Music

Is Lana Del Rey ready to reign as pop queen?

It was supposed to be Lana Del Rey’s big mainstream-crossover moment. But in January 2012, after she appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” the singer must have felt like heading straight back underground.

Lana Del Ray during her 2012 Saturday Night Live performance.AP

The New Yorker looked like a rabbit in the headlights, stumbling through a pitchy version of “Video Games,” from her major-label debut “Born to Die.” After months of hype — according to the blogosphere, Del Rey’s dramatic vocals, cinematic sound and movie-star looks were set to take the world by storm — the backlash was fast and vicious.

Actress Juliette Lewis clawed at the singer on Twitter, saying her appearance was like “watching a 12-year-old in their bedroom when they’re pretending to sing and perform.” NBC anchor Brian Williams deemed the performance one of the “worst outings in SNL history” in a leaked e-mail. Even Del Rey’s manager, Ben Mawson, admitted to The Post afterward that it was probably too soon to have booked her. The fact that Del Rey had gigged around New York under her birth name of Lizzy Grant before reinventing herself — she admitted to lowering her voice but denied rumors of plastic surgery — only added to the fire.

But how things have changed. On Tuesday, the 27-year-old drops her new album, “Ultraviolence,” and completes her rehabilitation from punching bag to post-modern pop queen.

In terms of sales, her recovery from SNL was instant. The controversy turned into to curiosity, sending “Born to Die” to No. 2 on the Billboard album charts, while a remix of the single “Summertime Sadness” hit the top 10 in 2013.

l Nicole Nodland
She also refined her songwriting skills over the course of the well-received “Paradise” and “Tropico” EPs, released in 2012 and 2013 respectively. “I think the backlash came from uninformed bloggers, not the general public,” Rick Nowels, a seasoned LA songwriter whose credits include tracks for Dido and Madonna, tells The Post. He has worked with Del Rey for three years, co-writing “Summertime Sadness” as well as three cuts on the new album, and insists that she is no poser. “She’s a brilliant lyricist and melodist. It flows from her effortlessly. All of our songs have been written in 20 minutes.”

Chuck Grant
Del Rey’s femme-fatale poise has seen her stock rise in Hollywood quickly. She collaborated directly with Baz Luhrmann on the swooning “Young and Beautiful” from 2013’s “The Great Gatsby” soundtrack, and Angelina Jolie handpicked Del Rey to sing “Once Upon a Dream” in the trailer for “Maleficent.” The chanteuse also sang for Kanye West and Kim Kardashian at their wedding rehearsal dinner at the Palace of Versailles. Her performance was rumored to have netted her around $3 million, but Del Rey denied it, saying she would never charge her friends.

Chuck Grant
And “SNL”-type live disasters are a thing of the past. The Hollywood Reporter named the singer’s April set at the Coachella festival one of the weekend’s 10 best — above headliners Arcade Fire and a star-studded outing from Pharrell Williams.

Even Black Keys singer Dan Auerbach — who publicly dismissed Del Rey in 2012 as a here-today, gone-tomorrow type — has been converted: He produced “Ultraviolence.” “She impressed me every day,” he recently told music magazine Mojo of their sessions. “She’s the real deal.”

Still, not everyone is convinced.

“I’m not really a fan of what she does now,” says Concetta Kirschner (a k a Princess Superstar), who in 2009 mentored and wrote songs with Del Rey back when she was plain old Lizzy Grant. “The songs we wrote together when she was Lizzy were a lot more fun, but Lana is so dark. Believe it or not, fame can make people unhappy. It doesn’t seem to me like she’s happy.” Whatever the case, it seems like fans like her just the way she is. Get ready for another summertime of sadness.

Under the covers

Angelina Jolie would have been compelling even if the “Maleficent” trailer had been silent — but Lana Del Rey’s “Once Upon a Dream” was the moody icing on the cake. Spooky, slowed-down cover songs are a hot trend for movie and TV promos. So how do some others stack up?

Song: “Beautiful Dreamer”

Trailer for: “The Green Inferno”

Aqualash give Stephen Foster’s 1864 tune a chilling, music-box makeover for Eli Roth’s torture flick, out in September.

Song: “Devil Inside”

Trailer for: “Game of Thrones”

As heard in a Season 4 promo, trip-hop trio London Grammar strips INXS’s 1988 hit bare. Why didn’t Lorde think of this?

Song: “Cities in Dust”

Trailer for: “Game of Thrones”

It’s not like Siouxsie & the Banshees’ 1985 original (“Your molten bodies/Blanket of cinders”) was uplifting, but alt-rock act the Everlove turns it into a menacing dirge . . . that builds to a Linkin Park-esque screamfest.

Song: “Addicted to Love”

Trailer for: “Endless Love”

The 1981 movie’s theme by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie was too sappy for a story about teen steam, arson and a guy seduced by his ex’s mom. For the February 2014 remake, Skylar Grey’s eerie cover of Robert Palmer’s ’86 smash got it right.