Lana Del Rey takes in energy for writing songs by standing under telephone wires.
The ‘Blue Jeans’ hitmaker – whose real name is Elizabeth Grant – put the unusual technique to use while writing her forthcoming album ‘Born To Die’ in California, but she prefers to pen her lyrics on the move rather than in one fixed place.
She told The Sun newspaper: ”When the body is in motion the mind kind of follows. I like to write when I’m moving, when there’s nothing getting in the way.
”The nice thing is a lot of the album was written before anything was happening, any deals or contracts. So a lot, I would say a third of it, was written in California.
”I had a car, so I was just driving from Santa Monica to Malibu thinking out loud.
”One of my best friends, Daniel – the string composer on some of the songs – is who I stay with in California.
”When he went to work, I would go down to the foot of the hill, underneath the telephone wires. When it’s really hot, they’re really electric and crackle. I would try to get energy from the wires.”
But telephone wires were not the only inspiration for the 25-year-old singer’s forthcoming record, as she counts Biggie Smalls and rapper Eminem as big influences on her career.
She added: ”Eminem was the first hip-hop I listened to. He was the most innovative lyricist I had ever heard.
”I didn’t really hear Biggie Smalls until I was 20. But again, that really influenced me.
”Listening to that music made me happy and I can write better when I’m happier.”