ilovetati

1. The first ever live performance of West Coast. Something about this performance is so hauntingly beautiful. Her voice, the smoke streaming across the stage, the palm trees swaying in the wind. It's incredible and I hope we get an HQ clip one day. 2. She steps on stage like the ghost of a beautiful screen legend long passed and gives a stunning, eerie performance. Her vocals (especially towards the end) are some of the best I've ever heard from her. 3. I wish more of her fans had seen this. It's so transfixing. 4. You get a sense of how much the lyrics mean to her, and I love the stripped-down version of the song. 5. Dem vocals. HM: Much of Coachella and the recent Mexico performances, Goodbye Kiss cover, Video Games on Letterman, West Coast in Berlin, Ultraviolence premiere, Ride on Langs de Leeuw and in Carcassonne, first Young and Beautiful performance, Knockin' on Heaven's Door in Hamburg, Burning Desire at Jaguar Reveal, Born to Die at the 02 Arena, Yayo in 2008, Cola in Paris, Born to Die at the Chateau Marmont, Wonderwall cover, Diet Mt. Dew premiere. Old Money, Mexico performance is getting close to my top 5. There are a lot of great hidden Lana performances and it's really hard to narrow them down.

He better release that HQ Coachella footage. I've been dying to see the first West Coast performance in better quality...it might be her best ever. So transfixing.

Pretty When You Cry The bit when her voice cracks in The Other Woman.

I hate that damn song.

Which brings up an interesting point. It's always been said that the viral version of VIdeo Games (featuring the finished audio product) is what attracted attention from major labels, but she had already moved to London with her managers to attract the attention of major producers/labels. The timeline of this is a bit fuzzy. --- I also want to address her history with alcohol dependence and sobriety a bit more, but there is very little known about it beyond the same boarding school story we have heard repeatedly. There are also pictures of Lizzy post-"sobriety" drinking from wine glasses at domain parties, so who knows the true story? I'm also sober, but I drink Red Bull or tonic water from glasses when I'm downtown with friends or at large parties. Maybe she did the same thing.

Video Games soon after it was first uploaded to YouTube. It was also the first song of hers that I had heard and I remember being completely transfixed by the combination of the haunting song and its ethereal video. The lyrics stood out to me as well because of the beautifully simple way through which they conveyed her love for the guy in the verses but, in the choruses, there was this sense of longing for something more.

Well, they could have just written "Jessica sings sad Lana Del Rey song" in the script. Some directors don't get too particular with soundtrack choices until the early stages of production.

Well said. To add to this, every producer she has worked with has commented on her independence in the pre-production writing process. It's also made quite apparent by the perpetually-present lyrical motifs and themes in her work. The misconception that her LDR persona was her first experimentation with "dark" and "cinematic" themes has been particularly stigmatizing in this regard.

I added a few videos, but it made the OP look pretty messy. I can clean it up later as I add more info/media. Also, looking forward to input from everyone else here! I know this fan-base is full of sleuths, so this could be the start of a very interesting biography.

Yeah, that is the quote that I have been struggling with the most because of the intentions behind it as well as the talismanic belief you referred to. She has also said that she chose the name because she, "wanted a name I could shape the music towards [...] I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking a lot of Spanish with my friends from Cuba. Lana Del Rey reminded us of the glamour of the seaside. It sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue. I have edited the line in the OP. However, this is not too much of a significant factor, in my opinion. Artists that she admires greatly, such as Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, and Nina Simone, changed their names as well. Agree wholeheartedly with your second point as well. I keep seeing Rob mistakenly referred to as a "billionaire" on blogs attempting to discredit Lana, so I addressed his employment history quite heavily. --- I'm also planning on discussing how her lyrics are often misinterpreted. For example, National Anthem was controversial for being hedonistic when it was written as a criticism of excess. Lana's sardonic tone and tongue-in-cheek lines are often mistaken for sincerity, perhaps because of their deadpan delivery, and then used against her.

