How You Discovered Lana

[LanaRayDelMar 2,743]

and well... here we are!

[Sugar Venom 9,658]

I found her through 1d stan twitter

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,050]

Y’all are making me so nostalgic

 

My beginnings with Lana are kind of fuzzy, but I can place the start in the first quarter of 2012: I was in 5th grade (!!!), and it was before we moved to another town in the summer of that year. I vividly remember listening to Off to the Races on my little MP3 player while I swung on my tire swing in the front yard (Ride WHO) — I have absolutely no clue how I discovered it, but it was most definitely love at first listen! As a kid who was hung up on listening to 60’s girl groups, something about the music made sense to me — mixing the retro melodrama of the Shangri-Las with shades of modern pop beats and sensibilities was like bridging the worlds inside of me and outside of me.

 

As much as I absolutely adored OTTR, the only other tracks I seem to remember stumbling across were Get Drunk and Kill Kill, either of which I also have no idea how I found — but I guess I’ve been a Lizzy stan since day 1!

 

Regardless, excepting OTTR, which remained a constant in my library, I lost track of Lana for a couple years. I recall being aware of (but unimpressed with) the Summertime Sadness remix, although I don’t think I realized it was her — all I knew was that I thought she sang “sizzling like a snail”, because my best friend and I laughed over it when we heard it on the radio in our middle school cafeteria

 

Then, somewhere around the middle of 2014 or so, I started really expanding my music tastes, and I wanted to hear more of wherever OTTR came from, as it’d been a favorite for two years — thus, I heard BTD, and Radio (which I kinda hate now lmao) turned me into a full-fledged stan! I caught up as fast as I could, and by the time Honeymoon was announced, I was hooked enough to be thrilled about a new album — sometime in that hype, I joined here!

 

I think, though, waiting anxiously for the BBC radio premiere of Salvatore was the moment I realized how much a fan I was (and that song remains a favorite, as does OTTR, which is still second place ONLY to Put Me in a Movie!!!!)

 

The only artist I’ve been a fan of for longer than Lana (if we’re counting from when I discovered them) is Janelle Monae, who beat Lana by a year — but I think Lana is still my #1, even though I can’t stand her sometimes The music still slaps after 8 years, tho!

[YUNGATA 14,955]

I think it was either late July or August 2011, someone I chatted with a lot on tumblr (lol) had reblogged Video Games as an audio file. I was so hooked. I didn't actually listen to a lot of pop back then and was very hard into my mid-west emo/post-rock/math rock phase (all largely male dominated genres) but it reminded me of how much I loved female vocalists. From there I just spent heaps of time in the lana del rey tag, finding AKA tracks which at the time I mistakenly assumed were her newest tracks. Tumblr was absolutely obsessed with her so it was really easy to find unreleased tracks, old photos etc. July 2012 I saw her live in my city and I think that was the moment I decided to stan forever. A few months after that I found lanaboards and the rest is history. I feel like 2011 Ata finding lana is a totally different person to who I am now, but lana has remained a constant. 

[unlikelysweet 215]

It was the summer of 2011, I was in Colombia visiting my family and some spanish music tv station played the video games music video. I remember listening to it and thinking I had never heard of music like this and I loved it, I made it a point to look her up later but I forgot. Then in 2012, a friend asked me if I knew about lana and played born to die and video games and I was like oh yeah!! I forgot about her. and by the time 2013 young and beautiful happened, I was hooked.

[CrazySister 2,239]

I was about to turn 11 when I discovered her through a magazine site from my country. I would visit that site and see every post about style, make up, do quizzes like "what celebrity could be your bff?" (they always gave Taylor Swift btw). So one of these posts was a presentation of Lana Del Rey and her song "Video Games". I didn't watch because I had (still have) this habit of looking later  . But I would often see her in the posts about style and what that celebrity wore in this award, etc. I remember thinking she was the most normal, in terms of style, comparing to the pop girls back in the day, which I really liked (sorry Lady Gaga, Kesha and Katy Perry stans here   ). Everyone was always so eccentric, I wasn't a fan of those "weird and exaggerated styles". To have a notion, I didn't know how was Lady Gaga face until 2016, I think. 

