(Found at: https://genius.com/Genius-users-lana-del-rey-discography-annotated )

During this period her physical appearance was much more casual and understated- or 'girl next door'.

(Found at: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5xayVRtS5P/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw== )

The video comprises of found footage of celebrities, teenage boys skateboarding around L.A’s palm tree lined streets, the sign for iconic Los Angeles hotel, The Chateau Marmont, and personal footage.

It marked the birth of the ‘sad girl’ tumblr aesthetic whilst redefining g popular music and birthing a trend for nostalgia and retrospection, especially within American pop culture.

The song and its videos impact and legacy is undeniable.

In 2012, T magazine distastefully described ‘the subject of Del Rey’s mouth’ as ‘an irresistible one’.

(found in the article below:

https://www.thecut.com/2012/02/lana-del-rey-lips-t-magazine-fashion.html)

In 2012 she discussed re-releasing her pulled album Lana Del Ray A.K.A Lizzy Grant.

(found at: https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/lana-del-rey-to-re-release-her-lizzy-grant-album-79659

Some fans and critics now refer to this period of her career as her 'lost era'.

(Found at: https://i-d.co/article/the-greatest-lana-del-rey-songs-that-never-made-an-official-album/)

In the next paragraph, they claim: ‘She may or may not have had significant plastic surgery’.

(Quote from: https://pittnews.com/article/15229/archives/lana-del-rey-overly-ridiculed-for-persona-reimagination/)

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/lana-del-rey-music-buzz-2011-she-real-162024107.html

The ‘tumblr sad girl’ era can be defined as one in which female sadness, fragility and vulnerability were made to look beautiful and eroticised on the internet, specifically on the then-popular social media app Tumblr.

This defining cultural archetype of the 2010s can be characterised by the act of digital selfhood and personal confessionalism online, alongside feminine performativity combined with the romanticising of vulnerability and sadness.

https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/36831/1/the-arc-of-lana-del-reys-art-and-her-nostalgia-obsession?

She inhibits Eurocentric beauty standards on the surface, with a visible influence by white female stars from the 50s and 60s such as Priscilla Presley and Marilyn Monroe. At the beginning of her career, she branded herself as a 'Gangster Nancy Sinatra'. (https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/music/has-lana-del-rey-earned-her-gangster-nancy-sinatra-reputation-1.357214)

Over her fourteen year career performing and releasing as Lana Del Rey, she has combined pastiche and myth-making to portray herself to her audience and create a layered persona.

Her star persona integrates and weaves together nostalgia, cultural commentary, and classic Americana. Del Rey has always drawn from a broad ouvre of references including other musicians, writers and American iconography and mythology, in order to establish and develop her own image and persona.

(Photo found at: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/woman-of-the-year-lana-del-rey)

The reviewer suggests that Del Rey’s comfortable background and supportive father (mentioned in the review) doesn't align with the narrative she describes on the album. For example, in Radio, she sings ‘no one even knows how hard life was’.

The article claims, ‘There’s always the chance that she’s playing a character’, demonstrating the beginning of inauthenticity accusations that Lana Del Rey has faced her whole career, and has frequently claimed are baseless.

However, despite the questions about authenticity, the reviewer awards the album four out of five stars, and acknowledges its strong musical production and melodies, however, is less enthusiastic about her lyricism.

The performance was extremely badly recieved, with critics and audiences confused by her lacklustre stage presence and drowsy, flat voice. (https://www.theringer.com/2019/08/29/music/lana-del-rey-born-to-die-video-games-snl-norman-rockwell-brian-williams-hipster-runoff)

(performance available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I62I3r2f-8&list=RD2I62I3r2f-8&start_radio=1)

Wiig as Del Rey also notably joked that ‘Based on the public’s response, I must have instead clubbed a baby seal while singing the Taliban national anthem.’ (regarding Del Rey’s SNL performance).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTR-dS4lptc

In the video she juxtaposes traditional old Hollywood aesthetics with the 'modern', or 'provocative' casting choice of JFK, also reflecting her general tendency to both romanticise and critique beliefs about America.

