Growing up in the 2010s and the era of tumblr, infinity scarves and flower crowns, it's hard to not remember the influence Lana del rey had on the world and the internet when she first popped onto the scene with her viral self edited song "video games''. With her following album, Born to Die becoming an immediate international success. Lana del Rey's melancholic, vintage, dreamy aesthetic was and is very engaging & immersive and helped to garner her cult status relatively quickly. To many, del rey has come to mean so much more than just a celebrity or artist, but someone who has an irresistible air of mystique within her persona and her music .Her music has been noted by critics for its stylized cinematic quality; its preoccupation with themes of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia; and its references to pop culture, particularly 1950s and 1960s Americana. All these factors help Lana to truly make a name for herself in the music world and American pop culture.
-Today I wanted to talk a bit about Lanas background and success before also explaining why I feel like she resonates the way she does with her fans, including myself.
Lana del Rey was born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant on June 21st 1985 in Lake Placid New York to parents Rob and Patricia Grant. Lana had a pretty quiet early life because of her towns seclusion and very small population. Around the ages of 14-15 she began to develop an alcohol dependency and she was sent to Kent boarding school to help become sober.
Lana has said quote "That's really why I got sent to boarding school -to get sober."
Lana has said she had a early preoccupation with mortality and the idea of death saying in a 2012 uk telegraph interview: quote
"When I was very young I was sort of floored by the fact that my mother and my father and everyone I knew was going to die one day, and myself too. I had a sort of a philosophical crisis. I couldn't believe that we were mortal. For some reason that knowledge sort of overshadowed my experience. I was unhappy for some time. I got into a lot of trouble. I used to drink a lot. That was a hard time in my life"
- anyone who is hip to lanas unreleased canon can see the evidence of her rebellious and shock value tendencies like in the lyrics of the unreleased song Boarding school
When Lana left boarding school she eventually moved to Long island to live with her aunt and uncle while becoming a waitress. Lana eventually enrolled at Fordham University in the Bronx, where she majored in philosophy with a big interest in metaphysics. Shes quoted as saying in a Rolling stone interview , "I chose to study the subject because it "bridged the gap between God and science... I was interested in God and how technology could bring us closer to finding out where we came from and why."
Meanwhile, she lived with boyfriends, and crashed on couches. "I was writing, writing, for years," she says. "Trying to figure out what I really wanted to say and why I was consumed with this passion for writing, where it came from. It kept me up all night. So I was waiting to see why. That was a really whole separate world."
Sources:
LanaDelReyFanwiki
Wikipedia (with their sources double checked)
Rolling stone (Interview)
UK Telegraph (interview)
Uk Vouge (interview)
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