Lana Del Rey’s sensual voice is utterly captivating, drawing listeners in and making them fall in love with her sound. The artist is famous for her melancholic, often nostalgic tone that permeates all of her songs. Critics frequently praise the singer’s artistry and the cinematic quality of her compositions and music videos. Thanks to her talent and unique beauty, Lana has won the hearts of millions of people worldwide. How did she achieve this success? We discuss her journey on manhattanski.com.
Childhood and Adolescence
Elizabeth Grant (her birth name) was born on June 21, 1985, in New York to a family of advertising executives. After her birth, the family moved to the village of Lake Placid. Elizabeth is not an only child; she has a sister, Caroline, and a brother, Charlie. From an early age, Grant showed an interest in music, loving to sing in the school choir. After school, the girl spent her time watching Hollywood movies.
In her teens, Elizabeth developed a struggle with alcohol. Noticing this, her parents sent their daughter to the Kent boarding school in Connecticut. After graduating, Elizabeth moved in with her aunt and uncle in Long Island, where she took on a job as a waitress. Soon after, her relatives taught her to play the guitar, and she began writing songs and giving mini-concerts in Brooklyn’s nightclubs.
Initially, Grant didn’t even consider a career in music, instead enrolling in the philosophy department at Fordham University.
The Start and Development of a Music Career
Elizabeth started her career with open mic nights and club concerts. In 2006, she participated in a songwriting competition but did not win. However, one of the judges helped her record a demo, which led to a contract with the indie label 5 Points. With the $10,000 advance from this contract, Grant moved to a trailer park in New Jersey. By the time her first album, titled Lizzy Grant, was released in 2010, Elizabeth had decided she wanted to work under the new name Lana Del Rey, which she chose during a trip to Miami, partly for its connection to coastal glamour.
Lana managed to create a signature sound of vulnerable, emotional alternative music infused with American nostalgia. Her aesthetic typically blends American iconography with a darker perspective, which she initially dubbed “Hollywood sadcore.” To match her new name, Elizabeth dyed her hair blonde and adopted a more retro-glamorous look.
Around the same time, she left her label and lived in London for a while, where she focused on songwriting with Justin Parker. Together, they created the song “Video Games,” which Lana Del Rey uploaded to YouTube along with a self-made music video after returning to the United States. It quickly became a viral hit and ultimately paved her way to global success.
The news that Del Rey had signed with Interscope Records in October 2011 led some to wonder if the “Video Games” clip, released earlier that summer, was a marketing stunt. There were also rumours that Lana’s father was a billionaire who was funding her career. However, in many of her interviews, the artist asserted that her family was never wealthy.
In 2012, Del Rey appeared on Saturday Night Live and faced criticism for being nervous and singing unconfidently. That same year, reviewers slammed her first studio album, Born to Die. Instead of stopping her, the criticism inspired Del Rey to keep creating. Furthermore, fans loved the Born to Die album, driving it to the top five on the Billboard 200 chart. From this point on, the singer’s career took off.
Breakout Songs, Best Albums
As of 2025, Lana Del Rey has released nine albums, including one under her real name, Elizabeth Grant. In February 2024, Lana Del Rey released her new album, Lasso.
The singer’s discography isn’t just made up of radio hits; she has created songs that have amassed billions of streams. Among them are multi-platinum hits like “Summertime Sadness,” “Young And Beautiful,” and “West Coast.”
Her early hits were boosted by viral music videos that shaped her artistic aesthetic. “Video Games” (2011) resonated with listeners thanks to its blend of vintage footage, old cartoons, and Hollywood imagery. The video for “Born to Die” was elaborate, featuring two tigers, and the final car crash scene evoked the film Rebel Without a Cause.
The track “Summertime Sadness” gained massive popularity after Cedric Gervais remixed it in an EDM style in 2013. This version peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the 2012 platinum original has sold the equivalent of 6 million copies.
Lana Del Rey’s voice has graced several film soundtracks. She wrote the song “Young and Beautiful” for the 2013 film remake of The Great Gatsby. This song, included on the movie’s soundtrack, was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2014, the artist recorded the song “Big Eyes” for the Tim Burton film of the same name, which earned a Golden Globe nomination.
In 2019, Lana Del Rey appeared alongside other pop stars on the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack with the song “Don’t Call Me Angel.”
Lana has always actively collaborated with other artists. She has worked with The Weeknd multiple times. In 2022, Del Rey co-wrote and featured on Taylor Swift’s song “Snow on the Beach” from her album Midnights.
Tours and Other Career Highlights
Lana Del Rey’s initial tours were mostly international. Then, in 2015, the singer embarked on the Endless Summer Tour, visiting 17 cities in the US. In 2018, her LA to the Moon tour saw an intense series of concerts in January and February. Lana also performed as part of The Norman F–g Rockwell tour in 2019 and gave a series of concerts in 2023 in support of her album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
Her widespread success opened up opportunities beyond the music world. She modelled for H&M, and the British luxury brand Mulberry created a signature handbag, The Del Rey, for her. In 2013, she directed the short film Tropico and released the accompanying Tropico EP.
Lana Del Rey has also made her mark as a poet. In July 2020, she released her first spoken-word poetry collection, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass. In September of the same year, her hardcover poetry collection, which featured over 30 poems, hit the shelves.
The Star’s Personal Life
Lana Del Rey has always been popular with men. The star has had several romantic relationships with fellow musicians. From 2011 to 2014, she dated Scottish singer Barrie-James O’Neill. In 2015, the star had a romance with photographer Francesco Carrozzini, and later with police officer Sean Larkin. In 2020, Lana met musician Clayton Johnson. The couple got engaged but broke up in the fall of 2021.
From 2022 to 2023, Del Rey was in a relationship with Jack Donoghue. Rumours circulated in March 2023 that the star was engaged to music executive Evan Winiker, but something went wrong, and they separated.
Lana Del Rey continues to win the hearts of millions of people with her incredible vocals and genre-spanning melodies. She achieved success in music through sheer effort and perseverance.