How You Discovered Lana

[Elle 121,279]

So, yesterday was my 8 year anniversary of the day I first discovered Lana. I thought it would be fun to share my story of how I discovered Lana, & I'd love to hear how you all discovered her as well!

 

On January 29th, 2012 I made the innocent gesture of complimenting my friend's makeup, having no idea it would change my life forever.

She told me her makeup was inspired by the singer Lana Del Rey, and I told her I didn't know who that was. She played me a small clip of 'Video Games' and it was enough to leave me interested to know more.

Later that day, I typed "Lana Del Rey" into the YouTube search bar, not really knowing what to expect. Upon hearing the name "Lana Del Rey" and hearing her dark, narcotic voice from the short bit of 'Video Games', I honestly assumed I'd be stumbling upon a hispanic woman in her late 30s, early 40s.

The first result was the Born to Die music video, and I was stunned. At first I was so shocked to see this young, white, strawberry-blonde woman sitting on a throne surrounded by tigers, singing so deeply yet so beautifully. I kept watching the video, and became just so hypnotised by the beauty of the video, the song, and the singer herself. I had the video on replay for the rest of the night. I even had it going while I was removing my makeup & washing my face at the end of the night. I was so lured in. It was instant.

I, of course, immediately downloaded 'Born to Die' and 'Video Games', and downloaded the album on iTunes the next day. I also remember 2 months later watching American Idol with a friend and Ryan Seacrest announced that Lana was going to do a performance of 'Video Games' - I excitedly called over my friend who was getting snacks in the kitchen to come sit down and watch the performance with me, and I was telling her about how Lana was a new artist I was getting into and really loved.

So, I always say 'Born to Die' is the song that truly introduced me to Lana, and started my now 8 year journey as a fan.

 

This next part is how I stumbled upon her unreleased music and got myself even further down the rabbit hole - 

I listened to the Born to Die record throughout the next several months, and then the day of the Paradise release on November 9th, 2012 came. I remember going to Grooveshark (does anyone remember that now-defunct streaming service?) to stream the new EP. This ended up being quite a silly memorable moment as I was with some friends helping set up for a movie night and had the aux cord, and of course this being my first listen of the new EP, I was very embarrassed upon "my pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola" blasting through the speakers of the room, catching some confused stares from all my friends lol. Nevertheless, once the EP finished streaming, I saw a few other songs I didn't recognise from either record, so I added those to the queue. I especially fell in love with this song 'Kinda Outta Luck,' so later that evening I typed the song into iTunes assuming it was a non-album single, and was puzzled when nothing came up. At this point, I didn't really know that unreleased music was a "thing." So I took to google, and it was then that I discovered the plethora of unreleased songs in an LDR megapost. I couldn't believe it. It was like finding buried treasure. I also discovered her whole past as Lizzy Grant, which made things even more intriguing. It was in that moment I sort of converted from fan to full on stan. Lana was all I listened to for months - absolutely nothing else. All my other artists I loved took a backseat. I was constantly watching interviews, live performances, reading up on her - I was so mesmerised. I can't quite explain the feeling I had then, and still have, of just this extreme amount of interest and fascination with someone. Upon getting to know more of her story through the interviews I was watching & reading and through the lyrics of her hundreds of songs, I related to her so much. I felt so understood, like I finally found this sort of soundtrack to my entire life. & 8 years later, I'm still riding that stan train hard.

 

I never would have thought that simply asking my friend about her makeup one day would lead to all of this - owning a whole fansite, my insane magazine/dress/merch collection, traveling the world for 15 shows, meeting amazing friends through her & even being able to meet Lana herself and thank her for all that she's done for me - it's just unreal. I always wonder what would have happened if I never discovered Lana that day back in January of 2012. I'm sure I would have stumbled upon her somehow, but would I have ever dove deeper into her music and became such the huge fan that I am today that's led me to have so many wonderful and important life experiences? It's always surprising to me when I reflect back on the smallest of gestures that have changed my entire world. This was definitely one of them. & one of the biggest ones at that.

 

x

[Ryusei 5,071]

First time I heard her of her was when I heard Video Games on the radio. At some point I saw the album cover of Born to die and she was all over Tumblr so I went to check out her other videos. I saw Blue Jeans and Born To Die and I especially liked the Born To Die video because it was so grand and mysterious. 

My mom actually bought the Born To Die album because she also really liked Video Games so I had the chance to listen to the whole album (I wasn't as Youtube savvy yet lol) and was captivated by her voice and the instrumentals. And I haven't stopped being a fan ever since.

