I felt from the beginning that there was something exciting and very contemporary in sound of Lana Del Rey's album. With elements from both Dido and Kate Bush, I think that producer Emile Haynie has created a sound that is very contemporary which incorporates the feelings of disillusionment which characterizes our times.

There are several really good songs which lyrically corresponds well to the music. The title track is perhaps the number most people will know from the radio, but for me "Blue Jeans" is the absolute highligt, both melodic and catchy - magnificent!

"Dark Paradise" has not been released as a single, even though the song to my ears was a more obvious choice than a couple of the other five singles that have been pulled from the album.

It can be stated that more songs remind pretty much on each other, but still each very good.

One song which really stands out from the rest is "Million Dollar Man", which has a more jazzy sound. There are also some James Bond-ish in both melody and production. I would not be surprised if Del Rey is offered the title song for one the next Agent 007 movies.

Pleasant enough.

It will, sadly. I was thinking about paying a hacker to remove definitely this album from the site and give its points to Carly Rae Jepsen.

if this album gets in the top 1000 i will be very sad

Her debut is far better than this, mostly due to the fact it has variety. "Video Games" is still one of the best songs of the decade so far, but here, it takes a bit of a hit since a lot of the songs try to sound exactly the same as it. It also doesn't help the decade so far has seen a few great female pop albums from Jessie Ware, Katy B, and Beyonce that make it seem even worse. I think she has a great voice, but the lack of sonic and lyrical variety really killed this for me. Hopefully "Video Games" won't be her defining moment, but if it is, people have done a lot worse as a one hit wonder

Agreed it's not one of the best albums ever but it is really getting underrated ! It's not that bad !

stop giving her money

I like that the arrangements have a nice texture, music in general of the last five years has lacked this quality.

Lana Del Rey is a polarizing figure both on and off record. I had listened to a few of her songs before this record came out, and decided I wasn’t a fan. A lot of talk about her concerns her lips, the hype surrounding her, her terrible Saturday Night Live performance (I thought the criticism was a bit exaggerated, for what it’s worth), her lips, and most importantly, her lips.

None of that has anything to do with Born to Die.

I’m a huge Kanye West fan. Now, Kanye certainly isn’t the most likable modern celebrity. The president himself is on record calling Kanye a jackass. But if I let his antics affect the way I feel about his music, what good does that really serve? I’d just be missing out on a lot of great hip-hop. I set out to look at Born to Die without any irrelevant pre-conceived notions.

I had all but forgotten what I disliked about Lana’s music until spinning this album. It becomes abundantly clear early on, however. The first track, “Off to the Races”, gives you a very good impression of whether or not you’re going to like the rest of the album. Born to Die as a whole seems to play out as a hip-hop album that isn’t really a hip-hop album, and that’s because each track seems to be layered with a hip-hop-influenced beat with Lana’s vocals on top of it. She’s excellent at structuring her songs, but there are some minor irritations. This track’s chorus, for example, features her very whiny, childish, high-pitched yelps. It might not bother every listener, but it certainly grates on me. On the strength of the songwriting, the track is decent as a whole, but it could easily have been much better if it didn’t suffer any setbacks.

Another problem is more evident in the title track, which takes into account the artist as a whole. A lot of the criticism of Lana comes from the fact that she’s a bit of a sham. Her lips and her days-of-old persona come into question, much the same way as I question the weak, boring synths that layer this track. The beat tries to be something it’s not, and it doesn’t work. It becomes very apparent if you listen to the Clams Casino remix of this song, which I would urge you to track down. Due to his excellent production, I find the track superior to any of Lana’s unremixed cuts. Once again, the song as a whole turns out well due to Lana’s inherent skills with crafting pop songs, but it’s a very noticeable flaw.

The album continues on with many of the same problems, which become less forgivable as it continues onward. I feel like it draws a very strong comparison to Tyler, The Creator’s Goblin from last year. Goblin was an album that received a lot of hype that seemed to disappoint many people—myself included. Like Goblin, the beats just don’t seem up to snuff, and a lot of the album’s elements seem forced. Lana has a lot of good, fresh ideas, but she also does a lot of things that don’t stick. I think if she were to work with a producer like Rick Rubin—someone talented, but also someone that wasn’t afraid to tell her when something doesn’t work (about six tracks in, I could already tell that the rest of the album would feel unnecessary)—we could have a masterpiece of a pop album on our hands. As is, the album is potential without realization.

She's got a lot of talent and she understands music. She's just not there yet.