YS By The Numbers: It's you, it's you, it's all for you
MANILA, Philippines - Lana Del Rey isn’t your run-of-the-mill ‘It’ girl. That she’s arguably the reigning queen of online traffic, juggling the praise along with collagen theories, still aligns with the queen bee norm. Here’s what upsets the balance: she’s got the resilience of a hydra.
Backlash upon backlash upon backlash have come and gone, climaxing during her now-infamous Saturday Night Live performance. And now, people are talking about the album, “Born to Die.” Critics and anyone with an opinion (which is, apparently, a lot of people) are chiming in on the 25-year-old songstress’ lyrics, depth (or lack thereof), and her staying power. And yet. Amidst the Lizzy to Lana “lips” Del Rey uh, metamorphosis — bubbles bursting and all — it seems we’re all still more than enamored with the elf-proclaimed “gangsta Nancy Sinatra.”
Cut one head off and two will just grow in its place. We’re all still talking about her, aren’t we?
12: Number of magazine covers she’s had. From music magazines like Billboard, NME and Q to Interview Germany and Russia, LDR has done the print rounds within less than a year.
24 million: The number of views Video Games has on YouTube as of press time. Her SNL performance of the same song? 1.1 million.
2: Number of record deals she’s had. First was back in 2008, with New York indie label 5 Points Records, under her real name Lizzy Grant. The second was last year with Interscope, though that wasn’t made public initially, this time as Lana Del Rey.
2: Number of songs she sang live on SNL. And two was all it took for people to take it to Twitter — take it everywhere, really. Her hair stroking and awkward swaying during renditions Video Games and Blue Jeans barely compensated for the vacant performances.
5.5: The rating debut album, “Born to Die”, received from Pitchfork. Back in August, Pitchfork hailed Video Games as their Best New Track, saying that the song “hits the sweet spot Cat Power has abdicated since The Greatest.” Oh, how times have changed.
11: Number of countries where “Born to Die” has skyrocketed to record Number 1 on iTunes. Europe’s all about her, apparently. From Portugal to Austria. “Your sweet words have softened the effect of even the harshest reviews,” she tweets. “I adore you.”