Lana Del Rey A Living Legend:

Ithought somebody could tell me how — but I found nobody could.” This is the quote in the biography section of Lana Del Rey’s Tiktok account. For fans of the “Video Games” singer, its message feels like something she would place on a pedestal. It’s deeply evocative and profound, much like her music. Del Rey’s TikTok account has only one video and a mere 2.1 million followers, yet her influence in the music industry, coupled with her vintage aesthetics, hasn’t gone unnoticed. This begs the question: how has Lana Del Rey accomplished the fame she has achieved today?

In 2012, the song “Video Games” and its self-produced music video went viral on YouTube. Her emotive, melancholy music paired with metaphorical lyrics set her apart from other music artists at the debut of her career.

Maria McAllister, 21, a student at San José State University, began listening to Del Rey when she was just 10 or 11 years old.

“Video Games was one of her first music videos I saw,” McAllister said. “It kind of made me feel like I was in a movie.”

Del Rey’s music utilizes many references to “Old Hollywood” with a contemporary twist. The cinematic quality of her music draws in music listeners, similar to McAllister’s experience. This is one of the many factors that makes her music so alluring and mesmerizing. Nowadays, this uniqueness also allows social media users to discover her on platforms.

Social media’s algorithms, which TikTok utilizes, allow many users to discover new artists quickly. Evidently, this allows many more people to hear Del Rey’s music through TikTok’s video audios and hashtags like #LanaDelRey or #A&W (her newest song).

Allie Horne, 21, a student at Johns Hopkins University, discovered the singer through social media in seventh grade. It was common for people to use her song quotes for aesthetic posts on Instagram or Tumblr, she said. This was around the year 2013 when the Tumblr landscape was filled with flower crowns and inspirational, and sometimes sad, quotes— Del Rey’s song lyrics included.

Before Lana Del Rey became the Grammy-nominated musician she’s known as today, she had gone through several ‘personas’ early on in her career. These ‘personas’ included Sparkle Jump Rope Queen and May Jailer. This was back when Del Rey performed at dive bars and clubs in Brooklyn, New York. Now she’s known as Lana Del Rey, a name she landed on because she believed it sounded pretty, but also associated with some of the controversies she had been involved in.

“I think with her Lana Del Rey ‘persona’ she settled on, there’s just a mysterious quality to it,” Horne said. “A lot of people admire older stuff and I find it cool she incorporates that into her music.”

Del Rey’s pop music combined with Americana-style influences has shifted the music industry due to its original sound and content. The pop-landscape has not been the same since. She was different from Taylor Swift and One Direction and fans noticed. Gone were the upbeat, popstyle songs about your ex-partner. Del Rey ushered in an appreciation for melancholy, indie music about the world, politics, and deeper subjects like family and trauma. Now, since her debut in 2012, her career has influenced other modern-day artists such as Billie Eilish, Kali Uchis, and Halsey.

Not only that, but her music has also greatly affected individual listeners:

“She is one of my favorite artists [so] I grew up listening to her music,” McAllister said. “I think when you listen to an artist that long they shape who you become.”

And:

“I think, for me, she has always been an artist who has made music how she wanted it to be versus trying to angle on trends,” Horne said. “I know she was criticized for lovesick representations, but I always thought it was cool that it was honest and showed her experience. It just expressed her art more.”

Del Rey’s fanbase is strong and continuously growing. Nowadays, this is partially due to TikTok. Unlike how long-time fans have discovered Del Rey’s music, TikTok has changed the game. Many of Lana Del Rey’s songs, even including some unreleased ones, have been a part of viral TikTok audios.

“I think TikTok now is the bigger platform…back then it used to be YouTube,” McAllister said. “I think TikTok would help Lana’s career because it seems like everyone is watching TikTok.”

For example, an audio for her song “Young and Beautiful,” written for “The Great Gatsby” in

2013, has 269.4k posts. The top video of this audio has a whooping 10.7 million likes! The outreach TikTok has when it comes to music is vast and highly effective when it comes to bolstering Del Rey’s music to the mainstream.

But it wasn’t primarily TikTok that got Del Rey discovered. It was her ability to write songs and direct music videos that inspired others. It was her dedicated fans that loved to hear what she had to offer.

“I hope she keeps making music. I’m really interested to see what is next and how she will be when she is even older,” McAllister said. “She is maturing well and her music is maturing.”

Looking back, it feels impossible to imagine the music industry without Lana Del Rey. Her ability to capture the essence of emotion in her music with poetic prose has impacted listeners around the world. Luckily, this legacy is now being recognized by TikTok users too. Still, fans are always looking forward to what Del Rey will give them next: music.