Lana Del Rey: Trial and error

The newcomer seems to be gasping for air at the deep end of the music industry

ISLAMABAD: Everyone’s talking about Lana Del Rey (born Elizabeth Grant) these days. The singer’s following and listeners are in the same vein as Lady Gaga’s — some adore her quirkiness while others seriously lambaste the artist.

The songstress — who channels a hipster, old-Hollywood style — is a newcomer to the music scene and has been making waves with her soulful lyrics (not to mention her killer looks). Rey started out as ‘Lizzy Grant’ in 2010 but didn’t get much success at the initial stages of her life. Recently, however, the revamped 25-year-old supernova infiltrated mainstream music when her song “Videogames” played during a pivotal scene of the TV show “Ringer”. Luckily for Rey, this inadvertent promotion resulted in an instant increase in downloads. Her album Born to Die is set to release worldwide on January 31.

Her video for “Born to Die” bears all the hallmarks of Rey’s distinctive style — throaty vocals, intriguing visuals, a dreamy aesthetic and a generous sprinkling of glamour and edginess. Many have started referring to her as 2012’s self-styled Nancy Sinatra. The viewer’s were particularly impressed by the two large tigers on each side of Rey in the video, while she sits back on an ornate throne wearing a garland. This is her in death, singing from the halls of paradise for a lost, troubled love, for her personal James Dean-inspired bad boy (who features in most of her tracks. We’re assuming Rey got dumped, and bad); it’s easy to see why she’s become a quick favourite.

However, Rey bombed her recent performance on “Saturday Night Live (SNL)”, delivering lukewarm vocals and a nervous disposition. Naturally, critics jumped to the occasion and panned the singer with ruthless invective. Take celebrity blogger Michael Kay of Dlisted, for instance, who said, “Lana sounded like a Japanese person trying to sing in English with a German accent. I’m sure what came out of her mouth, is like the sounds that come out of a walrus’s mouth when it’s doing high school theatre vocal exercises.”

Similarly, the Chicago Tribune’s Greg Kot took Rey to the chopping block, as he commented, “Born to Die positions itself as a knowing retro-commentary. It borrows heavily from B-grade movies starring various Rebel Without a Cause-inspired bad boys on motorcycles, string-drenched ‘Last Kiss’ pop tunes in which young lovers die in each other’s arms, beehived teens-with-attitude declaring, ‘He hit me and it felt like a kiss’. In an album full of sultry Lolitas practically begging to be abused, there’s even a song called ‘Lolita’. If that all sounds like a recipe for some campy fun — it isn’t.”

Then again, worse performances have been witnessed on the set of “SNL” and Rey isn’t the only train wreck to botch a live performance. “SNL” cast member Andy Sandberg and host Daniel Radcliffe (yes, even Harry Potter has raised his wand to vindicate Rey) were quick to jump to the songstress’ defense, saying that people weren’t giving her a chance and condemned her unfairly for her chequered past.

Still, it’s too early to say anything definitive about Rey, who might just surprise us yet with an award-winning performance. Her American tour will be taking off in February so chances are that the sultry star might country-hop her way back into the public’s heart.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2012.