A fitting video release for this fashion-overloaded week. Lana Del Rey is the newest darling of the girls-who-take-sexy-dead-eye-pout-photos-of-themselves set…and the boys-who-troll-those-girls-on-tumblr set. That’s a wishywashy description but apt all the same. She’s actually a fascinating new artist (real name Lizzy Grant, 24 years old, from Lake Placid, NY) who attracts because she blends everything we like from everywhere else: breathy girl vocals, artsy bistro music samples, rap slang, and a fully-formed visual brand. Almost suspiciously fully-formed. It’s like something cooked up in a lab by Madewell and American Rag, powered by Instagram, curated by ManRepeller. But I love it. And her self-description “sad-core” is so genius I want to tatt it on the inside of my lower lip. Emile, known for his work with Cudi, produced “Blue Jeans.”

“you were sort of punk rock, I grew up on hip hop, but you fit me better than my favorite sweater…“

Here’s a randomized audit* of what blips through my mindgrapes while watching this:

Vintage, Kelly Wearstler, bakelite, Edsel, Aquanet, La Brea renaissance, Surf Saturdays, fleamarket filter, soggy polaroids, Surf Spray by bumble and bumble, paz de la huerta pout, baby voice, betty boop voice, modern vintage, bathroom mirror portraiture, TVland, venom lip plumping gloss, paz de la huerta squink, bored chic, sponge rollers, Twin Peak guitar twangs, Lee press-ons, liquid lunches, Madchen Amick and Sherilyn Fenn, oil of olay, experimental thug dating, underage rock brides…..

Check out more from Lana Del Rey:
Her previously fantastic “Video Games” video…
Her trailer park past…and more
After the jump


Lana Del Rey “Video Games”: All my guy friends were suspiciously incommunicado for 15-20minutes after this video hit the internets ; ) I don’t blame them, she looks just disinterested enough to drive men wild. But I am a bit curious about that immovable upper lip.

Lana Del Rey x Pitchfork (Aug, 2011):

Pitchfork: You’ve said that managers and lawyers helped you come up with the name Lana Del Rey, which suggests that you and your music may be crafted by others. Obviously, this isn’t new– you could argue that Elvis was molded by his producers and managers– but how important is it for you to be taken seriously as an artist as opposed to a music-industry creation? Do you think those two things are even in opposition, necessarily?

LDR: I write my songs and I make my videos. Elvis had good management and that’s why he looks well-crafted but actually– other than his custom-made jump suits– he was always a gentleman, always a star, had a face like a god, and a voice like a dark angel. So he wasn’t really contrived– he was just dead cool. That’s why his legacy lives on, because he was actually perfect.

Pitchfork: Your dad is a successful domain investor, but I read that you were living in a trailer park a few years ago. Do you fetishize that trailer park lifestyle?

LDR: My dad is an entrepreneur and an innovator. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t make you a rich tycoon and being an innovator doesn’t mean that you’re successful. It just means that you’re interesting. No one cares that I lived in a park– Dad loves trailers and is getting one in the Everglades. My first record label gave me a small check and I moved into a park near Manhattan.

Our gal Gabz was an early early Lana adopter and has been keeping me up to date on her. There’s an album coming out early 2012. Here’s an MTV piece on her as well.

*I wonder if any of that list made sense. I should add hyperlinks, but I’m curious to know which random references eluded or resonated with you guys most.*

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