Born To Die [LP]

If you haven't heard of Lana Del Rey by now, then you've probably just crawled out from under a rock (we have a black President now, by the way...) Lana has garnered a pretty loyal fan base over the last year following a string of popular Youtube music vids from her EP. She has also come to the attention of many others (myself included) more recently following an SNL performance that garnered much negative attention, including tweets from the likes of has-been actresses Juliette Lewis and Eliza Dushku. Everyone waited with anticipation for the release of this album to see if she could put the money where her pouty mouth is. And I think she more than paid off! The album is a love-letter to fans of trip-hop and lushly orchestrated ballads. Lana is a vocal breath of fresh air, eschewing the auto-tune that is the current bane of the music industry. And the tracks are varied enough to not get stale, and as I mentioned, well orchestrated and multi-layered. It's a sonic delight that compels multiple play-throughs. It's been awhile since an album has dominated my player as much as this one has. I've listened to it nearly exclusively over the past week, and even the few tracks that I didn't like at first have become favorites! The album opens with the four songs that comprised her EP from 2011. BORN TO DIE, OFF TO THE RACES, BLUE JEANS, and VIDEO GAMES. To me, these were all fresh as I never heard the EP before. OFF TO THE RACES is an album favorite of mine, and is frankly the reason I finally decided to download the entire album. VIDEO GAMES, of course, is the song she will be forever identified with (until she tops it, anyway). And it is indeed a fantastic and dark ballad, though I think the album boasts plenty of songs to rival it. Following this is a handful of tracks updated from her previous recording sessions, and some new tracks. Highlights include more trip hop goodness with DIET MOUNTAIN DEW, a Fiona Apple-esque ballad MILLION DOLLAR MAN, and the swirling (though profane) RADIO. Through multiple listens, and putting pieces together from her interviews and biography, it becomes clear this album is meant as a snapshot of her teen and young adult years. We see two sides of Lana here, singing about partying with her girlfriends on tracks like WHAT MAKES US GIRLS and in full Jersey Girl Twang with NATIONAL ANTHEM ("Gawd, yeh so hansum..."), and then covering more personal ground as the fragile, lovelorn girl who has loved and lost and fears being used, in tracks like the now infamous VIDEO GAMES and MILLION DOLLAR MAN. Between these two extremes lay tales of how girls are used as sex objects ... stories of drinking, drugs, and the many other things teens do today to cope with their burgeoning adulthood. Many of her critics brutalized her for their misconception of her as being a shallow artist singing about partying and nothing much else. But there is much more depth here than appears at first glance. I caught it at the end of the last song - Lana laments how she was taken away from her best friends in WHAT MAKES US GIRLS: "They were the only friends I ever had / We got into trouble and when stuff got bad / I got sent away, I was waving on the train platform / Crying 'cause I know I'm never coming back." Whatever happened during her youth, it ended with her parents sending her to Boarding school - and with this line, the entire album comes into focus. It's a lament, a funeral dirge for her lost youth and the friends and loves she was forced to leave behind. Which leads to the excellent (and seemingly overlooked) album cover. Lana appears against a mostly clear blue sky with tightly coiffed hair and a white collared shirt, buttoned all the way up to the neck - an image that screams conservative! She's all grown up now. But then there's that red bra ghosting through - a reminder that she still retains that wild, party girl somewhere inside her. You can take the girl out of the party scene, but you can't take away the party girl! What a fantastically appropriate image for the album! In short, Lana rode into town this year amidst a sea of insensitive critics who were more obsessed with her background and the size of her lips than her actual music. Can anyone remember the last time a male artist was chastised for being fake or too handsome!? Who was the last male artist who was declared a manufactured product of the music industry!? It's a shame that in our current day and age, we still can't give women a fair shake. Well, fortunately miss Del Rey has more than proven herself, and I look forward to more to come from her in the future!

I am a Lana del Rey BELIEVER despite the SNL mishap. I love her soulful, sultry voice and the interesting, unique song compilation. She tends to have certain themes repeating throughout her songs, but they do not get boring or stale. Some people find her music a bit depressing or not lively enough, but I disagree. I have probably played this CD on repeat over 100 times. I love every song except "Carmen" - find that one kind of odd and too slow for my tastes, but in particular I have gravitated towards: 1. Blue Jeans - This is the song that got me hooked on Lana in the first place. I liked the range of her voice, and the unexpected but totally perfect "rap" in the verse. 2. Off to the Races - I absolutely hated the verse when it first played, but once the chorus came on, I started to tolerate and then really liked the verse. The chorus is amazingly catchy, chaotic, and fun. 3. Summertime Sadness - There is usually one song besides the initial radio hits that become popular with good artists. I honestly would not have pegged this one to be it. I thought "Dark Paradise" or "Diet Mountain Dew" would have been more popular, but I understand why people like this one. The verse is cool and swingy, and I eagerly await the bridge (cause it is SO FUN to sing) every time this song plays. 4. Radio - I like the sweet sounding melody paired with the expletives. It was unexpected and kind of fun. Though it sucked that the first time I had this playing, I was in my car, next to a minivan with kids in it. Definitely got some evil eyes from the lady driving the van... sorry, lady. I had NO idea! 5. This Is What Makes Us Girls - This song is completely on point. It's unapologetic in pointing out that us girls tend to kind of leave each other to the wayside in the pursuit of romance, but that it's a "curse." I see it as a frank assessment, but something that we can improve on! 6. Dark Paradise - Lyrics are super relatable. This is definitely something you listen to when you've just gone through a bad breakup. I like that her songs have clear situations in which they apply but are still good to listen to outside of those situations. Overall, her lyrics are super nostalgic, both in calling back times far gone and times of our childhood and youth. It takes me back to the days when I used to play my scant few CDs on repeat, and that's how I would find all the hidden gems that no one else knew about. Though I understand the ease and convenience of purchasing single digital songs, unless you download the whole album and play it on repeat, you don't get that same experience as popping a CD in and being somewhat forced to listen to all of the songs. This album is definitely worth listening to in its entirety. (Except "Carmen." I really don't like that song.)

