakiness of the shots and fast cutting pace to random seemingly irrelevant things add to the beauty of the video which in my opinion represents Lana remembering past times and the videos show these many memories and recollections. The earlier videos are very raw and could be seen as authentic with reference to her producing her own videos, there is an edge of unprofessional as the videos seem unstructured, as more videos are released in particular Born To Die this changes. As the videos progress the "indie" label is challenged even further as we see high focus more artistic videos with a lot of cinematic material. This could be seen as Lana Del Rey losing the last of her "indie" credibility as her rise to fame story has been crumbled by online critics and her original videos were the thing that kept her clinging to indie away from mainstream. The story that is used in more recent videos is clear and easy to follow where as before it has been more personal and less understandable, to me this does not take any credit away from the videos although I think the worn and grainy representations of her memories were extremely effective. The consistent use of Lana wearing white contrasts against the lyrics and videos she presents which seem anything but innocent with the hints of domestic violence and alcohol or drug use, this does however work effectively to show her personality as vulnerable regardless, or maybe due, to the events. The close up shots of Lana Del Reys face are what I think makes the videos as successful as they are as the expression she gives off or how little of it work so well with the tone and style of her voice and the lyrics also.
The themes I have picked up on throughout the videos are the consistent reference to her past and in particular a boy/man/lover that has been involved in her life and clearly left a lasting mark, with possible violence. The attraction to Lana Del Rey comes from her videos and lyrics which give so much away but don't include the vital information we need to understand what is being told, this leaves a mysterious edge to her as she is revealing and telling so much with such deep lyrics but actually hardly giving anything away. It seems Lana is a damaged girl that has gone through some experiences that have shaped her and in particular her music, there is consistent link to alcohol or drug use particularly in the song Boarding School: "Baby, let's do drugs.....Had to do drugs to stop the.....If you wanna get high with me, I'm in the back doing crack".
Whether you credit Lana Del Rey with an indie title or you now consider her a mainstream pop artist she remains such a strong talking point to many online articles show bloggers questioning "
Lana del Rey confuses me. Where did she come from? How did she get so popular so quickly? Why does she remind me of Daisy Buchanan if Daisy had spent at least six months in Stepford? Why do her lyrics make me so uncomfortable?" and this is her exact talent, unlike other artists instead of forcing their personal life on others she remains mysterious although we know quite a lot about her. With criticism already rife from the revelations of the multi-millionaire father it seems other stories were now to be quickly criticized and deemed as corrupt with comments on her revealing she had an alcohol addiction not being taken well, one article comments "and potentially create a sympathy-based narrative. Of course, leave it to some 'soft ass' UK publication to guarantee puff-piece treatment". Despite this criticism the internet is littered with fans commenting things such as "That's seriously unbelievable that such a simple lyrical order which would sound totally ridiculous and banal from mouths of ordinary people, sounds absolutely spectacular from Lana del Rey's lips... words fail me.. that's all I can say.." showing negative comments may not be swaying opinion anytime soon.
With a shaky performance on Saturday Night Live critics also attacked Lana like ducks on bread and hit her with the unoriginal "she can't sing live" comments, in my opinion this criticism is not even worthy of comment as this is such an overused statement that is consistently proved wrong by a later performance - people are quick to build someone up then shoot them down from the top. Lana Del Rey has effective advertising and promotion with a twitter account accumulating in excess of 2 million followers, an extremely professional website and perfectly timed magazine cover releases acting as a catalyst in her musical success - this is tactical but doesn't make her a traitor. Before I had to investigate Lizzy Grant I had no particular opinion on the artist but I know would argue her corner till death, a bit too far. An hour spent watching Lana Del Rey's videos is enough to convince anybody who needs it of how credible she is. Lana commented “to keep things small. All I wanted to do was make something beautiful, and I think I’ve done that.” the people who wish to criticize Lana Del Rey as not being "indie" are hypocrites themselves, if its all about the music then why do they care how much money her father has? Lana Del Rey should be appreciated as an artist who has talent and produces stunning videos showcasing her song writing talent and natural, questionable, beauty. The ability this artist has to encapture an audience is astounding, Lana Del Rey seems naïve, mysterious, passionate and possibly damaged which is all portrayed in her songs. I am obsessed with how free and experience she seems with lyrics like "I am fucking crazy. But I am free" making me want to get a plane to Texas and ride around with bikers so I can adopt this mindset. Artists want to be popular as they want as many people as possible to hear their material, if this means adopting a different music video style or reinventing themselves visually then this is just a part of the process to achieve a foundation which they can then express their musical ability. It's about the music and talent "selling out" is not a relevant question when you're an artist like Lana Del Rey producing such stunning material. Lana's quote "Elvis is my daddy, Marilyn's my mother, Jesus is my bestest friend." sums up why I now have an unhealthy obsession with this artist.
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