Who is Lana Del Rey?

Lana is soon to be your favourite new artist, that's who. Recently voted the 'Next Big Thing' at the Q Music awards in October 2011, Lana is "a wonderful combination of Jessica Rabbit and Nancy Sinatra". Moving on from Rhianna's obvious selling-sex techniques, Lady Gaga's mental costumes and Katy Perry's bubblegum pop tunes, Lana is going about her chart domination in a much more subtle way. Her performances are eerie and still but still electrifying, and her style is 60's pout and hair meets Kate Nash if she was a supermodel.

So far you may not have seen or heard much about Lana Del Rey, besides her song Video Games on the radio. But she has been in NME's Cool List issue (voted in at number 6), and on the cover of Wonderland's November/ December 2011 issue herelded as 'Pop's Newest Pin-Up'. The fashion world is about to have a love affair with Lana too, so expect to see her in many pretty dresses and beautifully coiffed hair do's. She was picked to perform at last night's Mulberry party in LA, and we all know the effect Mulberry can have on creating a style icon (as in the case of Alexa Chung).

Here's what Lana has to say on her music:
On her sound and visual references: “I keep it really clear. I talk a lot about Thomas Newman’s score for American Beauty. That was a soundtrack I really was inspired by. Giorgio Mirto, I talk about the orchestral work he’s done. Think Thomas Newman score for American Beauty meets early Bruce Springsteen ’sex Americana.’ And put them together, but place it in Miami and have me singing it. That’s what I tell them.”
On early musical influences: “When I was 11, I saw Kurt Cobain singing ‘Heart Shaped Box’ on MTV and it really stopped me dead in my tracks. And I thought he was the most beautiful person I had even seen. Even at a young age, I really related to his sadness. I felt like I was really searching for answers. And I thought I could see that in him, briefly, in 3 minutes and 42 seconds, or whatever. So I saw him for the first time on TV when I was 11, and I never revisited his music again until I was about 17 or 18; and then when I did, it still meant just as much to me then and it’s continued to be my primary inspiration—in terms of not wanting to compromise lyrically or sonically. Not making music that I..thought was really stupid. Just singing over pop tunes just to be famous.”
Enjoy her songs Blue Jeans, Born to Die and Video Games here: