Lana Del Rey | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Lana Del Rey envisioned a Southern California dream world constructed out of sad girls and bad boys, manufactured melancholy and genuine glamour, and then she came to embody this fantasy. At first, her stylized noir-pop garnered skeptical sneers -- the rise of her 2012 debut Born to Die was impeded by a tentative live debut on Saturday Night Live -- but Del Rey proved to be tougher than her soft exterior suggested. Following a hit remix of her single "Summertime Sadness," she steadily gained not only popularity but respect, with her 2014 second album, Ultraviolence, receiving positive reviews to accompany her sales; her imitators, of which there were many, were merely an alluring accessory. By that point, Del Rey had become the ideal she intended to be: a damaged torch singer designed as the tragic romantic icon for her age. Lana Del Reys journey to this stardom was a long, steady climb. Born as Elizabeth Woolridge Grant in New York City to a pair of wealthy parents, she was raised in Lake Placid, not starting to pursue music until she was out of high school and living with her aunt and uncle on Long Island. Her uncle taught her how to play guitar and soon she was writing songs and playing New York clubs, sometimes under the name Lizzy Grant. While she attended Fordham University, she continued to play music and she started getting serious around 2005. In April of that year, a CD of originals was registered under her birth name with the U.S. Copyright Office and she recorded elsewhere, finishing up an unreleased folky album called Sirens under the name May Jailer. Reverting to the name Lizzy Grant, she signed with 5 Points Records in 2006, recording an EP called Kill Kill with producer David Kahne, who would prove to be her first pivotal collaborator. Kill Kill appeared digitally in 2008, and over the next two years Grant became Lana Del Rey, digitally releasing a full self-titled album under that name in 2010. Not long after its release, she teamed with managers Ben Mawson and Ed Millett, who helped her separate from 5 Points (rights to her recordings reverted back to her) and moved to England, where she began crafting the Lana Del Rey persona. The first unveiling of Lana Del Rey arrived in 2011 via YouTube videos that quickly became a viral sensation, led by the moody, murky "Video Games" and followed by "Blue Jeans." Much of her success was limited to the Internet but it soon started to spill over into the pop culture of the U.K. By the fall of that year, she released "Video Games" on Stranger Records, an independent division of Interscope/Polydor, in the U.K. and she won the Next Big Thing trophy at the Q Awards. Del Reys full-fledged debut album, Born to Die, appeared to considerable anticipation in January 2012. Greeted to mixed reviews, Born to Dies launch also suffered a setback after Del Reys halting appearance on Saturday Night Live on January 14, 2012, but that apparent stumble ultimately had the effect of raising Del Reys profile, and soon Born to Die became a steady seller. That November, Del Rey released the Paradise EP -- at eight tracks and 33 minutes, it was essentially a mini-LP; some pressings bundled Paradise with Born to Die -- which, supported by the single "Ride," charted at ten in the U.S. Throughout 2013, various singles and videos surfaced -- these included a cover of Leonard Cohens "Chelsea Hotel #2," as well as a cover of Lee Hazlewoods "Summer Wine" performed with her then-boyfriend, Barrie-James ONeill -- but her biggest release of the year was the new song "Young and Beautiful," penned for Baz Luhrmanns adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Ultimately, this single was overshadowed by Cedric Gervais remix of Born to Dies "Summertime Sadness," a remix that turned the song into her first Top Ten hit in the U.S. At the end of 2013, Del Rey released a short film called Tropico, which was accompanied by an EP of the same name. All of these releases -- including a cover of the Disney standard "Once Upon a Dream" for the Disney film Maleficent -- kept Del Rey in the spotlight as she worked on her second album. Del Rey hired Dan Auerbach, the leader of Ohio blues-rockers the Black Keys, to produce the majority of Ultraviolence, the sophomore set that appeared in June 2014, preceded by the singles "West Coast," "Shades of Cool," "Ultraviolence," and "Brooklyn Baby." Ultraviolence found a more receptive initial audience than Born to Die: not only were the reviews positive, so were the sales, with the album debuting at number one in both the U.S. and the U.K. Ultimately, Ultraviolence didnt generate hits as big as Born to Die, but it performed the crucial task of elevating Del Reys critical reputation, illustrated by her selection to sing the title song for Tim Burtons 2014 bid for an Oscar, Big Eyes. Del Rey wasted no time following Ultraviolence. During the first months of 2015, she worked on a third full-length album and announced a co-headlining summer 2015 tour with Courtney Love. As the summer wound to a close, Del Rey announced the September release of Honeymoon, an album she said was "very different from the last one and similar to the first two, Born to Die and Paradise." Her claim was borne out by the albums first two singles, "High by the Beach" and "Terrence Loves You." Honeymoon saw release on September 18, 2015. The album topped the charts in a handful of countries, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200. In addition to touring in support of Honeymoon, she contributed vocals to the Weeknds chart-topping third LP, Starboy, and began recording for her own follow-up. In early 2017, she released "Love," the first single from her fourth full-length album, Lust for Life, which arrived in July of that year. Along with debuting at number one on the Billboard 200, the album earned Del Rey her second Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album. She returned the following year with the singles "Mariners Apartment Complex," and "Venice Beach" off her fifth album, 2019s Norman Fucking Rockwell. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 9 Title: Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant Released: 2010-01-04 Tracks: 13 Duration: 47:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Kill Kill (03:57) 2 Queen of the Gas Station (03:04) 3 Oh Say Can You See (03:40) 4 Gramma (Blue Ribbon Sparkler Trailer Heaven) (03:55) 5 For K Part 2 (03:24) 6 Jump (02:51) 7 Mermaid Motel (03:59) 8 Raise Me Up (Mississippi South) (04:22) 9 Pawn Shop Blues (03:26) 10 Brite Lites (02:58) 11 Put Me in a Movie (03:13) 12 Smarty (02:49) 13 Yayo (05:45) |
 | Album: 2 of 9 Title: Lana Del Rey EP Released: 2012-01-10 Tracks: 4 Duration: 17:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Video Games (04:42) 2 Born to Die (04:46) 3 Blue Jeans (03:29) 4 Off to the Races (05:00) |
 | Album: 3 of 9 Title: Born to Die Released: 2012-01-27 Tracks: 15 Duration: 1:00:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Born to Die (04:46) 2 Off to the Races (04:59) 3 Blue Jeans (03:29) 4 Video Games (04:42) 5 Diet Mountain Dew (03:42) 6 National Anthem (03:50) 7 Dark Paradise (04:03) 8 Radio (03:34) 9 Carmen (04:08) 10 Million Dollar Man (03:51) 11 Summertime Sadness (04:25) 12 This Is What Makes Us Girls (03:58) 13 Without You (03:49) 14 Lolita (03:39) 15 Lucky Ones (03:47) |
| Born to Die : Allmusic album Review : Lana Del Rey is a femme fatale with a smoky voice, a languorous image, and a modeling contract. Not coincidentally, she didnt lack for attention leading up to the release of her Interscope debut, Born to Die. The hype began in mid-2011 with a stunning song and video for "Video Games," and it kept on rising, right up to her January 2012 performance on Saturday Night Live (making her the first artist since Natalie Imbruglia in 1998 to perform on SNL without an album available). Although its easy to see the reasons why Del Rey got her contract, its also easy to hear: her songwriting skills and her bewitching voice. "Video Games" is a beautiful song, calling to mind Fiona Apple and Anna Calvi as she recounts another variation on the age-old trope of female-as-sex-object. Her vacant, tired reading of the song rescues it from any hint of exploitation, making it a winner. Unfortunately, the only problem with Born to Die is a big one. There is a chasm that separates "Video Games" from the other material and performances on the album, which aims for exactly the same target -- sultry, sexy, wasted -- but with none of the same lyrical grace, emotional power, or sympathetic productions. Del Rey doesnt mind taking chances, varying her vocalizing and delivery, toying with her lines and reaching for cinematic flourishes ("he loves me with every beat of his cocaine heart," "Pabst Blue Ribbon on ice"), and even attempting to rap. But shes unable to consistently sell herself as a heartbreaker, and most of the songs here sound like cobbled retreads of "Video Games." An intriguing start, but Del Rey is going to have to hit the books if she wants to stay as successful as her career promised early on. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 9 Title: Paradise Released: 2012-11-13 Tracks: 8 Duration: 33:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Ride (04:49) 2 American (04:08) 3 Cola (04:20) 4 Body Electric (03:53) 5 Blue Velvet (02:38) 6 Gods and Monsters (03:57) 7 Yayo (05:21) 8 Bel Air (03:57) |
