Nichtern stated "Her and her new manager came in and said 'We want to get this off the market. According to Kahne, Del Rey bought the rights back from her label as she wanted it out of circulation. Due to a lack of funding for the album, however, it was eventually pulled from online stores after three months. The release of the album was digital, available from iTunes and Amazon in the United States for around $9.99 or $0.99 for each track. This caused the official release of the album to be on January 4, 2010, although it had been finished for much time before then, and the original release date was set for February 14, 2009. David Nichtern, who signed her to 5 Points Records, explained "the reason we did that is because people knew who she was and we were trying to cross her over." Release ĭel Rey stated in a 2011 interview that when she and David Kahne had finished the record in 2008, it was shelved for two and a half years by her label at the time ( 5 Points Records). Lizzy Grant" was added to the album cover to connect her with her previous name. 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.ĭespite 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 Ray, leading the first album to be released as such. The final masters for the album took place on February 25, 2008, between 6 and 7 PM and were done by Kahne. 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 " kind of got my whole vibe straight away." The two worked on the album for around three months before completing it.
On working on the album with Kahne, Del Rey had said: "We were pretty obsessive about it". At some point prior to this, the album was planned to be produced by Steven Mertens but his contributions were ultimately never released. After hearing the tape, Kahne agreed to produce an album with Del Rey. 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.
The two of them agreed that Del Rey had the potential to have a major breakthrough and signed her to a multi-record contract. 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.