Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, a.k.a. Lana Del Rey, got off to a somewhat rocky start in music. After signing a record deal, Lizzy Grant recorded an album that was shelved after she changed management and her name. People began to take notice of her when she released ‘Video Games’ on YouTube, and followed that with the ‘Born to Die’ album in 2012, a grand display of youthful drama with Del Rey’s sultry, molasses vocals poured over sleepy trip-hop drums and dense strings. But Del Rey seems constantly at odds with her own success. When asked how long she was able to enjoy success before things went bad, she replied, "I never felt any of the enjoyment. It was all bad, all of it." The songstress released ‘Ultraviolence’ in 2014, with a title track that dangerously tweaks the Crystals’ ‘He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)’ for modern times. The sense of doom and mystery Del Rey holds of her music makes it all that much heavier.
- Selected Discography: ‘Born to Die’ (2012), ‘Ultraviolence’ (2014)
- Further Reading: 18 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Lana Del Rey, Lana Del Rey Finallys Gets Some Respect