7/25/2019 Postmodern Music-Lana Del Rey

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Charlotte Hull Postmodern Music Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey is an American singer songwriter, otherwise known as Elizabeth oolridge!rant, "rstly recognised in #$$% when her music &ideo 'or (ideo !ames became a &iralsuccess) *he &ideo uses a mi+ture o' old and new clis creating a bricolage e-ect o' the storyo' a young girls li'e o'ten linked to hersel', through relationshis and 'ame) *he older clis arereresented through the black and white e-ect. /uality o' recordings as well as the mise enscene created through the ros used 'or e+amle the old style cameras the aarazzi use)

*hese are intertwined with coloured clis, still in the &intage /uality, cartoon animations andshots o' the artist singing) *he use o' all these searate clis hels to ortray the story andlink to the lyrics as well as 'ocusing on the artist and to bring it all together into one, music&ideo)

*he artist in general is an arrangement o' bricolage, through her name which was made u'rom in0uence o' #$th century car manu'acturers12ord Del Rey, Hollywood actress Lana *urnerand other # in1u girl insirations) Del Rey hersel' is a chart toing, o star 3it girl3 thatalso has a uni/ue %$3s style) 4he is a current artist that is oular with many di-erentcategories o' audiences yet has a &intage style seen both in her clothing and music creation)

*his can be seen through her use o' long, coloured nails but &intage, almost dated clothing)*he attraction is not in the 'ashion trends she 'ollows but in her unusual, out o' lace

aearance in the charts among other, more traditional artists such as Ellie !oulding and5irdy) *he music she creates can be 'rom rock to dream o, baro/ue o and tri ho) *his iswhat labels Lana Del Rey as ostmodern, she meets the criteria 'or a chart1toer in today3ssociety with huge singles and an iconic li'estyle yet is so distincti&e in her own manner)

Homage is seen through many o' Del Rey3s songs and &ideos as she uses in0uences 'romother laces to create the o&erall aearance) 2or e+amle, 'or the song 3once uon a time3 aDisney music &ideo was created to link this song to the original sleeing beauty but with thenew "lm, Male"cent) 6ot only does this ay homage to the Disney "lm but also the original78%8 creation o' the song9&ideo which was much more ubeat in comarison to the darker,haunting sound created by Lana Del Rey 'or the dark 'antasy Male"cent which 'ollows thesame distinct style)4imilarly, Lana Del Rey uses other artist3s sounds in some o' her songs through homage wherethe work is samled) 4uch as the beat used in mountain by Long Red which has the samebackground beat and &ocal o&erla as the beginning o' Del Rey3s songs, born to die) Also, inblue :eans, a like to like comarison to the line in Mary blue by Rick ;ames)

*here is a slightly more unusual use o' homage in Lana Del Rey3s song and music &ideo 'orgods and monsters which aear almost to re'erence the !arden o' Eden, as described in thebible) *here are lyrics such as

7/25/2019 Postmodern Music-Lana Del Rey

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Charlotte Hull Postmodern Music Lana Del Rey

house and e+otic holidaying) *his all reresents the arody o' the traditional li'estyleassociated with the resident, it o&er1emhasises his ower and highlights the lu+uries he hadin comarison to others)2urthermore, the &ideo e&en re'erences the shooting o' President ?ennedy to re'er back to theoriginal Marilyn Monroe seech and the link to this e&ent)

ithin Lana Del Rey3s music there are multile interte+ual re'erences to her own work inarticular, in her song 5ody Electric) 4he uses a similar tone and style to reresent thatcreated in born to die and summertime sadness) *his creates a le&el o' continuity throughouther er'ormances as well as a consistent style) 4he also re'erences Lolita, a story written by(ladimir 6aboko& about a @ year old man who becomes obsessed and se+ually in&ol&ed witha 7# year old girl 'ollowing the remature death o' his childhood sweetheart) Lana Del Rey3smusic &ideo 'or her song Lolita, named a'ter the ri&ate name gi&en to the young girl in thestory, includes clis o' an older man and a young girl) *he book itsel' is e&en used as aninterte+ual re'erence as it is seen in the &ideo to connect the song and the no&el)

