The album's recurring themes ooze out of every note: sex, drugs, and glitter hover in the yawning atmosphere around Del Rey's breathy vocals. Born to Die was produced by Emile Haynie, whose credits include Eminem, Lil Wayne, and Kid Cudi, and the album's impressively lush atmosphere might be the one thing that will unite its detractors and apologists. The singer born Elizabeth "Lizzy" Grant may have made her mark with a grainy homemade video that brought to mind other grainy homemade videos in the indie sphere, but the slick sound and sentiment of "Radio", Born to Die's most straightforward statement of purpose ("Baby love me 'cause I'm playing on the radio/ How do you like me now?"), places it firmly within the realm of big-budget chart pop. The ultimate disappointment of Born to Die, then, is how out of touch it feels not just with the world around it, but with the simple business of human emotion. Whatever her intention, as a metaphor about disconnect and detachment from our own desires, "Video Games" felt frank, pointed, and true, and it had a chord progression and melody to match.
"Video Games" struck a nerve not just because it was an introduction to Del Rey's captivating voice but because it seemed to suggest something as-yet-unarticulated about the way we live today.
Like Kot, Roberts sees some promise in the recordings, which he describes as “an impressive gambit that worked magnificently by one measure - buzz and maybe even first-week sales - but that ultimately rings hollow because of a weak performance by the actor/singer.Given the waves of hype and backlash over the last six months, it can be easy to forget that we're here, first and foremost, because of a song. STORY: Lana Del Rey’s Lambasted ‘SNL’ Performance Offends NBC’s Brian Williams “And how Born to Die… landed at the top of the year’s most anticipated release pile.” “One of the great pop music mysteries of the past year is exactly how a young fiction called Lana Del Rey, whose music has an odd retro-futuristic vibe woven through it, moved from nowheresville to SNL,” he writes. Los Angeles Times critic Randall Roberts found the album unconvincing after all the hype. “After all the hub-bub of recent weeks, one of Lee’s greatest songs sums up Del Rey’s grand entrance: “Is That All There Is?” “Del Rey is at least distinctive her unhurried style sounds nothing like the countless femme fatales with brassier voices and personalities clogging the charts.”īut, in the end he finishes his review unimpressed. “Though she’s not a particularly strong singer,” Kot writes. STORY: Lana Del Rey: 5 Things to Know About the Sexpot Singer And THR looked to the early reviews to see how the album is faring among the critics – and it isn’t doing well.Ĭhicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot opens up his write-up of the album by describing it as “ho-hum.” Yet, he gives the 24-year-old points for having a unique sound.
Del Rey releases her new album, Born to Die (Interscope Records), on Tuesday.