Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant

Lana Del Ray (sometimes referred to as Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant, Nevada or A.K.A., among others) is the debut studio album by Lana Del Rey. The album was released digitally by 5 Points Records on January 4, 2010, under the name Lana Del Ray.

Background

In 2007, 5 Points Records talent scout Van Wilson found Del Rey performing at a songwriting conference in Brooklyn and introduced her to David Nichtern. The two of them agreed that Del Rey had the potential to have a major breakthrough and signed her to a multi-record contract. With 5 Points Records backing, Lana Del Rey recorded a 7 track demo EP known as No Kung Fu that was sent to various producers before reaching David Kahne. After hearing the tape, Kahne agreed to produce an album with Del Rey. At some point prior to this, the album was planned to be produced by Steven Mertens but his contributions were ultimately never released. On working on the album with Kahne, Del Rey had said: "We were pretty obsessive about it". The two worked on the album for around three months before completing it. When discussing the genre and sound of the record, Del Rey wanted the record be cinematic and reflect her affection for nostalgic imagery, she later said "[Kahne] kind of got my whole vibe straight away."

The final masters for the album took place on February 25, 2008, between 6 and 7 PM and were done by Kahne. All the songs were mastered at that time, except "Gramma (Blue Ribbon Sparkler Trailer Heaven)" on February 26, 2008, and "Raise Me Up (Mississippi South)" on February 28, 2008.

Despite being known and promoted as Lizzy Grant prior to the album's release, Del Rey became insistent she wanted to go under the stage name Lana Del Rey, leading the first album to be released as such. "A.K.A. Lizzy Grant" was added to the album cover to connect her with her previous name. David Nichtern, who signed her to 5 Points Records, explained "the reason we did that [album title] is because pe