Discography Series: Lana Del Rey #1 - Born to Die (Paradise Edition)

Discography Series: Lana Del Rey #1

Born to Die (Paradise Edition)

Born to Die: I honestly think I'll like this album more than I expected to. Lana's voice fits so well on this production. I like the sorta...grand production to it? The beat throughout definitely adds to it. 7/10

Off to the Races: I like the production of the intro less, but then I think it got better for me. Yeah, it definitely did. I don't know why I had a certain vision of Lana and it was not this. I really thought all her songs were super slow and depressing and that's not generally my music. The chorus hits! The song uses its run time well as well, it doesn't feel like it overstays its welcome. 8/10

Blue Jeans: We're going for a different sort of vibe here, maybe? The shouts in the background are fun. I feel for some reason I'm feeling Lana's voice less in this song, but I still think it's good. The later parts of the song hit even more. I'm really surprised at how much I'm enjoying listening to this album so far. 7/10

Video Games: A great hobby, obviously! Now how I expected this song to sound, and I think it's more in line with what I expected Lana songs to sound like. I think her voice shines through here with the quieter production. Even though it's less my vibe, it is somewhat catchy. Even though it's less my vibe I actually think it's quite a good song. 7/10

Diet Mountain Dew: Addison Rae your nachos are safe. Although this song is still good! It is catchyyyy. The chorus is really addictive actually like I was unaware of your game Lana. I'm positively gagged. 8/10

National Anthem: Well it's better than the UK's national anthem, that's for sure! Also I feel like I may have heard this before? I feel like the chorus is very catchy, although I'm not entirely here for the contrast between the background and foreground lyrics. At first I was unsure of the song but actually, it's pretty decent. 7/10

Dark Paradise: Another good song! I like how cohesive the album has been overall, it really all fits and flows together well. Lana fits this production style so well. It's so well done. I'm impressed honestly. It's such an impressive album and song. 8/10

Radio: This song deserves to be on the radio! Again, another good song that I enjoyed listening to a fair bit. Production hits, and Lana sounds good on it. I wish I had more to say about the lyrics, but I'm never able to capture them on the first listen really. 8/10

Carmen: Probably my least favourite song so far. Not terrible, but less my thing for sure. It may be how Lana sounds here, I'm unsure? The production is still interesting but could also be slightly less my thing on this song. 6/10

Million Dollar Man: Lana sounds GREAT here. It's a great contrast between her voice and the production here again. It's not the boppiest bop of all time but it's a good song. Some really interesting production elements too in the background. 7/10

Summertime Sadness: The one everyone knows, including me who manages to live under a rock. It's a bop and a good song, I can't lie. It may be a bit overplayed but still. It's overplayed for a reason. Me when I got that summertime sadness. 8/10

This Is What Makes Us Girls: Another good song! It's a bop, there's really not much more to say about it.  8/10

Without You: Not where I was expecting the song to go but that's a win for me! It's a good song, good production and good vocals. Although to some degree I can see where a criticism comes in that some of the songs perhaps sound too similar because this production style has mostly persisted throughout. Like, it's good, but I can see why people may say it's gone on for too long. 7/10

Lolita: Me when I'm another bop. Interesting name of a track though. It goes for the vocal effect type effect in the background like a couple of the other songs are. But hey, if it works, it works! Don't jettison what sounds good. 7/10

Lucky Ones: This has another somewhat grand production, which would make sense as like an ending song, which I presume was the original ending track. I looked it up and it was a bonus track, so not quite. But I can see how it could be an ending track honestly. It sounds good! 7/10

Ride: Is that rain? Anyway, while I was not super a fan of the first part of the song, it definitely got better for me. Basically I like the choruses a lot more than the verses. But still, another good song. 7/10

American: Another good song! It definitely seems like these songs were a good extension to the original album and fit in with them well. It's a decent song but not quite a favourite. 7/10

Cola: Addison Rae, your nachos...they're safe again. But nobody can beat the pussy line honestly. I've seen the song referenced a fair few times. Okay higher notes! But this is another good song. 7/10

Body Electric: I'm not sure about Jesus being your bestest friend, but you go! Not my favourite song for sure, I think it's a bit more boring for me. 6/10

Blue Velvet: This song was also not really as much for me. I think it doesn't quite hit as well as some of the others. Thankfully it's not too long. 6/10

Gods & Monsters: Or gay and straight people, obviously. This song feels better to me. I like the production more. 7/10

Yayo: This may be one of those songs that I like a bit less considering how it started. It's very slow. And very slow is not my jam often. Daddy mention though! 6/10

Bel Air: Unfortunately this is less my thing too. It's another slower song I'm not really too fussed by. It's not bad, just not really my thing. 6/10

Burning Desire: Okay moaning noises? I'm afraid I don't have a burning desire for this song. It's not really for me. It feels too slow and uninteresting for me. 6/10

Overall Verdict: Listening to this album (and I guess EP, though I liked that part less overall) have really shattered the preconceived nature I had about Lana. I could honestly listen to the whole album again, which is something I never expected to say. She is such a talented artist, and I am seeing that even more now (before I just thought her music was very much not for me). Time will tell whether I like her other albums as much as this one, but this one is great! It has some of the tracks I knew I'd like less, but there were plenty I loved! The production is interesting, and Lana sings well. Lyrics are something that I can't really appreciate on first listens, but from what I've seen, those are good too.