The hype, the hate, those lips, the self titled “Gangster Nancy Sinatra” had a lot live up with this debut album. After ‘Video Games’ became an unlikely viral success many greatly anticipated what this interesting character would do next.
She’s the daughter of a millionaire oil merchant from Lake Placid, New York. The album (in its good parts) gives an insight into this world; its orchestral, atmospheric elements twinned with her descriptive lyrics conjure up stories in your mind’s eye. It’s like a soundtrack to a lavish but ever tragic 60’s gangster movie, starring Del Rey as the ultimate Femme Fatale.
‘Born to Die’ is a grandeur track about her childhood realisation of mortality. When she initially approached record labels she was turned away and told that her music was creepy and weird. That’s what sets Del Ray apart, she is freakishly beautiful, but tells dark stories of sadness and insecurity; you wonder how someone this beautiful and privileged could be so desperately unhappy. Hold that thought.
‘Off to the Races’ tells the tale of a sugar daddy and their dysfunctional and toxic relationship, “He loves me with every beat of his cocaine heart.” It’s addictive. There are tinges of madness in each line, a clear highlight of the album.
‘Blue Jeans’ isn’t a favourite; the chorus bares strong resemblance to Kate Bush’s vocal style but overall it’s a little dull. The stunning ‘Video Games’ has twinkling harps and piano keys with heartbreaking lyrics, one of the best singles to come out of last year.
‘Diet Mountain Dew’ takes us into a more poppy domain, but its upper class pop music, it’s trashy and classy all at once. “Let’s take Jesus of the dashboard; he’s got too much on his mind.” The chorus is infectious.
‘National Anthem’ is an obvious ploy at a political statement; it teases us with the idea of the American dream, and then rips it up in a sugar coated kind of way. “Money is the reason we exist, everybody knows it it’s a fact, kiss kiss.” It’s floaty and summery but is narrated with chilling lyrics. ‘Radio’ is nice, but is just more of the same formula.
The album peaks and troughs throughout, but crashes spectacularly at ‘Carmen’ and sadly doesn’t recover. I thought to myself, enough is enough now. This reverts back to my previous point, in reality could Del Rey really be this troubled, or is it all just manufactured? It becomes rather self indulgent and unbelievable.
This is only her first album and do you know what, I don’t think it pretends to be anything other than a new take on pop music, it’s fresh and enthralling. Her authenticity is what has caused much the backlash but you wouldn’t see for instance, Flo Rida getting this much stick for not really be from Florida? You get my point.
Let’s just see what her second album has to offer, and then we can figure out if she is the ‘one trick pony’ her critics have labelled her. Five standout tracks and for many including myself, the perfect antidote to the soulless Katy Perry/ Rihanna- esque pop stars of our times is definitely something worth praising.
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