Born to Die – Lana del Rey

Description

Before the album’s release, Del Rey had attracted attention with her 2011 singles “Video Games” and “Born to Die“, which contrasted contemporary electronic/dance music with their cinematic sound accompanied by dramatic string instruments. A predominantly baroque pop and trip hop album, Born to Die features the same cinematic composition. The lyrics are about love, sex, and drugs, and feature prominent references to 1950s and 1960s Americana. The album was the world’s fifth best-selling album of 2012, as of 2024 it has sold over 18 million copies. In 2023, it became the second album by a woman to spend more than 500 weeks on the US Billboard 200, where it peaked at number two, and topped charts in Australia and various European countries including France, Germany, and the UK.

Born to Die was supported by four further singles: “Blue Jeans“, “Summertime Sadness“, “National Anthem“, and “Dark Paradise“. “Summertime Sadness” peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Del Rey’s highest charting single in the US at the time. The album polarized contemporary critics; praises were towards the album’s distinctive sound, and criticism targeted its repetitiveness and melodramatic tendencies. Del Rey’s image during promotion of Born to Die was controversial; tabloid media accused her of an inauthentic persona that was the result of forced marketing to gain an audience in the indie music scene. Although initially receiving ambivalent reception, the album has been retrospectively ranked in best-of lists by several publications including The Guardian and NME, and helped Del Rey acquire cult status among music fans.