Thursday 10 January 2013

Original Covers of Lana Del Rey Albums- Ancillary Texts Research

On January 31st 2012, Del Rey released her album 'Born to Die' worldwide. It was released to iTunes on the 27th. Born to Die was a commercial success, selling 50,000 copies in the UK on its first day on release. It debuted at number one in The UK Albums Chart and sold to a further 116,745 copies. It sold over 50,000 downloads in the first week, its in second week selling an additional 60,000 copies. The overall total in May 2012 it has sold over 500,000 copies in the UK alone. As of January 2013 it has sold over 3-million copies worldwide.










Her first single on Born to Die was 'Video Games', a chamber pop ballad with indie pop and trip hop elements. It was released to the internet on June 29th, 2011, through Interscope Records. It reached number one in Germany and various top-ten positions in Europe. It became #91 on The Billboard Hot 100, but the only song of Del Rey's to ever appear on it.  It was certified platinum in 9 countries worldwide.










'Born to Die' is Del Rey's second single. It is a downtempo ballad in which she speaks lyrics of a doomed relationship. It peaked at number 9 in the UK Charts. It was released on December 30th, 2011. The video for the song won 'Best Pop Music Video-International' along with 2 of her other songs as nominees, and peaking with the world famous Rihanna's 'We Found Love' which was also extremely popular.



'Blue Jeans' is Del Rey's third single to come out of Born to Die, on April 8th 2012. It is a downtempo pop ballad with alternative hip-hop influences. It appeared on the television series Ringer along with her first hit single 'Video Games', which plunged her into the mainstream. Blue Jeans only reached the Top Ten in 3 countries: Israel, Poland and Belgium.



There was a 4th single, 'Summertime Sadness' which however was only released as a single in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on June 22nd, 2012, with a video that was shot in the previous months of April and May.



The song 'National Anthem' was released as a 5th single in and released on the 9th of July, 2012. Lana Del Rey then released another single called 'Dark Paradise' was released on March 1st, 2013.


Lana Del Reyy then released another EP, 'Born to Die: The Paradise Edition' which is a double album with the same tracks as Born to Die and an additional new 7 tracks. It was released on 9th November 2012. The lead single of the EP is 'Ride' which also has a 10-minute music video, filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada.