Lana Del Rey Star image

Lana Del Rey is an American singer, songwriter and model and portrays different elements that are stereotypical of organic artists. Her first recording contract was with ‘5-Points Records which released in January 2010 her debut studio self-titled album ‘Lana Del Rey’ .The album was self-titled in order to help sell Lana’s star image and brand name across to her target market, by trying to build a loyal fan base by creating a buzz and increasing her awareness in the industry. Unfortunately the album received little recognition and minimal success and didn't retrieve her breakthrough in the industry.

In July 2011 she signed with a joint recording contract with Interscope, Polydro and Stranger Records which released her major- label debut album called ‘Born to Die’ in January. The internet played a huge role in the albums success as it aided her single called “Video Games” become a smash hit by generating an internet buzz, which helped increase the awareness of the single. Moreover it helped selling her as an artist as it could easily reach every target audience group on a worldwide scale at no cost which made her more recognised and dominant in the media. This helped Lana gain identification in the industry and contributed to the albums achievements making it the fifth best-selling album of 2012 , reaching number 1 in 11 countries and resulting in the single peaking to number 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. This increased her popularity in the media tremendously as it is a worldwide viewed chart hence it aided Lana to widen her target audience by having people from all ages and both genders listening to her song and gaining an interest in her which helped sell her star image as her songs aren’t targeted at a tailored audience.

Lana wearing natural clothing in some of her videos

Lana is an artist Negus would refer to as organic because she portrays different stereotypical elements found in organic artists such as being involved in the in the song writing process of all her songs as well as writing most by herself illustrates that her actions in the media aren’t micro managed by her record label as she has power over the art she makes and performances as well as the sound and tone she wants to convey in the industry. Furthermore this shows that thematic she writes about is genuine and is from her personal life experiences which makes her more genuine honest which applies to Dyers paradox 1 theory. As Lana is simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer, where she is nominated for awards and has smash records yet still goes through genuine encounters she has experienced which people can relate to, and shares them from her prospective to her fans through her music. This adds a sense of humbleness and realism to her and increases the consumers interest hence sales and demand other music.

Above is the CD cover for ‘Born to Die’ it has a vintage style and colour simplicity where a medium close-up of Lana is found dominantly in the centre ,with a blurred background which ultimately ensures the viewers focus is on Lana. This is considered as a counter type in comparison to album covers in the pop genre as they usually contain distracting mise en scene, extraordinary effects and backgrounds  to catch the viewers eye. In addition Lana staring directly at the viewers which gives a sense of realism and honesty, that helps draws their attention as well as sell her star image and character to the media. This reflects Negus’ theory on organic artists as she is selling her star image and character rather than her sexuality and voyeurism which is a counter type for albums in the pop genre by not showing a lot of skin. Furthermore Lana’s album cover doesn't follow Dyers’ conception that the artist should have a sexual appeal that will attract the desired target audience as her album received massive recognition and outstanding outcomes such as having a music video released through H&M helped reach a youthful audience by increasing the chances of a target audience of mainly teens and young adults (who are H&Ms target audience) listening to her song.

The font is in bold and in capital letters which makes it easy to read where her stage name is bigger than the singles name which shows how she's trying to sell her brand name to the media and gain more recognition as well as increase her awareness. This is a similar image we will convey with our artist through simplicity so that the main focus is on the artist herself rather than having the viewers getting distracting by irrelevant effects as we would like to sell their star image and their stage name to the media ,as well as help establish and expand their target audience and increase their popularity and awareness in the industry by making their persona more familiar.

Lana's voice is known to be one of her unique selling points as an artist as her vocal range has been described as captivating and highly emotive due to her 'expansive contralto vocal range' and distinguishable and identifiable voice and sound. Her sound has been noted for its indie and pop genre as well as hinting the hip hop, rock and trap music as well as having different cinematic references in both her songs and her music videos. Her target audience is very broad and appeals to both genders mainly females with a variety of ages from late teens to middle aged. Similarly our target audience is mainly females targeting the youth ages- ranging between 15-25 years of age.

The fact that Lana sings about deep depression songs makes her stand out in the industry as it identifies her as a counter type to other pop artists in the industry who sing about more happier, generic topics and concepts.

Lana's costume is very like the ‘girl next door’, its very casual and simple which usually consists of simple white summery dresses in her concerts and jeans and a t-shirt in her day to day life which reflects her humbleness.