While in a broader sense Jackie symbolises grace, composure, and dignity, Marilyn symbolises vulnerability, sensuality, and tragedy. By embodying both, Lana positions herself as complex, and resistant to being reduced to just one female archetype. Her star image is deliberately layered, and rather than aligning herself with one 'type' of woman, (in this case, 'the wife' or 'the other woman') she embodies both, confusing two contrasting cultural ideals of American femininity together.

The video takes inspiration from Lynch's recognisable surrealist style, and both the video and overall campaign play into Del Rey's vintage Hollywood aesthetic and soft femininity. Despite her being perceived as a more niche musician than her contemporaries, a mainstream fashion brand such as H&M choosing to use her as the front woman for the collection demonstrated how her nostalgic, 'sad girl' image also had broad commercial appeal. Furthermore, this also in hindsight reflected the 'tumblr' aesthetic of 2012 (as mentioned previously).

(advert available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwCitgDib-g&list=RDBwCitgDib-g&start_radio=1 )

She explains that in the trailer park, "you can have your own place...it's a chance at your own life" and also makes many references to things she mentions in her later song lyrics, such as growing blue hydrangeas in her garden (Old Money, 2014).

The representation of Lizzy that this interview portrays, as a nervous and shy twenty-two year old woman, who has not yet fully constructed the ‘Lana Del Rey’ character she would later embody, offers a genuine insight into Grant's early days as an artist.

(Quote from: https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts/album-review-lana-del-rey-ultraviolence-1.259201)

The song recieved backlash, as she was percieved as romanticising abuse and eroticising submissive femininity. Despite the fact that there isn't an overt depiction of the ‘ultraviolence’ she sings about in the music video, it is emotionally implied, as she passively and aimlessly wanders through a lush garden in a bridal gown and veil, the sadness and submissiveness conveyed on her face infer she is a passive victim at the hands of the man she sings about.

(Fun fact, Del Rey performed at Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's wedding in 2014).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-45704579

This attitude is reflected in the music video for Ultraviolence, although how she represents herself through the song lyrics and the videos imagery may not necessarily be deemed as politically correct or empowering for women, for Del Rey it is her truth and her art, which takes precedence over activism.

Despite inauthenticity claims around her star image, it is arguable that the emphasis Del Rey places on her art reflecting her more difficult experiences as a woman, though it may be less 'acceptable', is actually much more authentic than singing a female empowerment anthem which doesn't reflect her experience.

(interview available at: https://www.nme.com/features/lana-del-rey-interview-lust-for-life-2017-2113496)

Her public contribution to the hexing both strengthened her reputation as a slight outsider who enjoys being transgressive, whilst transforming a political statement into another layer of her self-made legend.

https://i-d.co/article/witches-and-lana-del-rey-plot-mass-hexing-of-donald-trump-tonight/

https://open.spotify.com/album/6HTt2MmerBVW0TjGUwfzBD

The post became infamous, and created the biggest controversy she has faced to date. Within it, she details her experience of making music about being a more 'submissive' woman in toxic or abusive relationships and how this has resulted in many (arguably reasonable) criticisms that her work has glamorised abuse. She stated ‘Im fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorize abuse’, and in a later paragraph went on to say ‘I've been honest and optimistic about the challenging relationships I've had. News flash! That's just how it is for many women’.

In the piece she infers that she doesn't feel that theres a place in feminism for ‘women who look and act like me...the kind of women who are slated mercilessly for being their authentic, delicate selves, The kind of women who get their own stories and voices taken away from them by stronger women or by men who hate women’.

In positioning herself in such a way against these other non-white female artists, many felt that Del Rey (implicitly) set up a racial contrast and divide, simultaneously victimising herself, a white woman, as somebody dealing with unfair double standards. The wording of the statement seemed to disregard any of the struggles the named artists may have faced as women of colour, and was widely received as self-centred and out of touch. As a result, she was accused of racism, and a tension was created between her cultivated star image, and the reality of her privilege, which she didn't seem able to recognise.

An article in The Guardian claimed the post was a 'swipe' at her peers, but also brought up the fact it was "an odd time to make these complaints" given the context that it was during a huge surge in the Black Lives Matter Movement, and there was also a pandemic taking place.

(Article available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/21/lana-del-rey-criticising-peers-undermines-feminist-argument

Half of the proceeds from the book went towards Native American organisations which included the Navajo Water Project. The initial advance she recieved for the book was used to donate $350,000 to the Dig Deep project to provide clean water to the Navajo Nation. 

Del Rey said that she chose to make this donation as a way of connecting with the American Nation's lineage and to offer a reparative act.

https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/lana-del-rey-donates-350k-from-own-book-to-help-navajo-nation-clean-water

and it seems like it's only getting worse
Down here in Florida we're fighting red toxic tides

Mass of fish kills

Not to mention hurricans and rising sea levels

Back in Los Angeles, things aren't looking much better

My treehouse that'd been standing for 80 years succumbed to the woolsy fire’

‘Our leader is a meglomaniac,
And we've seen that before
But never 'cause it was what the country deserved’

‘And I had big dreams for the country

Not for what it could do, but how it could feel

How it could think, how it could dream’

Her social media feels unpolished and fun for those who consume it- creating an impression of a star who is unbothered about maintaining a carefully curated image.

This widespread praise signifies a consolidation of Del Rey’s long-sought artistic credibility, reinforcing her star image as one rooted in both glamorous and curated aesthetics, as well as substantial creative depth and talent.

The album’s reception marks her evolution from a pop star often characterised by her visual style, 'starlet' image, and divisiveness, to a fully realised artist recognised for her intelligence, sensitivity, and complexity.

Though five years old now, what she reflects upon including the existentialism of climate change and the political disarray in America, is still highly relevant. Her sharing her concerns and fears about these issues shows she is not unaffected just because of her star status, with the project overall feeling very personal, giving fans and critics an insight into Lana's inner world, what's important to her, and how she experiences the world, in a different way than her music is able to.

She announced whilst performing- ‘for what it’s worth, every ticket, every dollar, it is poured right back into the city...I know that sounds cheesy, but I tour because I love it… I don’t need to. I just love it, and we’re all about the places we’ve been to’.

Her star image as a proud American, as well as a compassionate human being, is authenticated through this decision, and the move positions her as somebody who is driven by her values and empathy, but also as someone who genuinely loves her country and wants to find ways of improving it, if she can.

At this particular performance she continued singing acapella style, even after the sound had been shut off due to Glastobury's noise regulations.

Her tendency to arrive on stage late has stirred up annoyance for fans and contributed to a 'diva' perception of Del Rey, as she behaves outside of conventional expecations of professionalism or punctuality, however this is in line with her long time attitude of 'the rules don't apply to me'.

The uncertainty over whether she'll be on time for her audience may contribute to the 'mystique' and 'exceptionality' of her star image, however it has also resulted in allegations of laziness and lack of professionalism.

In 2013, she discussed her inclusion on the soundtrack, saying it was ‘an honour to work with Baz Luhrmann on his amazing adaptation of one of the most extraordinary books ever written...the movie is highly glamorous and exciting’.

(Found at: https://www.digitalspy.com/music/a471300/lana-del-rey-on-great-gatsby-its-highly-glamorous-and-exciting)

She also worked with Disney in 2014, performing a cover of Once Upon a Dream, originally from Sleeping Beauty (1959), for the film Maleficent. In the same year, she also wrote two original songs for Tim Burton's biopic about painter Margaret Keane, Big Eyes, with both songs earning Golden Globe nominations.

In terms of television, Del Rey wrote an original song - Watercolour Eyes for HBO's Euphoria in 2022, and also performed a cover of Ella Fitzgerald's Blue Skies for Apple TV's The New Look, a drama about Christian Dior and Coco Chanel.

