Lana Del Rey was born to be a singer — literally. The “Summertime Sadness” songstress stopped by On Air With Ryan Seacrest on Thursday, August 29, and took a trip down memory lane as well as revealed how her epic Sublime cover “Doin' Time” came about.
“I was singing before I was talking,” the three-time Grammy nominee told Ryan. “I was singing like complete full songs by two I would say. … Full songs, like, completely born singing. I didn’t think I was going to 100% sing sing for like a job, but I was singing to the point of annoyance and definitely in all the plays,” Lana added. “Like, I was a little orphan in Annie when I was three; I actually got kicked out of Annie because I was waving. I was a happy orphan like waving to Grandma, like, waving to everyone.”
Lana’s journey to fame came almost as naturally, but not without hard work and recognition.
“I’d been posting little home made videos online and I had been writing some faster songs and then I just thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to write a ballad that’s more true to myself’ and that was ‘Video Games,’" she explained. "Me and my sister made a video for it at home and then The Weeknd, actually, Abel, posted it on his Tumblr like 11 days in a row and I was like, ‘OMG!' And then Fearne Cotton from Radio 1 in London saw it on his Tumblr and she gave me one play every day for a week.”
Lana added that she’d been meeting with numerous labels and performing around New York City for about seven years at the time when they finally came back to her.
“After Fearne played that song every day, they all called,” Lana admitted. “Like, ‘Never mind! Never mind! Actually, singer-songwriting is awesome’ … but, I mean, I was so relieved,” Lana added. “Like, finally I can make the record I want.”
Fast-forward to 2019 and Lana's now chosen to cover iconic hits. The songstress, who is set to release sixth studio album Norman F--king Rockwell on August 30, explained that her Sublime cover "Doin' Time" came about “super unexpected.”
“Interscope, the label I’m signed to, they’re producing a movie about the life story of Sublime so John, who runs the label, said that Bradley [Nowell’s] former wife had been talking about me [covering] ‘Doin' Time,’” Lana shared. “And, also, funny enough, David Kahn, who produced that album, is the first producer I worked with 14 years ago,” she added. “He made my first record and I hadn’t heard from him in about 10 years and he sent me a long email … so there were a couple of little things that came together.”
Lana shared with Ryan that her first reaction was “I shouldn’t do it” because it’s such an iconic jam, but after joining forces with mega producer Andrew Watt, who is behind songs including Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s “Señorita,” she was seriously impressed.
“He was so quick … and put together the whole track really fast and it was one of those things where I listened to it the next day and I was like, ‘That’s actually pretty good!’ even though it was unexpected,” she concluded.
Watch back the full video above to hear more, including what to expect at her forthcoming shows and be sure to download or stream Lana's sixth studio album Norman F--king Rockwell on Friday, August 30th.