 | Album: 5 of 9 Title: Tropico Released: 2013-12-06 Tracks: 4 Duration: 38:54 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Body Electric (03:53) 2 Gods and Monsters (03:57) 3 Bel Air (03:57) 4 Tropico (27:07) |
 | Album: 6 of 9 Title: Ultraviolence Released: 2014-06-13 Tracks: 11 Duration: 51:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Cruel World (06:40) 2 Ultraviolence (04:11) 3 Shades of Cool (05:42) 4 Brooklyn Baby (05:51) 5 West Coast (04:16) 6 Sad Girl (05:17) 7 Pretty When You Cry (03:54) 8 Money Power Glory (04:30) 9 Fucked My Way Up to the Top (03:32) 10 Old Money (04:31) 11 The Other Woman (03:01) |
| Ultraviolence : Allmusic album Review : The maelstrom of hype surrounding self-modeled Hollywood pop star Lana Del Reys 2012 breakthrough album, Born to Die, found critics, listeners, and pop culture aficionados divided about her detached, hyper-stylized approach to every aspect of her music and public persona. What managed to get overlooked by many was that Born to Die made such a polarizing impression because it actually offered something that didnt sound like anything else. Del Reys sultry, overstated orchestral pop recast her as some sort of vaguely imagined chanteuse for a generation raised on Adderall and the Internet, with heavy doses of Twin Peaks atmosphere adding a creepy sheen to intentionally vapid (and undeniably catchy) radio hits. Follow-up album Ultraviolence shifts gears considerably, building a thick, slow-moving atmosphere with its languid songs and opulent arrangements. Gone are the big beats and glossy production that resulted in tracks like "Summertime Sadness." Instead, Ultraviolence begins with the protracted, rolling melancholia of "Cruel World," nearly seven minutes of what feels like a sad, reverb-drenched daydream. The song sets the stage for the rest of the album, which simmers with a haunted, yearning feeling but never boils over. Even the most pop-friendly moments here are steeped in patient, jazz-inflected moodiness, as with the sad-eyed longing of "Shades of Cool" or the unexpected tempo changes that connect the slinky verses of single "West Coast" to their syrupy, swaying choruses. Production from the Black Keys Dan Auerbach might have something to do with the metered restraint that permeates the album, with songs like "Sad Girl" carrying some of the slow-burning touches of greasy blues-rock Auerbach is known for. A few puzzling moments break up the continuity of the album. The somewhat hooky elements of "Brooklyn Baby" cant quite rise above its disjointed song structure and cringeable lyrics that could be taken either as mockery of the hipster lifestyle or self-parody. "Money Power Glory" steps briefly out of the overall dreamscape of the album, sounding like a tossed-off outtake from the Born to Die sessions. Despite these mild missteps, Ultraviolence thrives for the most part in its density, meant clearly to be absorbed as an entire experience, with even its weaker pieces contributing to a mood thats consumptive, sexy, and as eerie as big-budget pop music gets. Del Reys loudest detractors criticized her music as a hollow, cliché-ridden product designed by the music industry and lacking the type of substance that makes real pop stars pop. Ultraviolence asserts that as a songwriter, she has complete control of her craft, deciding on songs far less flashy or immediate but still uniquely captivating. As these songs shift her sound into more mature and nuanced places, it becomes clear that every deadpan affectation, lispy lyric, and overblown allusion to desperate living has been a knowing move in the creation of the strange, beguiling character -- and sonic experience -- we know as Lana Del Rey. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 9 Title: Honeymoon Released: 2015-09-18 Tracks: 14 Duration: 1:05:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Honeymoon (05:50) 2 Music to Watch Boys To (04:50) 3 Terrence Loves You (04:50) 4 God Knows I Tried (04:40) 5 High by the Beach (04:17) 6 Freak (04:55) 7 Art Deco (04:55) 8 Burnt Norton (interlude) (01:21) 9 Religion (05:23) 10 Salvatore (04:41) 11 The Blackest Day (06:05) 12 24 (04:55) 13 Swan Song (05:23) 14 Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (03:01) |
| Honeymoon : Allmusic album Review : Call Honeymoon the third installment in a trilogy if you will but theres no indication Lana Del Rey will put her doomed diva persona to rest after this album. Over the course of three albums, Lana Del Rey hasnt so much expanded her delicately sculpted persona as she has refined it, removing anything extraneous to her exquisite ennui. Honeymoon doesnt drift or float, it marks time, sometimes swelling with a suggestion of impending melodrama but often deflating to just an innervated pulse. Apart from the syncopated chorus on "High on the Beach," any lingering element of the hip-hop affectations of Born to Die have been banished and so have the shade and light Dan Auerbach brought to Ultraviolence, a record that feels cinematic in comparison to Honeymoon. Whats left behind is the essence of Lana Del Rey: iconic images of days of Los Angeles passed, all plasticized and stylized, functioning as lighthouses in stoned, sad daydreams. Mood reigns over all on Honeymoon -- melodies and tempos certainly arent prioritized over feel; all the originals are purposefully languid, which is partially why the Nancy Sinatra sample on "Terrence Loves You" and "Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood," a cover allegedly in the vein of Nina Simones original but bearing an organ out of the Animals, stick -- but underneath the dragging beats and austere arrangements, theres something approaching triumph. Where Lana Del Rey seemed weighted down by existential sorrow on her first two albums, Honeymoon seems comfortingly melancholic and thats the truest sign that it is the fullest execution of Lana Del Reys grand plan yet. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 9 Title: The Profile Released: 2015-10-08 Tracks: 14 Duration: 2:15:24 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Born to Sing (11:32) 2 The Silver Screen (09:52) 3 The Fame Game (10:41) 4 Inspirations and Obsessions (09:33) 5 Lust for Life (13:06) 6 The Three Wise Men (16:20) 7 Lanas Big Eyes (02:53) 8 Fans (07:29) 9 More Than Beautiful (06:13) 10 Possibilities (09:43) 11 Something Borrowed (09:49) 12 Video Games (09:13) 13 Passionate (09:12) 14 Metaphysical (09:42) |
 | Album: 9 of 9 Title: Lust for Life Released: 2017-07-21 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:12:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Love (04:32) 2 Lust for Life (04:24) 3 13 Beaches (04:55) 4 Cherry (03:00) 5 White Mustang (02:44) 6 Summer Bummer (04:20) 7 Groupie Love (04:24) 8 In My Feelings (03:58) 9 Coachella — Woodstock in My Mind (04:18) 10 God Bless America — And All the Beautiful Women in It (04:36) 11 When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing (04:35) 12 Beautiful People Beautiful Problems (04:13) 13 Tomorrow Never Came (05:07) 14 Heroin (05:55) 15 Change (05:21) 16 Get Free (05:34) |
| Lust for Life : Allmusic album Review : Lana Del Rey knows perfectly well her Lust for Life sounds sleepy in comparison to Iggy Pops full-blooded roar, but that doesnt mean the title of her fourth album is ironic. Compared to her previous albums, especially its somnolent 2015 predecessor, Honeymoon, Lust for Life is positively ebullient in tone, if not in tempo. Lana Del Rey may sing about a "Summer Bummer" but the song isnt in sway to a narcotic undertow; it simmers, offering a cool bit of seduction for muggy August nights. LDR retains this delicate balance throughout the lengthy Lust for Life (at 71 minutes, this is an album as playlist, designed to be looped over and over as mood music), never quite succumbing to either despair or ecstasy but rather finding a place where theres no separation between the two emotions. That said, Lana Del Rey does lean toward pleasure on Lust for Life, luxuriating in her slow rhythms and shimmering surfaces. What once seemed icy -- the glassy gloss, the sighing melodies, her persistent murmur -- now exudes warmth, where even the Weeknds spectral falsetto on the title track feels alluring. LDR manages to sustain this mood over the course of 16 songs, every one of which is a gentle variation of her supple signature. Sometimes, the tracks are graced by a guest -- in addition to the Weeknd, A$AP Rocky shows up on two songs, Sean Ono Lennon on another, while Stevie Nicks stops by for "Beautiful People Beautiful Problems" -- but usually what sticks is an escalating chorus or a hook that echoes in the distance. If Lust for Life starts to slow down toward its conclusion -- "Tomorrow Never Came" seems like the logical conclusion, but theres a three-track coda afterward -- it nevertheless delivers upon its promise of a sunnier Lana Del Rey, and the very fact that she can find so many textures in a deliberately limited palette is impressive. | ||