Lana Del Ray
By Ines Mendoza
The world is currently going hipster crazy, and there has never been a more widely loved and hated hipster queen than Lana Del Ray. Not only is she a musical superstar, she is regarded as one of the hottest indie style icons of our time.
If you've seen a girl wearing an unflattering high waisted pair of shorts... blame Lana.
While the rest of the world knows her as Lana Del Ray, she was born as Elizabeth Woolridge Grant in 1986 and was performing in New York's cool bars and clubs from the tender age of just 18. She made such an impact that she was already signed to her first recording contract by the time she was twenty.
As the story goes, 5 Points Records released her first album as a digital release only (under the name Lizzy Grant in January of 2010) but sensing something big on the horizon, Lana (or Lizzy... or Elizabeth... whatever you call her) grew some big ol' business balls and bought herself out of the contract in order to sign a joint contract with Interscope, Polydor and Stranger Records in 2011.
However, it was a viral YouTube hit that really cemented Lana Del Ray as a force to be reckoned with. She released the single "Video Games" in June 2011 and by August it has already logged over twenty million views on the site. It was the perfect advertisement for her second studio album, Born to Die.
Sadly, this success also led to the backlash from her hipster fans. After a performance on the iconic comedy show Saturday Night Live, critics and the general public blasted her. The performance was so widely derided that on the following week's episode, Kristen Wiig popped up (as Lana Del Ray) during the Weekend Update segment pointing out the flaws of the whole situation - admittedly - from a rather "pro" Del Ray stance.
Anyhew, this really didn't impact her career at all. By the start of 2012 Lana Del Ray was at the top of the world. She signed a lucrative deal with the infamous NEXT Model Management agency and Born to Die went on to sell over 3.4 million copies in 2012 alone. This made it the 5th best selling album of that year - as well as sitting on the Billboard Music Charts for 36 weeks.
From there the awards came thick and fast including gogngs at the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards and the 2013 BRIT Awards (International Female Solo Artist).
Things have all come together for little Lana who entered the history books thanks to the song she penned with Baz Luhrmann for the movie The Great Gatsby called "Young and Beautiful". While a song on a movie soundtrack may not sound like a big deal - when you consider the clout Luhrmann has in the music industry (and how his Moulin Rouge soundtrack is one of the greatest movie-soundtrack tie ins of all time) it's something of an iconic moment for her.
Despite all of her success, Del Rey's still just a family girl at heart. On her left hand is a tattoo of the letter "M" (a reference to her grandmother, Madeleine)... while on her right hand is a tattoo of the phrase "trust no one". So, kind of mixed messages there. Actually, maybe she is a Douche Bigalow after all!
We should have known as soon as we saw those lips!
