They fit right in with all those faux vintage photo apps and lo-fi pop songs that are popular right now. Both “Video Games” (a languid ballad about hanging out with a guy she loves) and “Blue Jeans” (a slightly less languid ballad about being left by the guy she loves) have a very specific aesthetic they come across as the musical equivalent of a magazine fashion spread. She has a sultry voice that can purr out lyrics like “I’m in his favorite sundress / Watching me get undressed” and then suddenly switch to a coy, childlike coo that dares you to think bad thoughts about her. Given everything we know about the music industry, this might be the most unsurprising thing you read today.īut it’s a shame that the focus has been on her looks because Del Rey can definitely sing. The only reason why you may have heard either-the only reason why they’ve been viewed more than 3.2 million times on YouTube and why everyone from the Village Voice to GQ has tracked Del Rey’s fledgling music career-is because she looks like a model. But, to reiterate, she just has two of them. So far, Del Rey has only two songs-“Video Games” and “Blue Jeans.” Officially released this week, “Video Games” is already in iTunes’ top 10 most downloaded songs.
If she wandered through the streets of Milan or Paris, she would almost certainly be photographed for the Sartorialist. The 24-year-old singer (whose real name is Lizzy Grant) looks like a waifish Brigitte Bardot and dresses in an alluring mixture of vintage and contemporary styles-think “urban hipster meets Old Hollywood”-that looks both elegant and cool. Follow Del Rey is famous because she’s pretty.