Husky-voiced Lana Del Rey: a femme fatale for YouTube age

What you need to knowAmerican singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey continues her UK tour this week following gigs at the Hammersmith Apollo, London. Del Rey is known for her noir pop tunes including viral YouTube hit Video Games, and top ten hits Blue Jeans and Born to Die from her multi-million-selling debut album.

Del Rey won the 2013 Brit award for best International Female Solo Artist, and recently penned the original song Young and Beautiful for the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby.

She appears at the Manchester Apollo tonight, and Friday 24 May, and in Dublin 26-27 May.

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What the critics likeSince her breakthrough in 2011, Lana Del Rey's critics have been obsessed with her authenticity, but the public seems unbothered, says Graeme Virtue in The Guardian. She sings huskily and has remarkable poise, while Young and Beautiful, her contribution to the Gatsby soundtrack, sounds magnificent.

Del Rey is an intriguing star, says Lisa Verrico in The Times. What's certain is that she can sing - she coos her way beautifully through Cola and Born to Die, in "a seductively creepy blues croak", while her Carmen is spectacularly eerie and Young and Beautiful, is as gorgeous as Video Games.

Her singing is "excellent", says Ludovic Hunter-Tilney in the Financial Times. Del Rey's voice is "breathy and atmospheric, coasting with enigmatic serenity through her songs of material and erotic desire", and her achievement has been to revive the film noir femme fatale for an age of YouTube and luxury-rap.

What they don't likeHer fans adore her but Del Rey remains frustratingly enigmatic, says James Lachno in the Daily Telegraph. Her performance is entertaining and often compelling, but it "does nothing to cut through her mystique and establish a connection with the real Lana Del Rey".