Released in the beginning of 2012, American Singer Lana Del Rey’s alternative pop album “Born to Die” reached top charts as it became her most well listened to album with around 9 billion streams, only including Spotify. This album is her 2nd studio album out of all 9, including other well known albums such as “Ultraviolence” and “Honeymoon”. It is known that Del Rey’s songs center around the topics of her rough young adult and teen hood along with her battles with rough relationships, which is exactly what most of the songs on “Born to Die” discuss. Most of the tracks discuss the singer’s past battles at such a young age and her experiences with going through life. What is ironic, is that most of Del Rey’s songs on the album don’t have a sad or depressing tone, which one might imagine based on the background meaning behind her songs but most have an upbeat or alternative pop vibe to the sound. “Video Games” is the 4th song on the album and many including myself enjoy the dramatic tone, accompanied by electronic music farther into the song which is a good quality of this album. Lana is known to make the gruesome world of sad experiences into a beautiful song, and some people despise that about her but many others and me personally find that a unique distinct quality. This album received numerous recognition as it spent more than over 500 weeks on the US Billboard 200, and most of the weeks it was very high up as it once peaked to the top 2nd album.
Many of Lana’s most well known songs are found on “Born to Die” such as “Blue Jeans”, “National Anthem” and “Diet Mountain Dew”. As the album has been out for about 14 years, the songs still regain popularity to this day on social media apps such as TikTok, where many use her songs to portray personal issues into a relatable video for mainly teenagers, which is what I see the most. Overall, speaking for myself I really do like this album because of all the wonderful qualities such as the instrumental sounds combined with the techno beats and her angelic voice which can shift from being loud to a more sincere voice. My favorite song on the album is “Off To The Races” because I haven’t really heard a similar song and I enjoy the loudness and beats, as well as the meaning of having energetic entertainment. I give this album 5 out of 5 stars and I definitely recommend this album to anybody interested in hearing something different but also calming and upbeat. If you enjoy artists like Lorde, Charlie xcx, Ethel Cain, and even Sabrina Carpenter, then you might find interest in the album. I wouldn’t say it’s for all ages due to some topics and lyrics but a teenage girl into more indie and pop music, might really enjoy it and more of her other albums and singles!