[Kurac na Biciklu 2,359]

*-+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[necessary sacrifice 8,865]

I remember watching Video Games when it was viral but I didn’t care for it lol. I didn’t even think of her again for awhile so idk if that even counts. But people always told me to listen to Lana because of the retro 60s stuff and because people knew I was a huge Nancy Sinatra fan (it’s funny that I was so obsessed with her at that time and I didn’t like Lana). I was too “cool” to check her out lol. I was such a snob about “new music” and “pop music” and gatekept myself from everything. But then around Jan-Feb 2013 I finally decided to check out her videos while doing my yoga and I started with Ride and I was just so hypnotized by her. I ended up downloading Born to Die and Paradise illegally and I loved her. It wasn’t til West Coast came out though that I got obsessed and found AKA and her unreleased stuff and bought all her albums a few times over. Weird how we manage to get so obsessed.

[lernerderrey 2,415]

I really love weird ass vocals. I didnt see it live, but people were makin fun of her for her SNL performance. I remember watching it and I was so intrigued by her performance. I remember thinking "this is probably how i would act if i ever played SNL".  I remember I had just started living in my sisters living room in her apartment. Sad, cold, lonely. I felt isolated tbh. UP ON A COLD ASS HILL. I was a freshmen in college and going thru a bunch of bad stuff. I preordered BTD on itunes. Born to Die kept me company when I had no one to hangout with until the spring. I remember going through the digital download of the lyric booklet. CLASSIC. I was hesitant back then because BTD DIDNT HAVE VOCALS LIKE HER SNL PERFORMANCE. It took me a second but I BEGAN STANNING LANA IN THE EARLY MONTHS OF 2012.

Lana felt more of a mystery back then. I think my fav lan song of 2012 was PUT THE RADIO ON. I had fallen in love with a shitty hipster guy and we lived in this house where everyone but us were doing coke. lmfao i remember thinkin that i felt like a lana song. i started smoking weed that year and drinking waaaaay too much. that shitty hipster guy left me for college in canada, HE CAN ROT. sooon after, PARADISE WAS RELEASEd. THE HYPE WAS REAL. SHE HAD BEEN PLAYIN BODY ELECTRIC LIVE AND I FELT IT. IM ON FIRE BABY IM ON FIRE. Burning Desire quickly became my anthem of late 2012. I would go on drives with my ex's friends and we would blast lana. I FELT like I had found friends. CHRIST i was so depressed but i'd give anything to relive those days. FUCK this was not as organized as elle's BUT OH MAN LANZ ALWAYS HELPS ME RELIVE THOSE DAYS. 

I got on LB in 2013? I remember my hook up buddy's bff told me if I loved lana, I would love LB. So I started LURKING and here I am, now LB's most hated member. XOXO luv u guys 

[trayertrash 7,210]

I saw Video Games posted a lot so I gave it a try but didn't really like it at first lol. This was the end of 2011 but I didn't even know the Born To Die video existed because people only talked about Video Games and youtube never recommended me the video lol. Lana Del Rey EP was released and I listened to it a few times but still didn't know if I liked her or not, though, I did love the song Born To Die. I found out the video existed and I loved it so much. I watched it a few times a day lol. Then the album was released and that changed me in a big way. 

[AngelHeadedHipster 2,838]

http://lanaboards.com/index.php?/topic/6307-life-imitating-art-aka-haunted-by-lana-del-rey/?p=280402

This is the story of how I discovered the woman, the myth, the legend Lana Del Rey. I first read about Lana in a newspaper in 2011 as a new rising viral star who was getting popular through her youtube video for the song "Video Games" . I thought ok let's see who this chick is. The first time I played "Video Games" on YouTube I had a very strange reaction. I was terrified. Lana's voice gave me goosebumps in my soul. I thought to myself this isn't a human's voice. I couldn't even get through the whole video. I think I just heard 30 seconds of it and closed the video immediately. It was like a lightening bolt struck my soul. It was really scary and overwhelming. I decided then that I wouldn't listen to Lana ever again.
Fast forward to 2012 after the SNL incident, LDRs name kept popping up everywhere but still I didn't bother to investigate it. Then sometime around 30th Jan I was studying for an exam in my room and started feeling uneasy and anxious due to tension about the exam. So I decided to walk it off and I stopped by my Hall where the music channel VH1 was ON and this gorgeous melody was playing in the background. I was mesmerized and pulled into the Hall to see which song it was and Lana kept singing " It's you, it's you, it's all for you Everything I do " .
And just like that all my tensions melted away and here I was being cradled by Lana's beautiful voice. I was spellbound, speechless and enchanted. I knew at that moment that Lana would be a very important figure in my life. Somehow Lana found me when I was lost. Her voice comforted me as if a hundred angels were hugging me tight. So you see Lana discovered me and not the other way around. I kept avoiding any Lana related thing on the Internet after the initial reaction I had on exposure to "Video Games" . This was the story of how Lana discovered me and has been by my side ever since. Thank you Lord for blessing us with Lana Del Rey who melts our tensions away. I know you sent her to comfort the world. She is a love letter written by you to comfort our world.

