Born To Die and its backlash had made her vulnerable, and she’d learned her lesson.īut there was still a nostalgic element. But unlike the cover of her debut, there’s a barrier – the car – to keep us at arm’s length. On the cover she stands blocked by the door of an old car while wearing a white t-shirt. But its album art seemed like an act of self-preservation. Similar to Born To Die, Ultraviolence’s lyrics served to reflect the musical world she created and not the world we all lived in. Released in 2014, the album reaffirmed Del Rey’s industry permanence (between 20 she released an EP, a short film, and sang the theme to The Great Gatsby) and also her restraint. Which is what made her sophomore release, Ultraviolence, so interesting.

Pitchfork rated the album a 5.5 and claimed it was “awkward and out of date.” And that was according to critics who commented on her “sexy” image while dismissing her SNL performance as proof of how ready for the big time she wasn’t. She wasn’t vintage “enough” – she was too 2012 too flighty, too non-committal. But instead, her aesthetic morphed her into the poster girl for hipster culture gone rogue by embodying what seemed like a give-and-take approach to nostalgia. Had she buried herself in vintage clothes, she would’ve established herself as a niche artist, one on-par with The Pipettes or The Like, whose music reflected the decade they represented with what they wore. With Del Rey clad in a white button-up, she stared down the camera and left enough space for us to project our assumptions, which made the backlash easier.

Specifically, her approach to album covers – photographed by her sister, Chuck Grant – tell their own story, separate from the one Lana delivers in videos and in interviews.īorn To Die was a blank slate.

This week, Del Rey will drop Lust For Life, her fourth full-length album that features collaborations with The Weeknd and Stevie Nicks, which continues to build on her melancholic interpretation of the past.īut while sixties girl groups and Brenda Lee ballads define a good part of LDR’s sound (when “Summertime Sadness” isn’t being remixed), it’s her approach to visuals that complete her affinity for a narrative defined by nostalgia. After a lacklustre appearance on SNL in January 2012, the Del Rey backlash began and eclipsed any real conversations about the release of Born To Die, her debut LP, released shortly after. If anything, “Video Games” could be construed as a type of commentary: through the lens and sound of the past, even harassment at the hands of media could seem dreamy – even romantic. Her music may have evoked Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, but her video featured fuzzy imagery of Paz De La Huerta (then starring on Boardwalk Empire) being hounded by the paparazzi. And, because nostalgia was still a novelty at the time, LDR’s approach to it still seemed fresh. Plus, the track was accompanied by a video that worked to establish her as a personification of the past: with winged liner and bouffant hair, she was heralded as the second coming of Nancy Sinatra. In 2011, the artist formerly known as Lizzy Grant gave us “Video Games,” a song rich in sweeping instrumentals that contrasted her delicate voice. Lana Del Rey’s relationship with nostalgia runs deep.

Lana del rey album cover poster