This is a work in progress, but I wanted to start a topic that encompassed the much discussed debate over Lana's authenticity by weaving in a timeline of her life and career as well as old interviews of Lizzy Grant and David Kahne, her first producer, pictures, and performance videos. I plan on adding much more to this, but wrote a brief timeline to start from. --- Elizabeth "Lizzy" Woolridge Grant was born on June 21, 1985 in New York City. Her father, Rob, was a copywriter at the very successful Grey Group, while her mother was an executive accountant at the same company. Her parents relocated to Lake Placid while she and her two siblings were quite young, and her father slowly transitioned into entrepreneurship via domain investment and independent marketing. Lizzy began singing as a child as the cantor of her church choir while attending Catholic elementary school. At the age of 14-15, Lizzy was sent to Kent Boarding School in Connecticut to deal with her alcohol dependence and remained there until age 18, when she took a gap year off and stayed with her aunt and uncle in Long Island, NY and worked as waitress. During this period, her uncle taught her the basics of playing guitar. The following year, she enrolled in Fordham University, located in the Bronx, to study metaphysics and volunteered rebuilding homes outside of school. She began playing open mics at various nightclubs in Brooklyn, performing acoustic versions of songs she had written and recorded independently, some of which would reappear on future releases. In 2006, at her performance at the Williamsburg Live Songwriting Competition (video of the performance and interview here: ), Lizzy was noticed by Van Wilson, a rep for 5 Points Records. In 2007, at the age of 22, Lizzy signed with 5 Points and began recording with producer David Kahne. (See interview with David about signing Lizzy here: http://www.mtvhive.com/2012/01/30/lana-del-rey-first-album-5-points-records-interview/). After receiving $10,000 from the contract, Lizzy moved into Manhattan Mobile Home Park in New Jersey, while retaining a residence with her sister in NY. Video from her interview with Index Magazine at the trailer park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZI5iaCyL6ELizzy and David released the Kill Kill EP in 2008, but her first studio album was shelved, resulting in a shift of interest to charity work. "Homeless outreach, drug, and alcohol rehabilitation—that's been my life for the past five years," she told Vogue UK in 2012. She chooses the stage name "Lana Del Rey" for herself after a "series of managers and lawyers" suggest that she pick a new name to better represent the dark, cinematic music that she was making. (http://www.repeatfanzine.co.uk/interviews/LanaDelRey.htm) Two years later, her debut studio album, Lana Del Ray, produced by Kahne, was digitally released. Her father assisted with the album's marketing. The album was withdrawn shortly thereafter and, three months after the album's release, Lana met her current managers, Ben Mawson and Ed Millet, who encouraged her to distance herself from 5 Points because her progress had stagnated. Shortly afterwards, Lana relocated to London to be closer to her management and lives with Mawson for a couple of years. During this time period, she appears on MTV singing "Chet Baker" with Mando Diao ( ). Lana begins directing homemade music videos for demos of new songs and uploads them to the Internet. After her video for "Video Games" goes viral and attracts attention, she is signed to Polydor/Interscope/Stranger Records in 2011. Prior to her debut album's release, Lana secures spot on SNL but struggles due to stage fright, a recurring theme in performances and early interviews. Born to Die is released in January of 2012 to polarizing reviews, but becomes a commercial success and catapults Lana to the popular music stratosphere.

What Lana song isn't about being outcasted in some way?

I want her to continue making dream pop/indie rock music, but with more simplified lyrics to match the tone of the music. UV's lyrics were beautiful, but I want her to explore new themes on her next album.

I love her lyrics, but I wish she would return to the subtle beauty that was present in the Sirens lyrics.

God, that Old Money performance was gorgeous.

Everyone seems to think it will be Sad Girl for some reason, haha.

The first promo performance for UV will be sung by Jessica Lange

I was teasing you because you accidentally said "could" instead of "couldn't", hunty.

We know you "can care less" about her.

A couple of IG vids of Cruel World that I found: http://i.instagram.com/p/t1jV59zA5-/ http://i.instagram.com/p/t1jSygif8C/

Yeah, the Paradise Tour is over. It's time to debut more Ultraviolence songs. That said, she might be afraid of singing them live for the first time when she hasn't been feeling well as of late. Little proper rehearsal time and the possibility of a poor performance. She's clearly been feeling very off physically or emotionally in recent performances compared to how confident her voice was a year, or so, ago.

So morbid.

Her voice on UV is so much more confident and natural, and the album showcased her range. I'm not sure how anyone can prefer her BTD vocals.

I hope her album gets released, we really deserve it.

Young & Beautiful You’re an observing, wise person, but now and then you feel the need to be wild and playful. Sometimes you’re afraid life will pass you by before you get the chance to enjoy every part of it. Others see you as a kind-hearted, dynamic soul. You tend to feel insecure and wandering, yet you know you’re on the right path. You love a good party, but you’re careful to remain decent. Your patience makes you a great lover as well as an amazing artist. You’re young, beautiful and graceful! Lmao...that is creepily dead-on.