http://lanaboards.com/index.php?/topic/6307-life-imitating-art-aka-haunted-by-lana-del-rey/?p=313875

So on the occasion of 4th B'Day of "BORN TO DIE" Album, I decided to share my story of "How I discovered Lana" on Lana and her dad's insta accounts. Rob replied to my letter and said really sweet things....He's really such a darling!! I love him soooo much!!! Her whole family is soooo lovely!! They are Angels Forever, Forever Angels !!! I feel truly blessed to have received a reply from Rob I did not expect a reply in my wildest dreams, I thought I would be lucky enough if Lana just read my story.  
 
 
https://www.instagram.com/p/BA-v_8CEI84/
 

 

[Dominikx4 25,404]

some ppl over at Gagadaily had signatures telling me to stream UV, and at one point there were so many ppl praising the album i decided to listen to the title track and Brooklyn Baby. that was on 31st December 2014. Bought UV a week later and the rest is history 

 

i dis know about Lana before tho and Summertime Sadness (the original!) was one of my favorite songs back in 2012. But I didnt care to listen to her other stuff back then.

 

The first time I have heard about Lana was in the winter of 2012 when ive first heard VG in the car.

The radio host introduced Lana as this new artist we need to look out for. I still remember driving up to that ski resort listening to VG altho i didnt like the song back then.

[nevada darling 541]

In 2011, I was an avid reader of a handful of indie music blogs. One of them published Video Games on July 1, 2011 (I actually found the entry!!!), and I was instantly hooked. The aesthetics of the video, her look, her sound, her lyrics... I felt like it was all made personally for me. The subsequent months I had so much fun following her rise to fame, and constantly discovering new things about her!

[White Hot 527]

My friend told me about her and I looked her up, it was in 2012. Tumblr did the rest

[Just Cherry 3,767]

Kept seeing gifs on tumblr around the time the Born To Die video leaked (December 2011). It’s funny though because I didn’t like Born to Die the first time I listened to it, but that and Video Games grew on me pretty quickly after downloading all her unreleased that was available at the time and I fell in love!

 

It’s pretty amazing to go from having like 10 unreleased Lana songs to having well over 250!

[sweetie 6,627]

I was on Youtube back in 2012 looking for this particular song I heard on MTV years earlier but could never identify. Still haven't found it. If anyone could help me -- the music video is about a girl in her bedroom with a tiny clone of herself dancing on her furniture. Anyway, on my search I stumbled upon Love Song by Sara Bareilles -- that wasn't the one, but something in the recommendations caught my eye. It was Born To Die by Lana Del Rey. 

 

In Elle's words: "I was stunned. At first I was so shocked to see this young, white, strawberry-blonde woman sitting on a throne surrounded by tigers, singing so deeply yet so beautifully. I kept watching the video, and became just so hypnotised by the beauty of the video, the song, and the singer herself. I had the video on replay for the rest of the night."

 

I definitely felt something within me had changed after discovering her. It's like I found a part of myself that I didn't know was there. She was the first singer I found that put so beautifully into words the way that I feel and the life that I wanted for myself.

 

 

I was a bit slow to get into the rest of her discography though - many of the songs on Born to Die didn't immediately click with me sonically. I wasn't really a fan of Paradise when it came out either, it just felt too dreary and depressive at the time. But as my fascination with her grew, I kept replaying the songs day in and day out, and so they grew on me too. Each and every song had its own moment with me where it just clicked and made sense.

