Born to Die

Bibliographic Information: Lana Del Ray. (2012). Born to die [Audio CD]. Santa Monica: Interscope.

Summary and Evaluation: With brooding nonchalance, Lana Del Ray’s sultry, jazz inspired croons are juxtaposed with her playfully sentimental lyrics. The album starts slow and soft, then gets darker and faster, and finally picks up the mood until it crashes back down to a whisper. The song that rose her to fame is a painful lament to an ex-lover who, despite her ploys for attention, just played video games. Piano, strings and harp pair with painted memories of their relationship, and as she crescendo’s into a pleading and stabbing, “It’s you, it’s you, it’s all for you” you only get the sense that he doesn’t hear her.

Extracting images from pop culture and her past, Lana’s songwriting is fresh and unique. She knows how to orchestrate her melodies in a powerful way, while undercutting the beautiful waves of sound with ironic words.

Artist Information: Wikipedia states, “Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1986), better known by her stage name Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Del Rey initially began performing in clubs in New York City at age 18 and signed her first recording contract when she was 20 years old with 5 Points Records, releasing her first digital album Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant in January 2010. Del Rey bought herself out of the contract with 5 Points Records in April 2010 and signed a joint contract with Interscope, Polydor, and Stranger Records in October 2011.

After she released her debut single "Video Games" in June 2011, a music video created by Del Rey for the song was posted on YouTube in August 2011. After the song became a viral internet hit with over 20 million views, her second studio album,Born to Die, was released in January 2012. The album sold over 3.6 million copies worldwide in 2012, making it the fifth best-selling album of 2012. Charting across Europe, the album spawned numerous top ten hits, including "Blue Jeans", "National Anthem", "Born to Die", and "Summertime Sadness."

  

Genre: Pop

Reason for Selection: Lana Del Ray is a viral sensation, and combination of her unique combinations of genres, paired with her almost Britney Spears-like sentiments, make for great teen music.