 

But I didn't hear her music until the next year, when my friend asked me to download a list of songs for her and Blue Jeans and Video Games were there. I think I did see a few things about how she was fake, bad and blahblahblah, but didn't really pay attention. I listened to BJ and VG and it didn't get me because I didn't like her voice (I was more into light voices). Regardless the music, I don't remember if I liked or not, her voice really dazzled everything. I remember I gave it a shot to Ride when it came out, but again, her voice   . Can you imagine how I felt when I started searching about her and discovered she was singing deeper because people made fun of her voice? Yeah.....................

[Kurac na Biciklu 2,359]

 

Hmmm...

[Beautiful Loser 48,805]

I believe I have already told about my story in another thread, but I could share it again. I really liked reading everybody else's stories too. ♥

 

Living in a larger city in Sweden, you can find H&M stores pretty much anywhere you go. This was fall 2012, during Lana's campaign with H&M and I would see her face pretty much everywhere. But, I'm always a bit late and maybe skeptical when it comes to artists I don't know yet. She had a pretty face, but I wasn't interested enough to look up her music.

But Lana's name was popping up (what felt like) everywhere too - H&M pictures, briefly mentioned in newspaper columns etc. Lana Del Rey, Lana Del Rey, Lana Del Rey... The name got stuck in my head! It rolls perfectly on your tongue, it's elegant. So I guess I decided to look her up one day.

So I went to Youtube and searched her name. I think I listened to Summertime Sadness first - didn't like it - and then Video games - didn't like it either. So, thinking that her music wasn't for me, I closed the tabs and carried on with my day. But her name, it was impossible to forget. Somehow, I must've forgotten that I had checked her out once already, so I did the same thing again, went on Youtube, listened to the music but still - not for me. It wasn't until the third time I think when I began to appreciate Summertime Sadness and Video Games, Born To Die was still too slow and her voice a lot darker than what I was used to. But it didn't take long until loved what I heard and began following her on Twitter. Then I bought BTD-Paradise edition from a record store one late winter day in early 2013 (I think?). I remember reading the lyric booklet on the train station, trying to remember the melody to National Anthem, and I couldn't wait to go home and play it. I hadn't listened to the album on Spotify yet, which is rare, because I rarely buy an album without listening through it all.

So I put it on in the living room, and I remember feeling petrified for a split second when she sang "my pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola" and my parents were sitting right next to me. xD But I also remember that my dad really loved hearing Ride. And my mom asked me if this was a girl group, because Lana's voice can go very low and very light and high, as we know.

 

And, well, I was hooked. I played the songs over and over and eventually discovered her unreleased tracks on youtube as well. When I heard QOD, I was farily sure it was the same song a radio station had played a LOT (I remember the screaming part at the end and the beat of the song) during one summer (the same summer?).I was curious to see what this "Tropico" movie premiere was and I wasn't sure what to think of it when I first saw it, haha. At least I appreciate it a lot more today than I did back then.

[CrazySister 2,239]

I was about to turn 11 when I discovered her through a magazine site from my country. I would visit that site and see every post about style, make up, do quizzes like "what celebrity could be your bff?" (they always gave Taylor Swift btw). So one of these posts was a presentation of Lana Del Rey and her song "Video Games". I didn't watch because I had (still have) this habit of looking later  . But I would often see her in the posts about style and what that celebrity wore in this award, etc. I remember thinking she was the most normal, in terms of style, comparing to the pop girls back in the day, which I really liked (sorry Lady Gaga, Kesha and Katy Perry stans here   ). Everyone was always so eccentric, I wasn't a fan of those "weird and exaggerated styles". To have a notion, I didn't know how was Lady Gaga face until 2016, I think. 

 

But I didn't hear her music until the next year, when my friend asked me to download a list of songs for her and Blue Jeans and Video Games were there. I think I did see a few things about how she was fake, bad and blahblahblah, but didn't really pay attention. I listened to BJ and VG and it didn't get me because I didn't like her voice (I was more into light voices). Regardless the music, I don't remember if I liked or not, her voice really dazzled everything. I remember I gave it a shot to Ride when it came out, but again, her voice   . Can you imagine how I felt when I started searching about her and discovered she was singing deeper because people made fun of her voice? Yeah.....................