Lana Del Rey is a refreshing new arrival on the music scene. With other female musicians gaining fame by proving how trashy they can be, Lana, like Adele, shine through as woman who are not trying to roll around in the mud. Not that she won't sprinkle a few "f" words around here and there, to spice things up a little. I have kept this CD in my player and listened to it over and over because Lana's delivery on several songs is unique: on a song like "Born to Die", sounding almost monotone, her voice is carried along by soaring strings and bouncing hip-hop in the background. This rich mixture of sound throughout the album makes the album enticing for the ears. Her voice winds up leaving you haunted and hypnotized by the words, playing in your head long after you've finished listening. Thus, they are also sticky. Sometimes, the lyrics resound in your head because of repetition. In "Summertime Sadness," the song's title is repeated many times in the song, like a mantra. This is one of my favorite songs. The wistfulness of summer coming to an end brings to mind The Doors' "Summer's Almost Gone," very much capturing the similar spirit. This song, along with "Born to Die," the richly orchestrated and lush "Video Games," and "Dark Paradise" are the tunes I would put on a chill out playlist. Feeling like chilling out, a bit blue, or winding down for the day, these tunes help sync with that mood. Other tunes are more playful and energetic, where Lana uses a fuller range of voice, as in "Off to the Races" and "Diet Mountain Dew," both of which bounce along, but moderately--she's not trying to hit the disco dance floor here! One thing I like is use of very descriptive language, really painting pictures of things, as in "Off to the Races": Swimming pool glimmering darling/ White bikini off with my red nail polish/ Watch me in the swimming pool / Bright blue ripples. "National Anthem" has a clever touch with the lead in of the sound of muted fireworks in the background. The rest of the songs that round out the album are okay, but don't stand out like the previous ones mentioned. If you're looking for something different, definitely check out Lana Del Rey. If she has more material like this, I can't wait till her next album.

I'm somewhat of an indie rock snob. By all accounts, I should hate this stuff; Del Rey has really taken a beating from critics and journalists everywhere. She is an unfortunate case of a star who just got too big too quickly. The indie-rock crowd was hoping for an "authentic" artist who would represent their interests in pop music. The pop crowd was hoping for safe, radio-friendly music. Del Rey's BORN TO DIE doesn't really reach either of those points, but instead, it falls somewhere in the middle. I think Lana Del Rey has been the victim of bad marketing -- if she was initially marketed as a pop chanteuse, she wouldn't have received so much backlash. This album is wonderful! BORN TO DIE is a dash of jazzy cabaret, trip-hop electronic beats, indie-rock instrumentation, and pop songwriting. When you take away the moodiness, the attitude, the multi-layered vocals, it's obvious that there is fantastic songs here. I think what has put some people off is that these songs (which are at their core, very melodic and catchy) are dressed up in multiple levels of production. This production is what led to the infamous SNL performance; people were rooting for the singer to fail, and in some ways she did. Her music is very much a product of a studio, and if you remove it from that context, you can't expect it to translate perfectly. Speaking just for her album, though, I give credit to Del Rey, her songwriters and producers; the music here is multilayered and tasteful. You can listen to songs over and over and still find new things. The first four tracks of the album in particular ("Born to Die," "Off to the Races," "Blue Jeans," and "Video Games") showcase a fantastic accessibility. Sometimes the attitude gets in the way: in "Off to the Races," Del Ray sings like she is a gangster. "Dark Paradise" laments the passing of a lover, and even though the singer claims to wish to die, there is interesting, emotional stuff at work here. The album ends with "This is What Makes Us Girls," which feels like a strange way to end BORN TO DIE -- it doesn't quite match the theme of the album in my opinion. BORN TO DIE has been one of the surprise albums for me this year. It is way better than it should be, but it's hard to know who to recommend this album to. If you are at the least bit curious, I would suggest sampling the album. Even if you've been turned off by the maligned SNL performance or the scathing reviews that critics gave her earlier in the year. Highlights to sample/download: "Blue Jeans," "Video Games," "National Anthem," or "Off to the Races." Additional release information: Born To Die (Deluxe Version) [+Digital Booklet ]. The deluxe edition of the album comes with three additional bonus tracks. These songs "Without You," "Lolita," and "Lucky Ones," are quite good, but not as good as those on the album. I would sample these before buying either version.

