Up and coming: Lana Del Rey

LANA DEL REY

Who is Lana Del Rey?

This week’s internet sensation, one with the name and looks of a Hollywood siren, but who was born Lizzy Grant from Lake Placid, New York.

What’s the story?

Like many a starlet before her, Grant has been chasing fame for a while, touting her wares round the singer/songwriter bars of NY’s Lower East Side. She already has an album to her (old) name, which she has described as “autobiographical and beautiful”, but it was only fleetingly available on iTunes before being withdrawn for being too dark.

So what changed?

Adopting the stage name Lana Del Rey, she remodelled as a self-styled “gangster Nancy Sinatra” and released a couple of videos online. Now fame has arrived on her doorstep bigtime. Her debut single Video Games had clocked up 1,669, 119 views on YouTube last we checked.

Yeah, but is she any good?

Based on the handful of songs currently available, yes. Sparse, seductive noir pop in the Mazzy Star vein which lives up to the label “Hollywood sadcore”.

What are other people saying?

“She leaves the impression of someone both shrewd and vulnerable, which combined with the quality of her songs, is not only an intriguing concoction, but feels like the embodiment of genuine star quality” – The Observer

Where can I hear more?

lanadelrey.com

• Video Games/Blue Jeans is released as a download on 16 October and, on 17 October, as a 7-inch vinyl picture disc on Stranger Records. Lana Del Rey plays Oran Mor, Glasgow on 5 November.