Omg, I think I just found those old posts about her!     Sorry, it's in portuguese, but if you still want to take a look:

https://capricho.abril.com.br/famosos/aposta-da-semana-voce-precisa-e-muito-conhecer-a-cantora-lana-del-rey/

(I'm suspected to say that I didn't like her face on the second picture. I was never a big fan of Nicole or tan so...  )

 

I remember clearly, one of the covers was her show dresses! This one was originally publicated in august 2012 (Idk why the other is dating 2015, but I'm pretty sure it 2011 or 2012 too)  

https://capricho.abril.com.br/moda/estilo-de-estrela-lana-del-rey/

[SparkleJumpropeNoose 8,750]

i played hella roblox in middle school and one of the girls i played with was a huge lana stan and would play lana songs on our building server and i really liked the sound of her ~2010 bubblegum pop type shit so i checked her out and spiraled into becoming a stan

 

she is also the reason i joined this site fun fact

[Deleted Member 23,728]

i think how i started listening to Lana is actually kind of a funny story so i wanted to share; i’ve always been a huge Taylor Swift fan, she was the first artist besides like disney channel music that i ever remember actively liking. if Taylor deliberately copied is up for debate because Anthony Mandler directed both videos, but the similarities between Ride and Taylor’s I Knew You Were Trouble music video are absolutely uncanny, like ridiculously uncanny… in December 2012, right after Taylor released the IKYWT music video, all of the comments on it were about how she ripped off Lana’s Ride video. I hadn’t ever heard of Lana yet, but I was wondering what all of the fuss was about so I pulled up the Ride music video to see what everyone was talking about, and the rest is history

[Vertimus 9,555]

‘American Idol’ was on at a friend’s and as we were talking, someone from the audience asked the contestant to sing ‘Summertime Sadness, by Lane Del Rey,’ and I thought the song sounded interesting, so I checked it out the following day, and the rest is history. 

[Vanilla Icy 29,602]

i was on tumblr a lot and stanned marina back in 2011, then when lana started to gain traction everyone who was stanning marina flocked to her.  she was discussed here and there, but once video games became an official single with the video in HD, everyone was talking about her.

[The Stargirl Pinky 71,658]

I think I may have said it before but in back in the day I was helping a friend study for a structural engineering exam and in return for my help she made me a mixtape that had a Lana demo and I fell in love. It was fun to roam around NYC around the same time LDR was there but sadly I never made it to one of her Lizzy shows! Anyway, the rest is history, entranced at first listen! 

[derrymore 196]

This is a sweet idea! I feel like Lana would love to read these. 
I remember when I was in middle school (2014-2017?) I would hear summertime sadness on the radio sometimes. I wasnt crazy about it but I remember enjoying it (that has obviously changed), I don’t think I knew who the artist was the first couple times it played.

 

13-16ish I listened to a lot of rap (a lil cringe but ok) so I wasn’t really discovering a whole lot of singers, just bc I was obsessed w some of these artists. But I did love playboi carti and I remember when summer bummer came out. I was very interested bc I knew Lana’s name and I thought playboi carti was an interesting feature so I checked it out. 
 

I definitely listened to that song 2017/18 and maybe in my feelings a bit. I had become close w two other ppl who did art at my school, one of them was a big Lana fan and I remember driving a couple times and them playing her. I specifically remember hearing Florida kilos for (I believe) the first time. And then w my friends in our art class, my art teacher (a 60 yr old women) was obsessed with lana. So she would play her in class sometimes and would even show me unreleased songs on YouTube after school. I also remember hearing raise me up which is one of my fave unreleased. I believe I remember my art teacher or friend telling me NFR came out and I also remember my art teacher being conflicted about whether or not to play Lana in class because of some of the content… haha. now Lana has been my top artist for the past couple years and honestly transformed my life for the positive. 
 

so basically my art teacher and friend were the gateway! Btw my art teacher still loves Lana which I love bc she is retired in her 60s! 
 