Many eole would categorise Lana Del Rey to simulacrum the %$3s &intage o star howe&er,she does not aear to laying as this character :ust through her music or er'ormances but

she instead embraces this li'estyle as her own image and reresentation) Del Rey does not "twithin the mainstream reresentation o' chart toing 3o stars3 as she does not 'ollowcurrent trends or match the themes seen in most oular artists today) Lana Del Rey is a real,&intage 3it girl3 yet is still oular with todayBs audiences)

Lana Del Rey has a &ery strong sense o' storytelling in her songs, demonstrated in articularthrough Lolita and national anthem where there is a strong re'erence to other stories whichshe recreates and remodels within her music using the concet o' bricolage) *he consumtionshe wishes her audience to take is reresented through dream o where her &ideos andstorylines created through her lyrics are &ery unlike any others created and o'ten roduce ahyer reality scenario rather than ro&iding a real li'e alication) *his is one o' the asectsthat make this artist ostmodern, whereas most other oular artists will try to 'ollow trendsthat they know their target audience will en:oy or something to resent them in an in0uentiallight Del Rey does not "t within this stereotye yet is still en:oyed and areciated in today3ssociety) Also, nearly all o' Del Rey3s songs ha&e a music &ideo alongside it whereas o'ten onlysingles are accomanied with an esecially made &ideo)

Lana Del Rey has created 8 albums including

Honeymoon #$7%

ltra (iolence #$7@

Die 'or Me #$7

5orn to Die #$7#

Paradise #$7#

Lana del rey #$7$

?ill kill #$$

4irens

6o ?ung 2u

4he has collaborated with ;ustin Parker, 5lake 4tranathan, Dan Heath, Rick 6owels, 5arrieFB6eill, !reg ?urstin, Robbie 2itzsimmons, Dan Auerbach, Harmony ?orine and Emily Haynieon many o' the songs 'rom her albums)

Del Rey has a consistent style throughout her music that is shown through her er'ormancesnot matter the en&ironment) Lana Del Rey is known 'or her mellow, soul genre o' music that isreresented in her &intage clothing and tone o' &oice, e&en when er'orming at huge 'esti&alsthis is still ortrayed allowing her to stand out amongst the crowd) At !lastonbury Del Reywore a MFD, =$3s style rint dress and er'orms ultra1&iolence a so't, slow song desite the

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Charlotte Hull Postmodern Music Lana Del Rey

usual en&ironment at this e&ent) *he audience does not dance or sing but instead listens andwatched the er'ormance which is what labels this artist as so di-erent and ostmodern) Hermusic is areciated at this e&ent yet not in the same way as e+ected, showing theconte+tualisation o' old and new styles) *his is common throughout all o' her er'ormances.she wears her own choice o' &intage clothing1rather than what is on trend or what would beoular with the crowd, and er'orms as she would 'or her album rather than catering 'or the

increased audiences) 4he is normally accomanied by a string /uartet as well as a ianist andsingle guitar9bass layers to comlete her er'ormance and to create the sound needed 'orher genre o' music)Many artists ha&e used Del Rey3s sound in their creation o' music in a bricolage e-ect) 4hehas in0uenced moodymann, an artist who has created a similar song using her sounds as wellas Con0ict Minerals who used seci"c lines 'rom her music in their own remodelled &ersionsto create their own bricolage roduct) >n their song 35lank 5anshee3 they ha&e used the line 'eel so alone< 'rom Lana Dey Rey3s born to die) *his shows the imact her music has had as ithas insired other artists to create their own &ersions o' her work)

*here are other artists that ha&e a similar sound to Lana Del Rey including Ellie !oulding,5irdy and Paloma 2aith) *he music created by these artists is similar to the sound o' Del Rey

and as they "rst began their music careers around the same time as her, #$$1#$7$, she mayha&e been an insiration 'or their style) *here are 'urther similarities between the aearanceo' Lana Del Rey and Paloma 2aith. both aear to ha&e a ostmodern stylised aearancethat is di-erent to that seen with other oular artists) G5orn to die $)%=

Fne asect that labels Lana Del Rey as ostmodern is her style which is 3cool because it isuncool3) Her style and er'ormance choices are totally di-erent to those seen with otherartists within the same category) 4he doesn3t 'ollow trends or seek to accumulate the samekind o' attention o' other artists through her music &ideos and er'ormances which is whatmakes her idolised and oular, in a sub&erted kind o' way) *he artist is &ery niche whichallows her to stand out 'rom the crowd and is aroriate 'or her target audience)