Some of the thrilling musical artists to emerge in the previous couple of many years, Lana Del Rey made her mark with a singular sound. Her cinematic songs, delivered with the throaty, deep vocals she is known for, elevated her from a distinct segment artist to a mainstream star in 2012, because of the monitor “Video Games.” Since then, she has delivered variations on her trademark type – from darker, psychedelic-tinged tracks to lighter love songs – with out ever shedding sight of her roots.
Purchase one of the best Lana Del Rey songs on vinyl now.
20: Younger And Lovely (The Nice Gatsby soundtrack, 2013)
Written for Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 movie adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s era-defining Jazz Age novel The Nice Gatsby, “Young And Beautiful” took a distinct method from a lot of Lana Del Rey’s different work. Normally, she sings about poisonous relationships and unrequited love, however, tapping into the romance of The Nice Gatsby, right here she delivers a gorgeous message about understanding her associate will nonetheless love her, even when she is “no longer young and beautiful.” Getting the chance to work on a blockbuster movie so early in her profession, only a 12 months after her major-label debut album had been launched, is a testomony to Del Rey’s expertise.
19: Supplier (Blue Banisters, 2021)
A music from the 2017 classes with Alex Turner and Miles Kane’s The Final Shadow Puppets, “Dealer” begins with Kane pleading for his whereabouts to be stored secret over a sultry groove, Lana enters the image for a near-rapped pre-chorus earlier than completely stealing the present with a startling vocal efficiency within the refrain. She sounds near-hysterical and emotionally exhausted – it’s completely spellbinding. Lana described the music earlier than its launch to Jack Antonoff for Interview journal, “I’m just screaming my head off. People don’t know what it sounds like when I yell. And I do yell.”
18: F__ked My Means Up To The High (Ultraviolence, 2014)
Ironic in the identical means that Ultraviolence’s “Money Power Glory” is, “F__ked My Way Up To The Top” finds Lana Del Rey addressing her critics, basically saying she is aware of what they consider her – and he or she doesn’t care. It’s one other collaboration with Dan Heath, who additionally co-wrote “Blue Jeans.”
17: Arcadia (Blue Banisters, 2021)
A sublime spotlight of Blue Banisters, “Arcadia” is a gorgeous ballad of defiant self-love. Arcadia describes a legendary place of refuge and easy pleasures, nevertheless it’s additionally a metropolis in Los Angeles. Right here the New York native compares her physique to LA and confirms the town’s significance to her, “In Arcadia, Arcadia/All roads that lead to you as integral to me as arteries/That get the blood flowing straight to the heart of me.” The sting within the story is that Lana feels she should transfer on, suggesting criticism has compelled a brand new begin, “They built me up 300 feet tall just to tear me down/So I’m leavin’ with nothing but laughter, and this town/Arcadia.”
16: Chemtrails Over The Nation Membership (Chemtrails Over The Nation Membership, 2020)
There’s a way of foreboding looming as “Chemtrails…” progresses, it begins as a dreamlike and gauzy piano waltz earlier than noise and distortion take maintain and darkness creeps in. It mirrors the enigmatic lyric, which describes scenes from a lifetime of privilege backdropped by chemtrails (generally related to conspiracy theories) streaked throughout the sky. Lana informed Interview, “It mentions wanting so much to be normal and realizing that when you have an overactive, eccentric mind, a record like Chemtrails… is just what you’re going to get.”
15: Blue Banisters (Blue Banisters, 2021)
Certainly one of a lot of songs on Blue Banisters that celebrates feminine friendship, the spectral-sounding title monitor seems to element the help that Lana’s mates provide within the wake of a relationship gone awry. The person in query affords to repair her “Weathervane/Give me children, take away my pain/And paint my banisters blue.” By the point the refrain comes round once more, these guarantees have fallen by the wayside however Lana has her “sisters” to repaint these banisters.
14: In My Emotions (Lust For Life, 2017)
Specializing in the aftermath of a relationship, quite than being in a single, “In My Feelings” finds Lana Del Rey “Sobbin’ in my cup of coffee/’Cause I fell for another loser”, earlier than exclaiming, “You wanna make the switch/Be my guest, baby.” The lyrics mirror one among her responsible pleasures: espresso. As she informed Advanced journal: “I must have 13 cups a day.” Many followers have claimed that the “loser” she refers to is rapper G-Eazy, who Lana is claimed to have dated (she flashed a “G” signal along with her hand earlier than debuting the music on the Spotify launch get together for Lust For Life). The identical 12 months the music got here out, G-Eazy launched a music known as “Nothing Wrong,” wherein he says, “Lana think I’m crazy, and I maybe am.”
