Born in New York City and raised in Upstate New York, Del Rey returned to New York City in 2005 to begin her music career. Following numerous projects including her debut studio album and the unreleased Sirens, Del Rey’s breakthrough came after the viral success of her debut single “Video Games” in 2011. She signed with Interscope and Polydor later that year. Her major label debut Born to Die (2012) proved an international success and spawned a top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100 with the Cedric Gervais remix of “Summertime Sadness”, as well as the internationally successful singles “Blue Jeans”, “Born to Die”, and “National Anthem”.
Del Rey then released the Grammy-nominated EP, Paradise in 2012. The next year, Del Rey ventured into film as she wrote and starred in the short music film, Tropico, and released “Young and Beautiful” as the lead single for the romantic drama film The Great Gatsby (2013)
Del Rey subsequently issued her sophomore major label effort, Ultraviolence (2014), to critical success, topping the charts and spawning the single, “West Coast”. That same year, Del Rey recorded the eponymous theme for the drama film Big Eyes, which garnered her Grammy and Golden Globe nominations. She released the album Honeymoon in 2015 and Lust for Life in 2017, the latter of which topped the charts in the U.S. and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. Del Rey’s sixth studio album, Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019), received widespread critical acclaim and two Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. In 2019, Del Rey also released the singles “Doin’ Time” and “Don’t Call Me Angel”, the latter being a trio with Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus.
As of 2020, Del Rey has sold 19.1 million albums and over 13 million singles worldwide,while her YouTube and Vevo pages have combined lifetime views of 3.8 billion. Among her awards and nominations, Del Rey has received 2 Brit Awards, 2 MTV Europe Music Awards, a Satellite Award and 9 GAFFA Awards, and has been nominated for 6 Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.