In 2011, singer Lana Del Rey released “Video Games,” a single that introduced her to the wider public but was not her debut. She’d already issued a digital EP as Lizzy Grant in 2008 and a full-length album introducing her new moniker in 2010 (albeit with a different spelling than she now uses), “Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant.” But these releases, when she was still tethered to her birth name, were heard by almost no one and have been written out of her canon. From “Video Games” forward, she wrote about star-crossed lovers moving through scenes dense with references to film and music history and sang her songs in a whispered croon that radiated glamour. This shadowy mode became synonymous with her stage name and her music, which sold and streamed in big numbers, and carried her to widespread fame.
