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Celeb News: One Year Of Lana Del Rey: A Retrospective
Member Since: 9/7/2010
Posts: 28,471
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One Year Of Lana Del Rey: A Retrospective
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One year ago today, a doe-eyed ingénue called Lana Del Rey put up a self-released song titled “Video Games” on the Internet and shortly thereafter became one of the most highly public and polarizing figures in popular culture. The blogosphere seized. Who is she? Is she actually a talented vocalist? Has she had some “work” done? Then there was the ire provoked when LDR was “exposed” as actually not “Lana Del Rey” at all. Soon the word came forward about her previous singing career under her given name “Lizzy Grant.” Intimations of a wealthy father and connections to major figures in the music industry caused members of the critical community to become increasingly suspect. Was this a truly gifted artist attempting a Bowie-like reinvention, or was it all an elaborate ploy by an insidious music industry working too cynically to make her be the next big thing?
It can certainly be argued that Lizzy Grant’s transformation into Lana Del Rey was her attempt to “go to Texas.” Innumerable rock icons of the past 50 years have taken stage names. It seems pernicious in the extreme for Del Rey to be so excoriated for this highly common gesture. LDR’s team has not only played the industry game well, but also has played it as it has always been played, from Dylan to Bowie to Costello to The Clash and beyond. The outliers in this story are the sea of tastemakers, critics, and commenters who elected to generate incredible buzz on her behalf and then made a 180-degree turn when it appeared that perhaps they bet on the wrong pretty pony.
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6/29/2011 – Lana Del Rey releases “Video Games” digitally “on the Internet.”
6/30/2011 – UK-based Stranger Records, a label founded at least in part by New York-based global consultant Peter Jenkins, releases an announcement that they have signed LDR. At this time, Stranger has only one other piece of news on their website, dated 3 days prior. They encourage visitors to their website to check out LDR’s video for her single, “Video Games.” The video is taken down shortly thereafter.
7/15/2011 – MTV Style blog assumes an emphatic pro-Del Rey posture, articulated in the unforgettable words, “ZOMG she is so important.”
8/3/2011 – Pitchfork names “Video Games” Best New Track, calls it a “stirring debut single.”
8/19/2011 – Lana Del Rey uploads video for “Video Games” to her YouTube channel. Many YouTube commenters insist the original video was better (scroll to “10 months ago”).
8/31/2011 – The Portland Mercury reports that LDR’s original iteration of “Video Games” included copyrighted footage taken by musician/artist Ryland Bouchard that needed to be removed and re-edited.
9/9/2011 – Video for “Blue Jeans” hits the Internet. The Huffington Post favorably claims that the video is added evidence to LDR “making a good case to be our next deep-voiced, soul darling.” The Huffington Post commenters say that she doesn’t hold a candle to Amy Winehouse, Adele, Rebecca Black, though some of them like her voice and the song. Much attention is paid to her lips.
9/12/2011 – Indie blogger Carles profiles LDR for Hipster Runoff, asking, “Is Lana Del Rey the next overrated, marginally talented totally hot female in indie?” The following day, he “exposes” her former identity as Lizzy Grant and shares photos of her “canoodling with industry insiders.”
9/13/2011 – Stereogum calls LDR one of the best new bands of 2011 .
9/14/2011 – LDR plays secret show in Brooklyn as the “Queen of Coney Island” in preparation for upcoming sold-out tour dates. Brooklyn Vegan included a critique of Lana Del Rey by Amy Klein of Titus Andronicus in their reporting on the event, quoting Klein as saying that Del Rey (and America) is “narcissistic and self-obsessed.” BV commenters mostly used their commenting oxygen to trash Klein. The original critique has since been removed from Amy Klein’s blog.
10/12/2011 – As part of her sold-out British junket, LDR performs a generally well-received version of “Video Games” on popular UK music program Live With Jools Holland.
10/24/2011 – LDR wins Q Next Big Thing award at Q awards.
10/28/2011 – Interscope Records announces that they have signed LDR.
11/7/2011 – LDR performs “Born To Die,” the title track from her forthcoming LP, in Paris. An overwhelming 84% of readers of the Pretty Much Amazing blog find this to be “great” to “amazing”; 5% registered that this was just “OK”; while 11% say that “Born To Die” was “Not for [Them].”
12/7/20011 – UK’s New Musical Express names “Video Games” their No. 1 single of the year.
12/14/2011 – LDR releases video for “Born To Die.”
12/19/2011 – The Guardian publishes “The Best Song of 2011? It had to be by Lana Del Rey,” providing a trenchant defense and prosecution of “Video Games” and LDR’s unlikely trajectory. Guardian commenters are similarly ambivalent.
12/22/2011 – Del Rey releases video for “Off To The Races.”