I have to say that this is one of the most unusual and most successful debut albums I have ever heard, from an artist that even a few months ago I did not know existed. Both lyrically and musically, the album takes us into an alternate world, a world populated by young women who are fatally attracted to seriously flawed men, but this doesn't seem to bother them. They not only accept it, they revel in it. Although most of the songs are built around this theme, redundancy is avoided because the characters are vividly detailed and the musical presentations are diverse. I would like to mention that any comparisons I make to musical genres or other artists must be considered approximations; the music on this album is highly original and frankly, rather difficult to describe. In the opener and title song, "Born To Die", Lana sings a ballad with a world-weariness and fatalism that calls to mind Marianne Faithfull or even Marlene Dietrich: "Feet don't fail me now/Take me to the finish line...Choose your last words/This is the last time/Cause you and I, we were born to die". The next track, my favorite, "Off To The Races", is completely different, an upbeat hip-hop track. In this song a girl with "a Las Vegas past" is kept and well-tended by a gangster type who "...loves me with every beat of his cocaine heart". This relationship would seem dysfunctional to most, but the picture Lana paints makes it sound valid, desirable and a lot of fun. In the somber "Video Games", she coaxes her young lover, "Tell me all the things you wanna do/I heard that you like the bad girls honey, is that true?" We return to hip-hop and enter the playground of the wealthy in "National Anthem": "Money is the anthem of success/So before we go out, what's your address?...God you're so handsome/Take me to the Hamptons". "Carmen" in the ballad by that name is one character not preoccupied with relationships. Her problems are different: "The boys, the girls/They all like Carmen...Doesn't have a problem/Lyin' to herself/'Cause her liquor's top shelf". "Million Dollar Man" is sung in a style that I would have to call 40's or 50's blues (very interesting vocal here), and the reason she is blue is, as she tells her man, "You're screwed up and brilliant/You look like a million-dollar man/So why is my heart broke?" The total effect of the album would be depressing except that the interesting lyrics and Lana's varied vocals are such a delight that any sadness is mitigated. Then too, why feel sorry for someone who doesn't feel sorry for herself? Lana's characters are content with the lives they are living. I hope Lana gets to make a second album because I certainly want to see where she takes us next.

Ohhh myyy godd that thing iss amazing the album I can't born to die it's amazing and the packaging as well can't wait to listen to it!!!!!!!!!

I gotta admit, I was avoiding Lana Del Rey and Born to Die when she blew up earlier this year. Her music just seemed so somber and depressing and I wasn't in the mood for that at the time. However, I finally gave in last week when I was browsing the top indie sellers on Amazon and there it was, Born to Die, at the top of the list. And for $3.99, I figured it was worth it to find out what the hype was about. I wasn't disappointed; this album is straight-up sad as hell. But that's not such a bad thing - it has focus. Initially, I loved the sound. The album is beautifully produced with excellent instrumentals to back Lana's husky (and at times, surprisingly sweet, pop, and girly, for lack of better words) vocals and gloomy lyrics. For me, the first and titular track, "Born to Die", is my favorite as it sets the tone for the rest of the album and embodies the mindset with which Lana wrote the album. (Also note the hip hop influences in the music as well as the lyrics.) But after repeat listens, because this is the type of music that gets into your head and keeps you coming back, I began to think that it wasn't as great as I first thought it was. To me, it seemed like the content was what a 16-year old high schooler might come up with; the pains of love, existential crises, drugs and alcohol and money, and feeling a little self-destructive. Now, I understand that angsty teenagers don't have a monopoly on what I listed above, but it was the lyrics behind that enchantingly despondent, slightly dazed way Lana sings. -- 'You and I, we were born to die; I'm off to the races, cases of Bacardi chasers; You're so fresh to death...I will love you 'til the end of time; Money is the reason we exist; I wish I was dead; All my friends tell me I should move on...Loving you forever, can't be wrong.' -- Just some examples - and actually the line, 'I will love you 'til the end of time', in "Blue Jeans" is one of my favorites from the album, but it also serves to prove my point. Which is: this album is shallow; a choice word a friend offered me in regard to Born to Die which I agree with wholeheartedly. Personally, I like her music, but this album was about a girl going through a bad break-up, talking about drinking and getting high, all camouflaged at first listen by the sophistication of funereal string arrangements and an overall amazing production. With repeat listens, the former overtook the latter for me and I couldn't get the word "shallow" out of my head. After six or seven songs of this, the second half of the album is more of the same and kind of blurs together for me. That being said, I truly did enjoy the album more than I didn't. It's sad and childish, but elegantly done in both regards. I hope Lana Del Rey follows Born to Die with a more diverse effort - in subject matter and lyrical content. And fosho, I won't wait half a year after it comes out to buy it.

I am not huge into Lana but I grew up with and love this album. Was nice to experience it on vinyl.

Great

Awsome record, sleeve was a bit damaged though :(

El mejor disco de Lana junto a Ultraviolence

it came in a good condition