13: Norman F—ing Rockwell (Norman F—ing Rockwell, 2019)
You wouldn’t need to get on the flawed facet of Lana. The title monitor and opener of her fifth album eviscerates a pretentious and naïve lover (“G–d—, man-child/You act like a kid even though you stand six foot two/Self-loathing poet, resident Laurel Canyon know-it-all/You talk to the walls when the party gets bored of you”) whereas resigning herself to dwelling with their flaws. The robust lyrics are in stark distinction to the music, which ushered in a brand new classicism to Lana’s sound, all swirling, Golden Age of Hollywood strings and Carole King-esque piano strains.
12: Ultraviolence (Ultraviolence, 2014)
The title monitor from Lana Del Rey’s third album angered among the public, because of submissive lyrics equivalent to “You’re my cult leader/I love you forever.” Like lots of Lana’s songs, there is a component of reality behind the phrases: she informed The New York Instances that she was as soon as a part of a cult, following a guru who “believed in breaking you down to build you back up again.” “It sounds kind of weird,” she admitted, “but that is what it’s about, and having romantic feelings entwined with the idea of being led and letting go and surrendering.” Apart from the marginally taboo lyrics, the music itself is among the finest on the Ultraviolence album, with a primary piano chord sequence, heavy strings, and lightweight thumping drums behind Lana’s comfortable, breathless voice.
11: Mariner’s Residence Advanced (Norman F—ing Rockwell, 2019)
One other NFR music that emphasizes the grit and confidence that have been informing Lana’s writing at this level. Whereas she’d typically painted herself as a doomy ingénue up to now, right here she’s formidable, a pillar of energy and a protector (“You took my sadness out of context/At the Mariner’s Apartment Complex/I ain’t no candle in the wind.”). Apart from that apparent reference to Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s 1973 tribute to Marilyn Monroe, Lana later nods to Leonard Cohen with the repeated chorus, “I’m your man.” Shout outs to traditional rock artists abound on NFR, as if Lana is confirming her ascendence to the pantheon of musical greats. It’s all set to a suitably traditional 70s singer-songwriter sound, full with a dramatic, swooning refrain.
10: White Costume (Chemtrails Over The Nation Membership, 2020)
A unprecedented journey down reminiscence lane, “White Dress” finds Lana reflecting on a time earlier than fame, vividly describing the carefree summer season evenings of her youth as she labored waitress jobs and found the music that made her tick. What units “White Dress” aside is her uncanny and highly effective vocal efficiency. “Down at the Men In Music Business Conference” (a fictional occasion that serves as an allegory for the music enterprise) is a line that shouldn’t work right here – the syllables are too packed to correctly scan – however Lana pulls off the melodic highwire act with panache, creating a way of palpable drama.
9: Cola (Paradise, 2012)
Centered round a sugar daddy (a recurring theme in Lana Del Rey’s work), the opening line of this music presumably gained extra press than the music itself: “My pu__y tastes like Pepsi cola.” Years after the discharge of the music, following accusations that producer Harvey Weinstein had sexually assaulted girls within the business, the lyric “Harvey’s in the sky with diamonds and he’s making me crazy” got here underneath scrutiny. Lana informed MTV Information, “When I wrote that song, I suppose I had like a Harvey Weinstein/Harry Winston-type of character in mind.”
8: Hope Is A Harmful Factor For A Girl Like Me To Have – However I Have It (Norman F—ing Rockwell, 2019)
Amazingly producer Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift, Lorde) has mentioned that “Hope…” was recorded on the primary day he and Lana labored collectively. It’s an astonishingly intimate, hushed efficiency with Antonoff’s nuanced piano perfectively complementing Lana’s emotionally draining efficiency. It’s extra of an outpouring than a music; a seemingly autobiographical account of an artist entangled with notions of romantic despair and conflicted by the commodification of their work. And but, after the deluge there’s hope, Lana sounding at her most weak as she repeats the music’s title till it fades, as if it’s a mantra that she doesn’t fairly consider but.