 

I was already accustomed to the concept of unreleased music (I was a Leona Lewis stan before lmao), so in my thirst for new music in late 2012 + early 2013 I found some masterposts on tumblr. That's when I truly immersed myself in her musical universe and I haven't left since. Because there was already so much out there by then, I didn't listen to anything except her unreleased music for months. Eventually when the reservoir of unreleased music started running dry I found myself on LanaBoards, amidst the 2013 summer of leaks. The Untouchable 5 leak fully solidified my admiration for her and laminated my stan card. Black Beauty was the most beautiful song I had ever heard.

 

Six and a half years later, I'm still in love with her music and I don't see that ever changing. 

[CatchTheBreeze 1,681]

The first time I listened to Lana was in May 2010 - a music blog recommended the demo version of Diet Mtn Dew and I checked it out on YouTube and really liked it though I wasn't instantly hooked; her voice kind of "irritated" me at that time (in a good way). But Lana startet to really make an impact on my music listening habits in 2011 with "Kinda outta luck" (and several other songs that were around at that time). Then "Video Games" was released and I followed her ever since.

[urgirl 5,747]

In 2012 my older sister would drive me to school and blast the same 2 songs, “Born to Die” and “Clique” by Kanye everyday. I was 12 and it was one of the first times I felt grown up, listening to those songs at max volume speeding to school through our home town. Born to die is still one of my favorite songs ever and listening to Lana in my car at max volume is now a daily activity. I listened to that track almost 150 times just this year!

[takeitdoen 10,627]

I honestly assumed I'd be stumbling upon a hispanic woman in her late 30s, early 40s.

 

A premonition. A look. A concept. Yo soy la princessa.

 

ETA: I have a photographic memory but I can't remember how I discovered Lana's music. One day it just suddenly appeared. I knew vaguely of Lana del Rey but I started listening and it was all familiar like a dream even though I'd never heard it before.

[kallumlavigne 6,066]

When off to the races was itunes song of the week lol

[Barry 5,932]

Mines was this picture

 

 

Posted on a football forum or maybe twitter about "celebrity fans" of Celtic. I had never heard of her so I searched her on google probably then youtube and I don't know the song it was probably Summertime Sadness or Born to Die but I liked it and added it to a playlist of songs on youtube. I played the song all the time and then I slowly added more and more of her songs until I eventually created a Lana Del Rey playlist. I do remember I always listened to Born to Die, Summertime Sadness, Radio, Afraid, Without You, Serial Killer and Summer Wine although im unsure what year it was, then I probably didn't realise Paradise came out or even Ultraviolence and over time added songs from them to the playlist - I don't think I even looked up her albums or nothing as back then I never ever listened to any albums. I mostly only listened to older music so nobody I liked really released music any more and most of them were dead already so looking for new music or playing whole albums was something I never even thought about.

 

It probably wasn't until later 2014 I think maybe early 2015 probably after a year or two of listening to her all the time that I looked into more about her and the actual albums and found out that some songs were unreleased, I know that by the time Honeymoon came out anyway I was already a big fan of the past albums as I bought that album digitally which was probably the first time I ever bought myself music, I listened to it work on the day it came out and I hated it, found it dull and boring for probably a year or more but now I like it as much as anything.

 

If her name wasn't Lana Del Rey I probably would never have noticed her either, I think I only googled her as she sounded Spanish and I wondered why she would be a fan of the team. If her name was Elizabeth/Lizzie Grant at the time I would have just assumed she was some small Scottish celebrity and ignored it.

[Tammy 2,291]

I discovered her in late 2011 - must have been Sep/Oct - when MTV played ‚Video Games‘. A couple of days later she was on my fav TV news that introduced her. I instantly bought the CD single that included ‚Blue Jeans‘ too. At that time you yet could buy her ‚Lana Del Ray a.k.a Lizzy Grant‘ on amazon. As I didn’t have a credit card nor PayPal I couldn‘t order it. I wouldn‘t wanna miss her and her work in my life anymore. She’s special!

I actually noticed her for the very first time in Sep 2010 when she was a part of Mando Diao‘s MTV Unplugged. I couldn‘t remember her being on that show when ‚VG‘ was released in 2011.   

 

 

 

 

[National Anthem 9,904]

I think I remember seeing people on twitter with Lana as their profile picture in late 2011/early 2012, but it wasn't until the second week in January 2012 when "Born To Die" was the iTunes single of the week that I downloaded the song and first gave Lana a listen. I so clearly remember listening to it for the first time in bed one night with my headphones in. It was dark and the song actually scared me, like someone else here said her music first did as well. Not sure if it was the aggressive opening strings or the contrast of that going into her sultry voice that spooked me or what- but I remember having a really uneasy feeling on my first listen that I really didn't like, but I was captivated for sure. I don't remember the details in between but I guess I somehow over the next few weeks became more warm to the song and on the day the album dropped, January 27th, I bought the whole thing (deluxe edition too) on iTunes on a whim. It blew my mind and I became so instantly obsessed that I knew I was going to be loving this woman for a very long time.

