I had great expectations of Lana Del Rey’s debut album ‘Born To Die’. Since Video Games and Blue Jeans I’ve been fascinated with her 50s sound, her dark nasal singing voice, her style and looks (obviously). Much like one of her inspirations, Antony from Antony and the Jonhsons (the sadness of Video Games reminds me of Antony’s Bird Gerhl) you either love or hate Lana del Rey. Since the huge succes of Video Games it has been a roller-coaster for Lizzy. As is often the case with beautiful people, critics are just a little bit more malicious than towards the more plain looking. Critique swelled about her overly styled look, bad live performances and stolen songs. It doesn’t change the way I view Del Rey’s hitsingles and videos. Especially her just released music video “Born To Die” is amazing. This is not surprising, since it was directed by Woodkid, who was solely responsible for Iron, a near-perfect song with dito video.
A first glance on the album cover of Born to Die made me even more enthusiastic. It’s very well styled; a beautiful portrait which perfectly matches her carefully designed style. With all this in mind I started listening the album. After the familiar opening and titletrack, Off to The Races begins chilling and promising, but is completely ruined by the the poppy Rihanna/Britney Spears like chorus. After enjoying the already released Blue Jeans and the intoxicating Video Games the album sinks into mediocrity.
Fortunately, the album has nice ending with Radio, Million Dollar Man and Summertime Sadness. On which almost the same majestic timeslessness is achieved as on the two single’s that made her breakthrough. They keep intact Del Rey’s image as a mysterious beauty. Where Born to Die reeks of contemporay mainstream, like on Diet Mtn Dew, the spell is flatly broken. Even though I’m a bit disappointed, because the album never quite lives up to the expectations created by Blue Jeans and Video Games, the album is balanced and has some nice new songs on it. The only thing that really bothers me is what they’ve done to Off to The Races. The more I listen to the verses, the more I love them (‘Kiss me on my open mouth/Ready for you’) but every time the chorus changes the image in my mind from to Lana to Britney, like a very cold shower.