something I want to add! 
my sister whom is 4 yrs older actually had born to die downloaded on her iPod and listened to it when it came out. But I never remember her mentioning her! She only really listened a lot at that time

[derrymore 196]

On 2/5/2020 at 12:25 PM, SparkleJumpropeNoose said:

i played hella roblox in middle school and one of the girls i played with was a huge lana stan and would play lana songs on our building server and i really liked the sound of her ~2010 bubblegum pop type shit so i checked her out and spiraled into becoming a stan

 

she is also the reason i joined this site fun fact

That’s funny:) 

[Carmen Del Rey 2,075]

Aw I loved reading all of these, it makes me so happy and I'm so grateful for you @Elle, I know we all are! You've done amazing with this website and we all appreciate it so much.

My introduction to Lana was from tumblr. It was January of 2014, before Ultraviolence came out, and I'd only heard of people mentioning Lana on twitter. Never heard any of her music, but I will admit, I did know what she looked like, and I hate to say I kind of judged her appearance and wasn't sure if I'd like her music, so I never really gave it a chance. I thought she would be just another pop artist, and I'm not a huge fan of radio or mainstream pop. Little did I know she was neither of these things. I've had my tumblr blog since 2010, and four years later I'm scrolling down my timeline and I see a song called 'Carmen'. It had like two lines of lyrics under the song, and those lyrics alone got me interested enough to check the song out. I absolutely loved it, I was obsessed on first listen. I felt I related to it heavily because I had just gotten over a bad alcohol addiction. I went to youtube to listen to the rest of the album, and Off to The Races was my favorite (still my favorite from BTD). Then I thought, I've GOT to hear more from this woman. Listened to the Paradise EP and was obsessed, my favorite songs on the first listen are still my favorite from it to this day - Body Electric, Cola, Gods & Monsters. I then started researching more about her, learned about Lizzy Grant, May Jailer, and really just fell in love with her because I felt like we had similar life experiences, I'd never felt this connected to an artist's music since The Weeknd. When West Coast came out, I already knew the album Ultraviolence would be amazing. And it was. I've been a stan ever since. Followed her on everything, kept up with when she would be releasing new music, kept track of any interviews she would do, pretty sure I've listened to every interview there is out there. When the single Honeymoon came out, I can't even explain how obsessed I was with this new, dreamy sound. Honeymoon instantly became my new favorite album and still is to this day.

 

I'll never forget the day I discovered Carmen, my introduction to Lana on tumblr. Shoutout to tumblr for introducing me to LDR, an artist I'm not sure I would have gone out of my way to listen, because I judged her appearance and assumed it would be some type of bubblegum pop. Boy was I wrong. I'd never heard an artist like her in my life. The more I learned about her, the more I fell in love. I also discovered a lot of unreleased tracks that year, and I love pretty much all of them, even the bubblegum pop sounding tracks. The fact that she had hundreds of unreleased music out there pretty much made her the GOAT in my eyes. Carmen will forever be one of my favorite songs by her, there's so many memories attached to it.

 

I also want to add that ever since I heard Carmen, I made a vow to myself to give that name to my first daughter (if I have one). 8 years later and I still haven't changed my mind, Carmen WILL be the name of my first daughter.

[derrymore 196]

On 1/30/2020 at 9:52 AM, Barry said:

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.

Btw I love your profile pic 

[bia 1,116]

It was on 2011 I guess when my friend told me about a singer with a song named “Born To Die” and I found it really cringy lol but on 2013 I remembered listening to BTD album, I don’t remember why I surpassed the cringy feeling but I remember listening to Blue Velvet and finding it so beautiful, and then listening to Dark Paradise and enjoying it but being shocked with the lyrics. The same happened when I listened to Cola but in a opposite way lol

[Unidentified Major Tom 2,136]

I discovered Lana in 2011 in the french magazine Les inrocks. In their website they shared the videos of Video Games, Blue Jeans (the first one) and Kinda outta luck. I was immediately fascinated by her art and her aesthetics. 

And then I remember that every song which was released on youtube at the time, one by one, was like a little miracle :

Diet mtn dew, born to die, off to the races, national anthem... 

And so I became a fan.