lana del ray

LANA DEL REY
Born To Die
Interscope/Universal Music

Rarely does any new artist cop as much flack as Lana Del Rey. Appearing from seemingly out of nowhere, her single Video Games was a leftfield hit and now she’s declared she can live up to at least some of hype with Born To Die.
Much like her hard to find first album, 2010’s Lizzy Grant A.K.A. Lana Del Rey, the sultry singer blends heartbreak with noir pop and brings it right up to the now with modern day slang and enough gangsta slurs and drug references to earn a ‘Parental Advisory’ sticker, if those things still exist.
LDR’s hypnotic voice and doomsday prophecies make tracks like the Billie Holiday rap ditty Off To The Races and cash-praising bittersweet symphony National Anthem destined to stick in your mind for days.
But the sizzle quickly turns to fizzle for the second half. There’s only so many tales of getting dressed up all sexy like, getting crunked, and banging some bad boy that one can take. Summertime Sadness and That’s What Makes Us Girls might as well be the same song.
While we may not yet know what lies ahead for Miss Del Rey now that the album has finally dropped, at least the overwhelmingly positive Deluxe Edition track Lucky Ones drops the formula and hints that the future may indeed be bright for this young starlet, in more ways than one.

_MATTHEW HOGAN

xpressradio by X-Press Magazine

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