Born To Die
by Lana Del Rey

From buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 06/19/2016 01:51 | #169103 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Another album that gets low ratings on this site, and I suspect I know why. I remember when Lana Del Rey played "Video Games" on Saturday Night Live, a performance panned by critics and viewers who want female singers to dress titillatingly and give over-the-top live performances like those on American Idol. This album is pop, but it defies American culture's expectations for what a pop album should be. It's dark and brooding, and it has odd relationship dysfunction as its central subject. A strange formula for mainstream success, which the album nevertheless achieved. The title track is gorgeously written, and hypnotically romantic.

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.

From chisholm.matt 03/05/2012 03:31 | #37830 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

All,

I think too much emphasis is being placed on the "persona" of Lana Del Rey. It's a self imposed distraction by Grant to indulge in her love affair with 1950s Americana while also criticizing pop constructions in general. Take another listen to "Without You" and tell me that all of these theatrics are not a farce to make fun of all of us, and really all of you who are taking the farce so seriously. The paradox is that Del Rey actually pulls off the very construction she's created: a smoking hot, pouty, semi-trashy American sex harlot. And underneath all of this criticism is really a profound fascination towards the character, regardless of cliche....

From twoheadedboy 03/11/2012 04:40 | #38116 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I like Lana Del Rey and this album but I really disagree with people saying that National Anthem is one of the better song on this album.

From dmercado 11/11/2013 20:15 | #91910 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Better than most mediocre music. She needs more diversity in sound and content. Her lyrics are what bring her down the most - it's often not very insightful or earnest. It's not bad, though, most negative backlash is unfairly due to her commercial popularity and disappointment following the high expectations "Video Games" produced.