Lana Del Rey

I’ve never claimed to be a music expert, I’m not a musician or critic, nor do I sit around swirling wine as I compare Bach and Mozart. However, music is a giant part of my life. There is rarely a moment when I’m not listening to it. Hell, I sleep with the radio playing. What I’m trying to get at is: I am about to talk about Lana Del Rey, but don’t expect an in-depth essay on her music, just know that it has affected me and I want to share her with you.

Lana Del Rey landed in my lap thanks to iTunes giving out her single “Born to Die.” Which is this:

Now you may be having a different reaction to this, but when I watched this video I sort of had an existential crisis and had to watch it again. I’m sure there are dozens of clever adjectives I could use here to describe the sound of this song, but I don’t think that would be really doing it justice. This song both sounds incredibly familiar and brand new. It’s like she took all of these well established music genres, themes and theory and mixed them in just the right way to make them unique.

Now, some people will argue with me on calling her unique. Hell, five minutes ago I came across a battle between Gaga and Lana fans over who’s ripping whom off. Well I don’t think either are ripping each other off (let’s face it, we all know Gaga is ripping off Madonna). I don’t even think either sound the same. The only true similarity I see between the two is music videos that use epic visuals. I’m not just saying this naively, I own the albums Born to Die and Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster. I’ve listened to both numerous times. Gaga seems more influenced by house and 80s music while Lana feels closer to alt-rock, country and je ne sais quoi.

Speaking of albums, let’s talk about Born to Die. The titular single is not what convinced me to buy the album, it was this song:

I actually thought “Video Games” was weaker than “Born to Die” on the first listen, but “Video Games” seems to infect you. You listen once and it’s stuck in your head, so you listen to it again and each time you listen to it you like it more. Not to mention to video is quite a stunning portrait of Hollywood without being in-your-face about it (unlike some other videos).

Since I’ve looked at two of her three videos, I might as well do the third, “Blue Jeans:”

At first this song was way too country for me, but again, her music is infectious and this is one of my favourite songs on the albums. Also, I think it’s a shame that the video for “Born to Die” has such a big production value. I think “Blue Jeans” and “Video Games” have a greater charm to them for their homemade feel.

The reason why I’m writing this is because the last time an album took hold of me so quickly and completely was back in high school, so it’s incredible to me that I can still be as affected by music as I was back in those hormonal days. I hope you guys check her out too, and if you’re looking for songs I really dig off the album that do not have videos, may I suggest:

• National Anthem (I feel like this should be in some motivation commercial – one that hasn’t really read the lyrics before giving it the okay)
• Off to the Races (of all her songs, I think this one is the one best suited for a club)
• Lolita (this one makes me think of a cheerleader’s chant)

The album is not flawless (I think Diet Mountain Dew is a little meh and the Lucky Ones rubs me the wrong way – I keep thinking it’s a cover), but it’s certainly the most interesting album I’ve heard in a long time and I can’t stop listening to it. I just spent three torturous hours in class humming “Video Games” to myself. I’m infected I tells ya!

[Edit: Since posting this Lana Del Rey has indeed released a video for National Anthem, and you can watch it here. What do I think of it? In short, I don’t like it. At least it’s not as bad as this fucking video. Oh Lana, where did you go wrong?]