Del Rey, Lana, 1985-

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. An influential figure in alternative pop music, Del Rey's songs are noted for their melancholic exploration of romance and glamour, with frequent references to pop culture and 1950s–1970s Americana. She is widely considered one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the 21st century. Del Rey grew up in upstate New York and moved to Manhattan in 2005 to pursue a music career. After signing with Polydor and Interscope, she released her first major-label album, Born to Die (2012), which featured a cinematic, hip-hop-inflected sound and garnered a cult following. It holds the record for the longest charting album by a woman in the history of the US Billboard 200. She explored psychedelic, orchestral, and folk genres on her next albums Ultraviolence (2014), Honeymoon (2015), and Lust for Life (2017). Rolling Stone ranked her sixth album, Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019), among the 500 greatest albums, while her subsequent albums Chemtrails Over the Country Club (2021), Blue Banisters (2021), and Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (2023) received further critical acclaim. The latter's single, "A&W", was ranked among the 500 greatest songs by Rolling Stone. Del Rey is the recipient of various accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, three MTV Europe Music Awards, two Brit Awards, and two Billboard Women in Music awards, in addition to nominations for 11 Grammy Awards. For her contributions to visual media soundtracks, she received a Satellite Award and nominations for two Critics' Choice Movie Awards and a Golden Globe Award. She also wrote and directed the musical short film Tropico (2013). In 2020, Del Rey published the poetry and photography collection Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass.