Music Blog: What Lana Did Next

She writes. She sings. She models. She has a degree in Metaphysics. She designed a collection of handbags for Mulberry that should be kept in glass cases so that people like me don’t get upset upon realising they’re actually real things that real people in the real world really do own. She directed her own film and has starred as the title singer for some of Hollywood’s most anticipated releases.

That’s one strong CV.

The description of a multi-talented celebrity often conjures up the image of your average Paris Hilton talent-void industry clone, making monotonous ‘songs’ and perfumes that smell like the sickly glitter lip glosses that come free with preteen magazines.

Genuinely multi-talented celebrities? Oh, I hear you laugh. But they exist, I promise you. They exist in the form of Lana Del Rey.

Lana’s first album Born to Die reached number one in 11 countries. Her sound has been coined as ‘Baroque-Pop’ (come on, who else makes that? Who had even heard of that before her? No one. That’s why she’s great.) It’s glamorous and orchestral in a way that is still current.

Her lyrics read like poetry. She’s described herself as a writer first and singer second, drawing on everything from being a teenager at strict boarding school to living in a trailer park and playing night after night to crowds in bars that didn’t really want to hear her. Today, it’s easy to get lost in the world of Lana’s unreleased tracks, with lyrics that you recognise as making it through to her album. “I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers…It’s all authentic” she pointed out in an interview for Complex’s February 2012 Issue. She’s a fascinating person with real talent; that’s what makes her so good.

Her own film Tropico was praised as cinematically stunning. It may appear surreal to those who aren’t well versed in Del Rey’s music, but the figures of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and even Jesus feature in her lyrics as familiar friends. The Garden of Eden and a strip club both feature as backdrops; out there, yes, but she explores some pretty big themes: sin, corruption, love and loss.

She’s one clever lady.

After rising to fame with her own work, Del Rey didn’t stop there. Young and Beautiful became the award winning title track for Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby. Her vocals bring the modern soundtrack back into the luxuriously mysterious world of the 1920s. 2014’s upcoming movie Maleficent features Lana singing ‘Once upon a Dream’ for the adaptation of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. Her eerie vocals fit the haunting twist on the classic tale perfectly. She knows what she’s doing, and she does it well.

Lana just proves she’s always writing, always collaborating, and always looking for projects that are going to let her use her creative talents in a way that isn’t forced. I absolutely cannot wait for the release of her second album Ultraviolence. Now, time to find a small mortgage for one of those Del Rey Mulberries. 

Photo Sources

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Edited by Luisa Parnell

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