Del Rey's work on the aforementioned soundtracks plays a significant role in both shaping her star image and advancing her identity as an artist. In her contributions to cinematic projects, she develops the perception of herself as an artist whose music falls within the scope of visual storytelling. Specifically, with her contributions to the soundtracks of The Great Gatsby and Big Eyes, she is placed within classic American mythology and storytelling.

The appearance followed the release of Did you know that theres a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, an album in which she sings about many of the ordinary aspects of American life, including her family, attending church and conversations with her pastor, and listening to music in bed with the man she loves. Her appearance at Waffle House fits into the album's narrative in this way, as she blurs the line between being an international star and an everyday American, whilst situating herself within the working-class settings she often romanticises within her music.

She is candidly self-deprecating as she puffs on a vape whilst getting her hair and makeup done, saying ‘I'm late, obviously’. At the end of the video, after performing at Leeds festival, she is visibly flustered and exhausted, saying ‘that was a long one’ (show), reinforcing the belief amongst many that she doesn't enjoy performing to big crowds very much. Here, her star image is more vulnerable than overtly confident or diva-esque.

A fan featured in the video says through tears, ‘I love you and I love that song so much, you've shaped my teenage years, thank you’. The inclusion of this clip demonstrates how Del Rey has cultivated genuine connection and devotion over the years. The blend of ordinary intimacy with Lana that we gain from this tour video, alongside a fan's profound and emotional response to her, portrays her star image as both mythic and very human.

Although many viewed them as an unlikely pairing, she has since spoken candidly about her love for her husband and the authenticity of their bond, explaining, ‘I really feel like there’s kind of a singer’s curse around meeting an honest partner who has no skin in the game, no dog in the race’.

Assumptions were also made about his political allegiance, due to his background, however, in a message exchange with a fan, Dufrene shared that he is disillusioned with politics, and therefore apolitical. Some fans felt disappointed with Lana's choice, considering her past political outspokenness, especially regarding Donald Trump. She has also chosen to be quiet since Trump's time in office this time around.

(Quote from: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/24/lana-del-rey-review-principality-stadium-cardiff-tour)

Despite the ambitious set design and beautiful costumes, some fans felt that the shows were slightly lazy. Lana was late to a few of them, and the setlist was relatively short for a stadium show (around 90 minutes).

How she presented herself on the tour further developed the complexity of her star image. The contrast between grand, cinematic staging and her moments of visible vulnerability —such as crying on stage, needing her husband for comfort, and arriving late-reflects the central tension in her persona: the interaction between artifice, performativity, and authenticity. Some fans viewed these moments as signs of detachment from the audience or general disinterest; however, they arguably also reinforce her long-standing rejection of traditional pop professionalism and perfection.

Lana claims that she works based on her intuition, and that her record label understands this about her, having said in 2023, ‘If I feel like the timing isn’t right or I don’t feel like some kind of situation or plan is right, they’ve always backed me 100 per cent’.

Her instinct-driven approach to her creative work reinforces Del Rey’s star image as an artist who values authenticity and emotional intuition over commercialism.

Since her wedding in September 2024 Lana has been presumed to be enjoying a happy married life with Jeremy Dufrene, whilst artistic projects seemingly have been put on hold.

She shared photos of her and Dufrene's wedding on her Instagram for the first time to mark their one year anniversary, in September 2025.

Her decision as an international artist with millions of followers, to deactivate her social media, and thus withdraw from the public eye in a way, reinforced the defining aspects of her star persona. Del Rey has always thrived off mystique and non-conformity, which she demonstrated in choosing to opt out of a celebrity culture which is obsessed with constant visibility. Her exit exhibited her persona as an artist who exists outside contemporary celebrity expectations.

(found at: https://consequence.net/2023/08/billie-eilish-lana-del-rey-born-to-die/)

Eilish has also claimed that her song Ocean Eyes, would not exist without the influence of Del Rey.

(found at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/billie-eilish-ocean-eyes-lana-del-rey-1235007087/)