Lana, looking very Miley-ish. Note the handsign, Ladies and Gentlemen....
By VC
January 25, 2012
In a very short period of time, an enigmatic singer named Lana
Del Rey went from complete anonymity to the front page of magazines, not to
mention intense internet buzz and an SNL appearance.
But along with this (almost literal) overnight success came
revelations regarding the rising star:
She is a total creation of her management team. When her
previous artist persona named Lizzie Grant became a monumental flop, she
underwent intense retooling including:
A new name (which was assigned to her by her label),plastic surgery,a new musical style,a new image and a new marketing strategy.She is now signed with Interscope, Lady Gaga’s label.
The same way Stefani Germanotta was “revamped” to become Lady
Gaga~ a fake persona that fits the requirements of today’s music industry ~
Lizzie Grant was revamped as Lana Del Rey. Will this alter-persona be used to
push the Illuminati agenda in the future?
Here’s an article about Lana Del Rey’s “creation” from The
Guardian.
LANA
DEL REY:
THE STRANGE STORY OF THE STAR WHO REWROTE HER PAST
Lizzy Grant was a flop, changed her
name to Lana Del Rey and was acclaimed as a new star. But the backlash from
fans who felt duped has been unprecedented
You can still find traces of Lizzy Grant online. There is a
video, dated 8 June 2009, that shows a young, casually dressed blonde woman in
a green T-shirt and jeans singing alone on stage at a
New York music show called The Variety Box. Grant’s voice was strong,
but she seemed shy and spoke quietly to the audience to a smattering of
applause.
Grant looked like any one of hundreds of young artists trying to
make it in the clubs and bars of New York, singing their hearts out in the hope
that one day they would be spotted. After all, that’s how big names from Bob
Dylan to Lady Gaga got their breaks. But success never happened to Lizzy Grant.
Her one and only album sank virtually without trace.
However, fame did happen to someone called Lana
Del Rey, a 25-year-old sultry, seductive songstress who is the current
hottest name in US music and whose debut album is one of the most eagerly
awaited events in the industry this year. It comes out on 31 January.
Del Rey’s image is nothing like Grant’s. The video for her new
song, provocatively called Born to Die, is slick and lavishly produced. The short film begins with
her posing half-naked with a tattooed, shirtless man in front of the stars and
stripes, then shows her sitting on a throne in a figure-hugging white dress
flanked by two tigers. By the end of the video, she is covered in blood,
wearing only a red bra. It is over-the-top and wildly eccentric.
But that suits Del Rey’s sound. Her soaring vocals and melodies,
reflecting genres as diverse as hip hop and indie music, have won millions of
fans. And Del Rey has quite a story to tell. After first appearing on the
internet last year with an apparently home-produced video of a song called
Video Games, she became a cult hit.
She married her music to a mysterious image, self-styled as a
“gangster Nancy Sinatra”, that paid homage to 1960s fashions and seedy showbiz
glamour. In an interview recently shot poolside at the Chateau Marmont in Los
Angeles, Del Rey explained her attraction to the notorious celebrity haunt.
“It’s a place that has inspired so many of my videos and influenced a lot of my
visuals,” she said through a mouth now framed by pouting, bee-stung lips.
Of course, Lana Del Rey and Lizzy Grant are the same person.
That revelation has made Grant/Del Rey one of the most controversial
figures to emerge in US music for years. Some people feel victims of an immense
confidence trick.
When Video Games first went viral it
became an underground sensation praised for its authentic feel. Del Rey’s
amazing voice crooned the haunting song against a backdrop of grainy out-takes
of home movies and Hollywood scenes. It currently has a staggering 20 million
views on YouTube. The follow-up, Blue Jeans, with a similar feel, netted 6
million views.
Del Rey’s few live gigs suddenly sold out. She won the Next Big
Thing prize at the Q awards. She seemed set for the big time. But then
questions were asked. A few critics began to wonder if, far from being some
organic wunderkind, the transformation from Grant to Del Rey had been planned
all along.
Her stage name was chosen by her management. Rather than being
an outsider struggling for recognition, Del Rey is in fact the daughter of a
millionaire father who has backed her career. People were suspicious of the way
Grant’s failed album, and all her social media websites, appeared to have been
scrubbed from the internet just before Del Rey appeared. There has been much
speculation as to exactly when Del Rey teamed up with her current label
Interscope and how much influence their savvy marketers might have put into her
original emergence.
