Lana Del Rey is an American singer-songwriter who has released nine studio albums, four extended plays (EPs), 38 singles, 16 promotional singles, one box set, and four singles as a featured artist. She also has one unofficially released demo album that was leaked.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reports that Del Rey has sold 15.5 million albums and 32 million singles in the country. She is listed as the 37th best rock artist of the 2010s by Billboard. Additionally, Del Rey has sold 7.1 million single units in the UK.
Del Rey released her second studio album, “Born to Die,” in 2012 after signing a joint record deal with Interscope and Polydor Records. This album featured the song "Video Games." “Born to Die” reached its highest point at number two on the US Billboard 200 and topped the album charts in many European nations, including Australia.
The album had seven million copies sold worldwide by 2014 and one million copies in the US. "Born to Die," "Blue Jeans," "Summertime Sadness," "National Anthem," and "Dark Paradise" are among the other five singles from the album.
For the soundtracks of “The Great Gatsby” (2013) and “Maleficent” (2014), she produced and released the singles "Young and Beautiful" and "Once Upon a Dream." In the US, Canada, Australia, and Italy, "Young and Beautiful" has earned platinum and multi-platinum certifications.
"Ultraviolence," her third studio album (2014), became her first US Billboard 200 number one. It reached the top of the album charts in the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Four singles served as the album's backbone: "West Coast," "Shades of Cool," "Ultraviolence," and "Brooklyn Baby."
“Honeymoon” (2015), Del Rey's fourth studio album, reached the top of the Australian albums chart and produced the singles "High by the Beach" and "Music to Watch Boys To."
2017 saw the release of “Lust for Life,” her fifth studio album. It was Del Rey's second number-one album on the Billboard 200 and peaked at the top of the charts in the UK, Australia, and Canada. "Love" and "Lust for Life," two of its singles, received silver certification in the UK. Italy awarded "Love" a gold certification.
2019 saw the release of “Norman Fucking Rockwell!,” Del Rey's sixth studio album. The album reached its highest point at the top of the Swiss and UK album charts. Its single "Doin' Time," a cover of a song by Sublime, received a gold certification in Canada. With Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus, she co-wrote the song "Don't Call Me Angel," which was included on the Charlie's Angels soundtrack (2019) and reached the top five in Australia, Switzerland, and the UK.
In 2020, she published a spoken word album in support of her first collection of poetry, “Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass.” "Chemtrails over the Country Club" and "Blue Banisters," two more albums from Lana, were released in 2021. On March 24, 2023, Lana released, “Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.”
Who is Lana Del Rey?
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, better known by her stage name Lana Del Rey, was born in the United States on June 21, 1985. She is known for the cinematic quality of her music, which explores tragic romance, glamor, and melancholy while making frequent allusions to modern pop culture and 1950s–1960s Americana.
In addition to being nominated for six Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, she has won a number of awards, including two Brit Awards, two MTV Europe Music Awards, and a Satellite Award. At the Hitmakers Awards, Variety recognized her as “one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the 21st century.”
What is the ethnicity of Lana Del Rey?
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Patricia Ann "Pat," a Grey Group account executive, and Robert England Grant Jr., a copywriter for the company. She has a younger brother named Charlie Grant as well as a younger sister named Caroline "Chuck" Grant. She is of Scottish descent and was brought up as a Roman Catholic.
Her ancestors originated in Lanarkshire although her family moved to Lake Placid, New York, when she was a year old. There, her mother worked as a schoolteacher, and her father was a domain investor in Lake Placid who had previously worked for a furniture company. She spent her elementary school years there, where she attended St. Agnes School and started singing in her church choir, of which she was the cantor.
She spent one year as a student at the high school where her mother was a teacher, but when she was 14 or 15, her parents sent her to Kent School so she could overcome her alcoholism. Grant said in an interview: “That's really why I got sent to boarding school at age 14—to get sober.” The school's admissions officer, her uncle, helped her get financial aid so she could attend. Grant claimed that she struggled to make friends for the majority of her teenage and young adult years.
She has claimed that since a young age, death has consumed her thoughts and played a part in her feelings of anxiety and alienation:
“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.”
What is the musical style of Lana Del Rey?
The term "alt-pop" or "alternative pop" has been used to describe Del Rey. Her music has been variously categorized as pop, rock, dream pop, baroque pop, indie pop, and psychedelic rock, and it also contains elements of trip hop, hip hop, lo-fi, and trap. Some music critics referred to Lana Del Rey's debut album as "Hollywood sadcore" when it was first released.
Critics and Del Rey herself have noted a recurring theme of 1950s and 1960s Americana. It has also been praised for its cinematic sound and references to various aspects of pop culture. She was firmly categorized as alternative pop by Idolator due to the presence of strong elements of American nostalgia. In an interview with Artistdirect, Del Rey elaborated on her connection to the past, saying, “I wasn't even born in the 1950s, but I feel like I was there.”
She performed under the names Lizzy Grant, Lana Rey Del Mar, Sparkle Jump Rope Queen, and May Jailer before becoming well-known as Lana Del Rey. She described her music as "Hawaiian glam metal" while going by the stage name Lizzy Grant, whereas the work of her May Jailer project was acoustic.
