On January 4, 2010, Lana del Rey released her first full-length album, strange for many reasons. Elizabeth Grant (real name of the American singer and songwriter) was still in a phase of artistic growth, so the songs on that debut album perhaps did not reach the degree of brilliance that she displayed in subsequent works. It was only on sale for three months. Her title and the way she signed it appeal to at least a hesitant novice. There are even those who prefer to separate that work from his most recognized discography. But it was his presentation work, and he is now fifteen years old.
Lana del Rey, who was not yet called that, was 24 years old when she published it. Until then, his short life had been eventful. Daughter of two professionals in the field of advertising, at 14 years old They enrolled her in a religious boarding school to keep her away from alcohol, temptation to which at such a young age he had already succumbed. She left the institution to enter a rehabilitation program, and once she had overcome her addiction, she went to live with her uncles while she enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy and earned some money working as a waitress. His uncle taught him to play the guitar, and it was then that he began to frequent the stages of small venues for singer-songwriters in New York.
In one of those modest performances she caught the attention of the owner of a small independent label, 5 Points Records, who offered her a contract of ten thousand dollars to publish the songs she was beginning to compose. The first thing he put on the market was the EP Kill kill, with three songs, which was signed as Lizzy Grant. It came out in October 2008. The germ of their particular sound was already there, of cinematic textures, as well as its poetic and suggestive lyrics. A year and a half later it was time to publish the album in question.
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We said it was a rare album… Why? First of all, its cover. That work is attributed to Lana del Ray (note, not Rey), with the addition of “aka” (English abbreviation for: “also known as”) Lizzy Grant. It is not common for an artist to use two names to sign an album. She chose the pseudonym after a trip with friends to Cuba and inspired by the actress's car. Lana Turnera Del Rey model Ford.
A short period for sale
The idea is that the album would be published in all possible formats, with some physical copies for the singer to sell at concerts, but it was only uploaded to some digital platforms. Due to lack of budget, the CDs were never manufactured. It seems that in that interval, the singer decided to change “Ray” for “Rey”, but the cover was already uploaded to the platforms and could not be changed. Three months after the album was posted on iTunes and Amazon, it was removed at the express request of Grant's father, who was in charge of the work of marketing and he had found a manager who thought that the best thing to do was cancel the publication. The contract with 5 Points Records was terminated, the album remained a rarity and only available to those who had purchased it, and the new team prepared the big launch of Lana del Rey.
Their second album (or first, as you wish), was titled Born to die (2012), and was published by a major company (Polydor subsidiary Interscope); his One and a half million copies would be sold in the United States. It would reach second place on the Billboard album chart, and first in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and many other countries. Topics like Video games, Born to die either blue jeans They made it clear that we were dealing with one of the great composers of the alternative scene of that decade.
What happened to the first album? One of his songs, Yayo, was included in Paradise, EP that was added to an expanded edition of Born to die. Therefore, Yayo It is the only song from that work that has come to light in physical format. Although Lana already declared that she wanted that album to be published one day, the truth is that, apart from pirated editions and copies on cassette, it has not happened. Lana del Ray aka Lizzy Grant is a rare bird of the music of this century. For his part, and although his subsequent career has been uneven, Lana del Rey has recorded nine albums and it is expected that in May 2021 he will publish one more, The right person will stay.
