Video will appear as you scroll through the story
Lana Del Rey · S1 E5
The Album That Disappeared
A debut album appears on iTunes for $7.99, then vanishes without a trace
January 2010, and an album called Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant quietly appears on iTunes for $7.99. Within three months, it vanishes from every digital storefront as if it never existed.
"National Anthem" (Lana Del Rey, 2012). A$AP Rocky as JFK, Lana as Jackie O, and the most expensive home movie ever made. This video is a masterclass in constructing American mythology from scratch, which is exactly what Lizzy Grant was doing when she invented a new name on a road trip to Miami.
The Album
The record contains ten tracks produced by David Kahne, including early versions of songs like "Yayo" and "Kill Kill" that fans will later rediscover. It drops on 5 Points Records with minimal promotion and zero press coverage. The sound is raw, closer to singer-songwriter folk than the cinematic pop she will later perfect.
Sources
Wikipedia
Lana Del Rey Wiki
National Anthem, Lana Del Rey (2012)
"Money is the anthem of success," she sings over a hip-hop beat and orchestral strings, and the contradiction is the entire point. Producer Emile Haynie fused torch-song vocals with a production that sounds like a presidential motorcade. The song is about wanting the American Dream and knowing it might kill you. Listen for the way the strings swell on the chorus like a national anthem that nobody wrote down.
Sources
Pitchfork
Rolling Stone
TAP TO REVEAL: Where did the name Lana Del Rey come from?
“My real name is Lizzy Grant. I just felt like I needed a new name to match the new music I was making.”
— Lana Del Rey, MTV, 2012
The Lost Album
Radio, Lana Del Rey
From Born to Die (2012). "Not even they can stop me now, boy I'll be flying overhead." After an album nobody bought and a name nobody knew, this is the sound of Lizzy Grant deciding to burn it all down and start over as someone new.
Radio, Lana Del Rey (2012)
"Now my life is sweet like cinnamon, like a f***ing dream I'm living in." The distance between this song and the girl playing open mics as Sparkle Jump Rope Queen is the entire Lana Del Rey origin story.
What was the original spelling of Lana Del Rey's stage name on her debut album?
Lizzy Grant is gone. In her place stands a dark-haired girl with a new name and a webcam, about to upload a homemade video that will change everything.
0 XP earned this session