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Lana Del Rey performs in The Current studio

  Play Now [26:10]

by Steve Seel and Lana Del Rey

March 15, 2012

Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey
Photo courtesy of Universal Music Group

Lizzy Grant's Lana Del Rey persona may be new to the broader world, but she's been singing for years and even released an album prior to 2012's already controversial Born To Die. With her quick rise-to-fame came stringent criticism, throngs of battling publications looking for their next angle and a warring music community.

Lana Del Rey has had to deal with this unremitting dialogue on her image and back-story, often times threatening to overshadow her passion for songwriting. For Grant, none of this conversation so much matters — it's a good path for anyone who has an inspiration and acts on it: do what you love, make mistakes and disregard those who lack a sense of encouragement.

Her newest record was largely heard ahead of its release on YouTube and at intimate live shows, a unique set-up for an album which has now gone on to hit number one in a handful of countries and the top 10 in dozens more. For an artist who edited the famous "Video Games" in a trailer park in Jersey during her early-20s, that feeling of world-wide impact will forever be ingrained.

Songs performed: "Video Games," "Blue Jeans," and "Million Dollar Man"