12/26/2011 – Titus Andronicus’s Patrick Stickles covers “Video Games.”
1/4/2012 – LDR signs modeling contract with Next Model Management. Even this news triggers the standard ambivalence in response. Comments from the Telegraph‘s fashion blog include: “She’s so gorgeous, I’m not surprised,” “She’ll be dropped just as quickly…” and “hmm.”
1/5/2012 – Two tracks from Born To Die — “National Anthem” and “This Is What Makes Us Girls” –- are leaked on the Internet.
1/14/2012 – LDR appears on Saturday Night Live, gives roughly same performance as she had on Jools Holland in October. This time, it is deemed a catastrophe of earth-shattering proportions, moving a gob-smacked media complex to pandemonium. She captures the imaginations of Juliette Lewis, who (in a since-deleted tweet) likened her performance to that of a “12-year-old in their bedroom… pretending to sing and perform.” Eliza Dushku also calls her a “wack-a-doodle” based on this performance.
1/15/2012 – Astonished NBC anchorman Brian Williams emails Gawker’s Nick Denton, says LDR “had one of the worst outings in SNL history” and questions the Internet hype machine.
1/31/2012 – Born To Die LP released, after having received a review of “bad … really bad” from Stereogum and a 5.5/10 review from Pitchfork, Spin is only slightly more generous, giving it a 6 out of 10 rating and saying that “This record is not godawful. Nor is it great. But it’s better than we deserve.” Meanwhile, over in the UK, The Guardian gives it 4 out of 5 stars.
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More here: http://stereogum.com/1080072/one-yea...pective/photo/
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Member Since: 5/13/2010
Posts: 6,489
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She changed music world 
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Member Since: 4/29/2012
Posts: 15,977
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I still don't get the hate towards her by so many people.
I see why she isn't everyone's cup of music but some try to discredit her by all means and try everything to make her look overhyped and talentless.
BTD is amazing and this isn't gonna change 
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Member Since: 6/24/2011
Posts: 3,599
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she's so ****ing underrated
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Member Since: 11/23/2011
Posts: 4,888
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She has been working on her music and her art for years! This really doesn't cover the breadth of Lana Del Rey's dedication to her work. She really does have 3 albums worth of songs. Cheers to Lana and to another successful year!
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Member Since: 4/22/2012
Posts: 33,490
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Quote:
Originally posted by Lucas32
I still don't get the hate towards her by so many people.
I see why she isn't everyone's cup of music but some try to discredit her by all means and try everything to make her look overhyped and talentless.
BTD is amazing and this isn't gonna change |
I don't see any logical explanation for the hate, either, I feel like it just became a cool thing to hate her, especially after SNL.
she's an amazing and most importantly a true artist because what she creates is art, whether it's her music or her videos, it's genuine. I love how she expresses herself through it and I hope she'll continue to do so for a long time.
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Member Since: 11/18/2010
Posts: 8,222
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Originally posted by ElleDriver
she's so ****ing underrated
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Not for long. Just wait.
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Member Since: 5/11/2011
Posts: 1,999
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Interesting chronology, I did not know most of those things seeing as I just got into her around October of last year. Here's to another year! 
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Member Since: 4/4/2012
Posts: 4,026
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I thought she was boring, but then I realized how beautiful her music is.
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Member Since: 3/11/2012
Posts: 14,498
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I am listening BTD atm  It has some beautiful songs, I should have gave it another listen when it came out.
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Member Since: 1/2/2011
Posts: 3,670
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She is excellent 
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Member Since: 11/21/2010
Posts: 15,739
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Queen of coney island!
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Member Since: 6/19/2011
Posts: 4,294
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Originally posted by PopFan
She changed music world |
You are completely delusional.
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Member Since: 3/13/2011
Posts: 3,953
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12/22/2011 – Del Rey releases video for “Off To The Races.”
 what!?!?!
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Member Since: 5/13/2010
Posts: 6,489
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Quote:
Originally posted by QueenJ
You are completely delusional.
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Or maybe ironic
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Member Since: 10/10/2011
Posts: 14,321
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I'm so happy for her, it's been a great year for her so far.
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Member Since: 11/23/2011
Posts: 4,888
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Quote:
Originally posted by I RUN L.A.
12/22/2011 – Del Rey releases video for “Off To The Races.”
what!?!?! |
It was a video that Lana edited but than was later deleted or privatized.
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Member Since: 11/21/2010
Posts: 15,739
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They forgot to mention her huge success and sold out tours. 
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Member Since: 8/23/2011
Posts: 11,596
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Quote:
Originally posted by PopFan
She changed music world |
How?
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Member Since: 3/11/2012
Posts: 14,498
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Quote:
Originally posted by PopFan
She changed music world |
Tell em
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