Elizabeth Woolridge Grant — better known by her stage name, Lana Del Rey — appeared on the scene circa summer 2011, with the release of her debut single known as “Video Games.” She has most famously released two recordings since then, her studio album, Born to Die, in 2012 and her EP, Paradise, later that same year. Her popularity has begun to grow, and her many different styles are so mashed together that nobody really knows where to place her.

A singer-songwriter in the indie genre, yet somehow reflected back into chamber pop — a type of music formed in the 1990s (a reaction to the sudden alternative-rock/grunge zenith) that returned to the elegant, classic style of 1960s baroque pop. She has been described as “self-styled Nancy Sinatra” or “Lolita lost in the hood.” Del Rey claims she gets much of her inspiration from artists like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Nirvana, and even Eminem.

Born to Die features everything from slow, passionate ballads to hip-hop tracks that reflect a raunchier, “bad-girl-running-from-the-police” style. The hits off this album were “Video Games” (slow, with low vocals and a nostalgic, lovesick feeling), “Summertime Sadness” (Del Rey singing about love — again — and how she’s missing that special someone), and “Blue Jeans” (in the same sense as the first two hits). Other highlights of the album are “Off to the Races” — which is one of her darker songs (based of the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov), “Carmen,” “Dark Paradise,” and “National Anthem.” The entire album is a mix of soft, velvety vocals, and slow, deliberate lyrics that sound a lot like poetry put to music.

Paradise includes songs such as “Ride” and a cover of  “Blue Velvet” (a popular song written in 1950 by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris). This EP is a lot slower, racier, and had her fans going insane with her amazing vocal talent. “Burning Desire” was released as a promotional single and Del Rey’s short film Tropico were released towards the end of 2013.  The film features songs from Paradise, including “Body Electric,” “Gods and Monsters,” and “Bel Air.” It has over 3 million views on YouTube, and is described as “an epic tale based on the Biblical story of sin and redemption,” featuring Del Rey as Eve and Shaun Ross as Adam.  Ross was also in the music video for E.T. with Katy Perry and Kanye West (way back when).

More recently, Lana Del Rey has announced the release of her third full-length album called Ultraviolence (the second being Born to Die: The Paradise Edition, which contained all songs from her 2012 album as well as the Paradise EP). It’s to be released sometime this year. Alongside this huge announcement, Del Rey has recently recorded two songs for two different movies — “Young and Beautiful” for The Great Gatsby and a cover of “Once Upon a Dream” for the movie Malificient.

Despite her talent, there is a lot of criticism of Lana Del Rey. Singer Lorde claimed that her music was “irrelevant” and unhealthy, because it has a “clutching-the-guy’s-shirt-don’t-leave-me” tone. Despite the criticisms she receives from music critics, she continues to make good music that is popular and enjoyable.  If you like Marina and the Diamonds, Chali XCX, Florence and the Machine, or Lorde, check out some of the tracks listed in this article.