[evilentity 13,343]

I remember going to Grooveshark (does anyone remember that now-defunct streaming service?) to stream the new EP.

Yes! That's how I found all the tracks on AKA. (Also where I found an entire early album by a lesser known artist that almost nobody has.)

 

I talk extensively about how I first got into Lana, Grooveshark, the early days of Lana fandom, and how I became more active in the fandom near the end of the last part of my Lana Del Reydio covers show podcast starting at about 20:17:

Edit: 320kbps DL links for all six parts of the show:

Part 1: http://www.mediafire...asmt8bvxmee4u4h

Part 2: http://www.mediafire...c4mt16inxneua1c

Part 3: http://www.mediafire...7wii5d2l9xwbcae

Part 4: http://www.mediafire...18i756vb5pttjxa

Part 5: http://www.mediafire...dk0lr76j4kfk7sr

Part 6: http://www.mediafire...dx6emendsv39dk7

#ShamelessPlug

 

Edit: By the way, anyone else remember fuckyeahlanadelrey tumblr? In the early days, fuckyeahlanadelrey and spillitnow were really the only games in town. At least until LDR.FM launched.

 

It was like finding buried treasure.

Me, every time I found a Lana track or even a nugget of information. It's such a satisfying feeling.

 

I also discovered her whole past as Lizzy Grant, which made things even more intriguing. It was in that moment I sort of converted from fan to full on stan. Lana was all I listened to for months - absolutely nothing else. All my other artists I loved took a backseat. I was constantly watching interviews, live performances, reading up on her - I was so mesmerised. I can't quite explain the feeling I had then, and still have, of just this extreme amount of interest and fascination with someone. Upon getting to know more of her story through the interviews I was watching & reading and through the lyrics of her hundreds of songs, I related to her so much. I felt so understood, like I finally found this sort of soundtrack to my entire life. & 8 years later, I'm still riding that stan train hard.

Though I find her lyrics interesting, I wouldn't say I've ever related to them much or "felt so understood" by them. But otherwise, extremely relatable.

 

I never would have thought that simply asking my friend about her makeup one day would lead to all of this - owning a whole fansite, my insane magazine/dress/merch collection, traveling the world for 15 shows, meeting amazing friends through her & even being able to meet Lana herself and thank her for all that she's done for me - it's just unreal. I always wonder what would have happened if I never discovered Lana that day back in January of 2012. I'm sure I would have stumbled upon her somehow, but would I have ever dove deeper into her music and became such the huge fan that I am today that's led me to have so many wonderful and important life experiences? It's always surprising to me when I reflect back on the smallest of gestures that have changed my entire world. This was definitely one of them. & one of the biggest ones at that.

New LFL Demo lyrics inspired this post, huh?

 

In 2011, I was an avid reader of a handful of indie music blogs. One of them published Video Games on July 1, 2011 (I actually found the entry!!!), and I was instantly hooked. The aesthetics of the video, her look, her sound, her lyrics... I felt like it was all made personally for me. The subsequent months I had so much fun following her rise to fame, and constantly discovering new things about her!

Shoutout to a fellow old-timer.

 

The first time I listened to Lana was in May 2010 - a music blog recommended the demo version of Diet Mtn Dew and I checked it out on YouTube and really liked it though I wasn't instantly hooked; her voice kind of "irritated" me at that time (in a good way). But Lana startet to really make an impact on my music listening habits in 2011 with "Kinda outta luck" (and several other songs that were around at that time). Then "Video Games" was released and I followed her ever since.

Oh damn, you're really old-school! In my sleuthing I've stumbled across blog posts from that time that posted Diet Mtn Dew, but I've met few people who can actually trace their introduction to her back that far. Respect.

 

I was on Youtube back in 2012 looking for this particular song I heard on MTV years earlier but could never identify. Still haven't found it. If anyone could help me -- the music video is about a girl in her bedroom with a tiny clone of herself dancing on her furniture.

Because I can't resist a challenge... Anything else you remember about the song or artist or even an idea of what year it was?

Edited January 30, 2020 by evilentity