“There are a lot of things that don’t seem organic about it,”
said Steven Horowitz, who wrote a cover story about Del Rey for Billboard
magazine. “She’s putting on a show. She’s here to entertain us.”
Suddenly, many of the fans that had boosted Del Rey turned on
her in spectacular fashion. Music blogs poured vitriol on her talents. Some
influential music websites, such as Hipster Runoff, have turned insulting Del Rey into an art form. Last
weekend Del Rey appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live.
She gave a hesitant, uncertain performance ~ suddenly more Lizzy Grant than Del
Rey ~ that triggered brutal criticism.
Celebrities even got in on the act. Actress and musician
Juliette Lewis tweeted: “Watching this ‘singer’ on SNL is like watching
a 12-year-old in their bedroom when they’re pretending to sing and perform.”
Even news anchor Brian Williams weighed in, sending an email that was later
published on gossip website Gawker that called Del Rey’s performance one of the
“worst outings in SNL history”.
But it is not just Del Rey’s music and SNL performance
that is being hauled over the coals. It is also her appearance.
Pictures of Lizzy Grant when contrasted to Del Rey have led many
to speculate that she has had collagen injections in her lips and perhaps even
plastic surgery. It is a charge she vehemently denied in a recent interview. “I
haven’t had anything done at all… I’m quite pouty. That’s just how I look when
I sing,” she insisted.
Del Rey has many defenders too. “She is just a gorgeous
creature,” said Noah Levy, senior news editor at In Touch Weekly
magazine. Horowitz said that whatever the truth of her emergence there is
little doubt about her talent or commitment. “I think she cares about the art
that she is creating. I don’t think that is fake at all,” he said.
Despite the outrage directed at her, Del Rey is employing one of
the oldest tricks in the book: the creation of a stage persona. Some of the
greatest names have done it. David Bowie and Madonna are notorious
shape-shifters. So is Lady Gaga. Changing from Lizzy Grant to Lana Del Rey is
not unusual when you consider that Bob Dylan’s real name was Robert Zimmerman
and Iggy Pop was born James Osterberg.
“I think Lana Del Rey is manufactured. But when Lizzy Grant came
out with music it failed. So she reinvented herself and it worked,” said Levy.
In fact, Lana Del Rey’s rise says much about the nature of
modern fame in the US. The internet has allowed figures like her to come
rapidly to the fore of the cultural landscape, whether or not their emergence
is planned by a record executive or happens spontaneously from someone’s
bedroom. It has speeded up the fame cycle.
It is worth noting that
the huge backlash to Del Rey is happening before her first album has even been
released. This reveals a cultural obsession with the “authenticity” that fans,
artists and corporations all prize above all else.
Cultural critics say genuine authenticity is almost impossible
to achieve. “The whole idea of authenticity is elusive. It is
in many ways a complete illusion,” said Professor Robert Thompson, a pop
culture expert at Syracuse University. Others have simpler explanations for the
stir Del Rey has caused, seeing misogyny against a female artist so willing to
use sexuality as a way of selling her music. “There is a ‘mean girls’ attitude
to some of it,” said Horowitz.
Either way it does not seem likely that Del Rey will be leaving
the music scene any time soon. Sales of her new album are set to be astronomical.
It has crept into Amazon’s top 25 in the US on pre-sales alone. She is booked
for appearances on major talk shows.
“Lana Del Rey can go anywhere that she wants to,” said Levy.
“She’s going to one day be the cover of Rolling Stone.” The Guardian
Lizzy Grant may have failed to make it. But her next creation
seems ready for stardom.
Bob Dylan is a zionist tool. Check out his pathetic song "Neighborhood Bully" about Israel(hint-hes not calling Israel the bully) for proof.
ReplyDeleteYeah, funny thing about that, eh?
ReplyDeleteI have done a bunch of photos of Mr.Zimmerman in full Judaic dress complete with tefilin.
I have been on to him for a very long time. He is also high level in cabala and masonry, Jewish version. Uses a lot of symbolism quite openly and then there is the hat thing.
The rebbe who brought him back into the fold is a nasty fellah when it comes to the goyinm and is beyond hate filled racist.
Not that Bob is I would pray.
It is said he plagiarized much of his material from the very beginning.
"No hate spewing" - how ironic.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a point to make, don't insinuate. I cannot be bothered to dwell on what you are trying to say. Or, for that matter, your motive in even saying it.
Delete