Lana’s first popular song was “Video Games”, which she originally performed under her real name, Lizzy Grant, and created her own music video for. She later leapt into stardom in 2012 with the release of “Summertime Sadness”. Although Lana’s career has been successful and rewarding, having sold millions of albums and two releases hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, her entire life has not been necessarily rosy. Shortly after her birth, her family moved out of NYC and into the small town of Lake Placid, NY. There, Lana attended Catholic school for many years, but as a teenager began drinking heavily and her parents sent her off to Kent boarding school in Connecticut. Thankfully, by the time she graduated she was sober, but did not immediately attend a university. Rather, she went to live with her aunt and uncle in Long Island where her uncle taught her how to play guitar and she formed a love for performing. A little while later, Lana attended Fordham University to study Philosophy, but music remained her passion. After entering a singing competition, a judge helped her create the demo that would kickstart a career that has influenced a new era of “trashy-glamour” aesthetics in the music industry.
Lana’s first popular song was “Video Games”, which she originally performed under her real name, Lizzy Grant, and created her own music video for. She later leapt into stardom in 2012 with the release of “Summertime Sadness”. Although Lana’s career has been successful and rewarding, having sold millions of albums and two releases hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, her entire life has not been necessarily rosy. Shortly after her birth, her family moved out of NYC and into the small town of Lake Placid, NY. There, Lana attended Catholic school for many years, but as a teenager began drinking heavily and her parents sent her off to Kent boarding school in Connecticut. Thankfully, by the time she graduated she was sober, but did not immediately attend a university. Rather, she went to live with her aunt and uncle in Long Island where her uncle taught her how to play guitar and she formed a love for performing. A little while later, Lana attended Fordham University to study Philosophy, but music remained her passion. After entering a singing competition, a judge helped her create the demo that would kickstart a career that has influenced a new era of “trashy-glamour” aesthetics in the music industry.
Lana Del Rey has talked about her creative process and compared it to a sentient creature with a mind and timing of its own. She does not sit down to write music– it just comes to her in a-ha moments. She spends much of her time sitting in coffee shops, speaking with other patrons, and absorbing others’ life stories. Since these stories often find themselves interwoven throughout her music, one can possibly say she is a collaborative artist who works with strangers to create music that everyone can enjoy. Like many artists, her music is heavily intrinsically motivated since she does it for the sake of the love of it, but because of this particular style of content creation, Lana is also extrinsically motivated to create music for others.
I admire Lana’s distinct style of performance and the influence she has on Pinterest boards around the world. Her music paints vivid pictures of Art Deco glam ("Art Deco"), the struggles of women who just want to be loved ("Honeymoon"), and 60’s Hollywood legends ("Born to Die"). Her music is timeless and, I imagine, will be enjoyed for a very long time.
Art Deco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbLGjeR9bvI
Abi,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your connections between Lana as an artist and Pinterest boards, which I would consider their own art form. Your thoughts on Lana as a "collaborative" artist are also very interesting. I wouldn't have originally thought of using strangers' stories as collaboration, but your explanation has made me rethink my definition. Considering Lana's creative process, I wonder if it is more difficult to succeed as an artist if you have to wait until that "a-ha moment" to create work versus if you have a clear cut, sit down and write process. Great post!
Hi Abi! It was really interesting to read about Lana's creative process and her description of it being a "sentient creature." I've been a fan of hers for quite a while, so I've been able to identify some of the references she makes in her songs, but I did not know just how in-depth her process of finding outside inspiration for her music was. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHey, Abi! I really liked learning about Lana's creative process. I didn't know anything about how she wrote songs, but here just getting inspiration and building music out of it makes a lot of sense. Great post!
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