Throughout her roughly 12-year mainstream career, music’s brooding sad girl, Lana Del Rey, has been no stranger to criticism and controversy. Regardless, she has remained a force to be reckoned with. Despite being relentlessly mocked in her early career for her stage persona and vocal ability, Del Rey garnered more respect and more Grammy nominations with each album.

When she released what has been dubbed her magnum opus, “Norman f***ing Rockwell,” in 2019, many thought she would take home her first Grammy, but she left empty-handed. Following the 2020 Grammys, Del Rey released two more albums, “Chemtrails Over The Country Club” and “Blue Banisters,” which received critical acclaim, but not enough mainstream success to fall on the Grammy radar.

Then, in March of 2023, she released “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd,” which has helped launch Del Rey’s career back into the public eye. This soul-bearing album goes deeper than any Lana album before, exploring themes such as loss, mental health struggles, sexual assault, familial dysfunction, retrospection and the desire to leave a legacy. Opposed to some of her well-known pop songs, the songs on this album follow less of a rigid structure and rely more on lyricism than the music itself. The departure from her Americana bad-girl persona to a tragic starlet worried about being lost to time is something out of a Tennessee Williams play. In her song “Fingertips,” Del Rey recounts the lowest moments of her life through a stream of consciousness, and on the album’s two interludes, Del Rey giggles and screams over prayers and piano notes. This uniqueness from such a popular artist is part of what makes this album so captivating — both to the general public and to critics. This album has been highly acclaimed, with Variety calling it an “Emotional Tour De Force” and The Guardian describing it as “bold and enthralling.” Del Rey’s songwriting in this album paints a story for the listener and takes them on a journey through her inner psyche. It’s heartbreaking, beautiful and deeply authentic.

Going into 2024, Del Rey will be headlining the first day of Coachella as well as competing for five Grammy awards, including Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best Alternative Music Album, Best Alternative Music Performance and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Now more than ever, it is time for the Grammys to recognize her achievements.

Other nominated artists, who have already won Grammys, such as Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo, cite Del Rey as an inspiration. During an episode of the podcast “At Your Service,” Eilish told fellow artist Dua Lipa that Del Rey’s debut album “Born To Die” “changed music … And especially changed music for girls and the potential of what is possible.” Meanwhile, Rodrigo has said, “Lana’s work taught me how effective sentimentality can be in songwriting … She defies any stereotypes of what a woman writing pop songs should or shouldn’t be. She’s constantly pushing boundaries and making work that is fresh, adventurous and unabashedly feminine.” Even Taylor Swift has called Del Rey “the most influential artist in pop.”

While all these women are worthy of recognition and acclaim, it feels like a cultural loss for the Grammys to recognize them and not the artist they look up to in common. It is one thing to be an incredible singer, gifted songwriter or skilled performer, but it is another to be a trailblazer. Del Rey struggled and faced the cruelty of the music industry so that future artists like her would have a better experience. Throughout her career, Del Rey has used her music to pave the way for other female pop artists to write about difficult topics and embrace melancholy. Del Rey is not the perfect ingenue in that she is too opinionated, too dreary and too defiant. She does not cater to the mainstream pop audience in a way that is palatable. Yet, this is precisely why she has garnered such a large audience. She is a pioneer who has defied convention and pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable in the mainstream music industry. Both Del Rey’s sound and aesthetic are deeply recognizable and will remain an influence on generations of younger artists. For the Grammys not to recognize Del Rey’s talent this year would be a loss akin to the neglect of the actual tunnel that sits abandoned under Ocean Blvd.

Jordan Ori is an undeclared sophomore.