It’s difficult to judge Lana Del Rey’s record without addressing the media hype that has surrounded her for the past six months. If you haven't heard, just type her name into Google; you’ll find blogger backlash about her image change, a highly criticized performance on Saturday Night Live and, in popular opinion, a general lack of talent – but the truth is that Del Rey is not untalented. Her singing is good (not great), she’s attractive and has style; the problem (and greatest quibbling point) is that a million other girls in America are attractive and have style too – so why have we been bombarded with Lana Del Rey for the past six months? Why does her record label (Interscope) have so much faith in her? If you’re not bursting with musical talent, then usually you’re a natural performer – you can dance or you can dramatically captivate an audience – but, Judging by the mass amounts of Del Rey footage available, none of these qualities seem to stand out in her either. Del Rey has been forced out into the world with no discernible gift. Her voice has interesting qualities which place her somewhere between Glen Danzig and a pouty Gwen Stefani, but her debut, Born to Die (a truly unfortunate title), is bursting with bad choices.
The entire “Lana Del Rey package” seems to have been manipulated by some "behind the scenester” trying to create the next different and original artist instead of simply finding a different and original artist. Del Rey can’t decide between pop star or serious melancholic artist, and no one behind her is forcing her to choose. Instead she’s trying to be both and failing, horribly.
Born To Die’s music production is a fusion of heavy-hearted symphonic composition and hip hop with a layer of sexy-heroin-chic blanketed on top. This is all buried behind Del Rey’s vocals that have no true offering at the front of a song other than sounding as though she has better things to do. It’s a surprising result given the dynamo production team utilized, which includes producer Emile Haynie (Eminem) and composer Rick Nowels (Madonna, Stevie Nicks, Celine Dion). The playfully immature lyrics about getting wasted, high, dating bad boys, summer and partying comprise most of the content and there’s nothing wrong with that. This record is about as poetic as the average fifteen-year-old girl, and that’s who it’s aiming to please. Del Rey tells us 'I want to die' on "Dark Paradise" and then contradicts with 'my life is sweet like cinnamon' on the following track “Radio.” A reference to 'Pabst Blue Ribbon on ice' during “This Is What Makes Us Girls” begs to stay cool even though everyone is tired of hating hipsters and the beer that completes their uniform.
With all the hype and bad press circulating around Del Rey, people will flock to listen to Born To Die to see what the fuss is about but, if you want to skip the inevitable disappointment, just download the stand out singles “Blue Jeans” and “Video Games.” Both are classic love songs with modern references which make them worthwhile, but the rest is forgettable filler.
Artist:
www.lanadelrey.com/
www.myspace.com/lanadelrey
www.facebook.com/lanadelrey
www.twitter.com/lanadelrey
Album:
Born To Die is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
