Just a year after the release of Ultraviolence, Lana Del Rey was back with her fourth album, Honeymoon. The record split the difference, musically, between Born to Die and Ultraviolence, blending the trip-hop elements of the former with the moody balladry of the latter.
It was her most fully realized work yet, and the one that turned me from a casual listener into a superfan.
Though her first album was a big hit both commercially and critically, Lana Del Rey was often the target of sexist attacks and questions about her authenticity.
Detractors suggested she was a pre-packaged studio product, apparently unable to accept that a woman could look like a model and be a great songwriter. Some critics even jumped on the fact that she had changed her name as evidence of some deception, presumably without lobbing the same attack at Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder or any number of modern pop stars.
Lana Del Rey piggybacked on the success of Born to Die by releasing an EP titled Paradise in November of 2012. She included the EP in a special edition of the album as well.
The eight-song Paradise finds Del Rey delivering more of the baroque pop featured on her debut and fewer of the trip-hop beats. On opening track ‘Ride,’ she channels Bruce Springsteen, one of her more surprising influences.
Given that Lana Del Rey’s first album was removed from circulation after only a couple of months, her 2012 sophomore release Born to Die is widely considered her debut. It’s certainly the album that put her on the map.
Released in January of 2012, Born to Die was boosted by the unexpected success of lead single ‘Video Games.’ That song, a dreamy ballad featuring Del Rey’s mournful vocals over a bed of piano and strings, sounded like something from a bygone era.
When I laid out my March posts awhile back I planned to dedicate this week to my first reactions to Lana Del Rey’s new album, which was due to drop on March 10. That release has since been pushed back two weeks, so I’ll have to do the same with my posts.
The adjustment is actually quite simple. I had planned to follow up the new album content with a two-week retrospective of Del Rey’s career to date, so instead I’ll just flip the order and do the discography deep dive first. I actually wanted to do it in this order but the Oscars airdate prevented it. Perhaps Del Rey heard about my predicament and pushed the album release for my sake.
Meet Me In Montauk 