7: Experience (Paradise, 2012)
The lead monitor from the Paradise EP was co-written with Justin Parker (who additionally co-wrote “Video Games” and “Born To Die”) and produced by Rick Rubin, who has labored with everybody from Frank Ocean to Shakira. It got here with one other controversial video, this time exhibiting Lana Del Rey with a number of love pursuits, amongst them bikers and bandana-clad older males. Directed by Anthony Mandler, who Lana has described as her directorial soulmate, the video was, in keeping with the singer, an correct illustration of her life. Admitting to The Guardian that it might “raise a feminist eyebrow,” she informed electronicbeats.web, “I believe in free love and that’s just how I feel. It’s just my experience of being with different kinds of men and being born without a preference for a certain type of person. For me, that is my story in finding love in lots of different people, and that’s been the second biggest influence in my music.”
6: Blue Denims (Born To Die, 2012)
Centered round a particular guitar line, punchy strings, and a hip-hop beat, “Blue Jeans” once more focuses on Lana’s want to like (even when the sensation isn’t reciprocated). “I will love you ’til the end of time/I would wait a million years” nearly sums up her view on the aim of life: to be in love. It’s a throwback to a 50s mentality that’s additionally mirrored in her frequent references to classic automobiles and the golden age of Hollywood.
5: Summertime Unhappiness (Born To Die, 2012)
“Summertime Sadness” is one other music centered round Lana Del Rey’s romanticism. EDM dominated the charts within the early 00s, so a remix of the music by French DJ Cedric Gervais was well-timed, arguably turning into a much bigger hit than the unique whereas taking Lana to a brand new viewers. The music’s Kyle Newman-directed video was made to appear like home-movie footage of Lana and a girlfriend (performed by Newman’s spouse, the actress Jaime King) collectively earlier than committing suicide.
4: Born To Die (Born To Die, 2012)
In traditional Lana Del Rey type, “Born To Die” options the standard dejected, somber lyrics hinted at within the title. The third single from her album of the identical title, it had a bigger video price range than any of its predecessors – and it exhibits. Shot by Yoann Lemoine, the video depicts Lana sat on a throne on the Palace Of Fontainebleau, in France, flanked by two Bengal tigers. It stays one among her most breathtaking visuals.
3: The Best (Norman F—ing Rockwell!, 2019)
One other elegiac piano ballad that ranks amongst her most emotionally effecting. Lana is in nostalgic mode, with references to the tragic loss of life of Seashore Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, her youth in New York, the 2018 fires in Los Angeles, and local weather considerations. It seems like a music about burnout, each private and in a wider cultural sense, which Lana addresses with the witty pay-off, “The culture is lit and I had a ball/I guess I’m burned out after all.”
2: Venice B—h (Norman F—ing Rockwell!, 2019)
A near-10 minute epic that Lana envisaged as the proper single to announce NFR, as she informed Zane Lowe on Beats Radio 1, “It was funny when I played for my managers. I was like ‘yeah, I think this is the single I wanna put out,’ and they were like ‘it’s 10 minutes long, are you kidding me. It’s called ‘Venice B—h,’ like why you do this to us? Can you make a three-minute, normal pop song’ and I was like ‘no, end of summer some people just wanna drive around for 10 minutes and get lost in electric guitar.’” Lana acquired her means and the music was launched because the second single from the album. It begins with finger-picked guitar as Lana particulars a cheerful time in a relationship between headstrong artists – “You write, I tour, we make it work/You’re beautiful and I’m insane/We’re American-made.” Round that three-minute mark issues unravel into dreamy psychedelia with Lana quoting Tommy James & The Shondells’ 1968 hit “Crimson & Clover” because the music ebbs and flows between stormy passages and moments of bliss, echoing a turbulent relationship.
1: Video Video games (Born To Die, 2012)
This listing of one of the best Lana Del Rey songs wouldn’t be full with out referencing her debut major-label music, which broke her into the mainstream, primarily as a result of its music video going viral. The clip was shot and edited by Lana on her personal webcam and exhibits her singing with pursed lips, intercut with archive footage of LA. She’d written the music in London whereas watching her then-boyfriend taking part in World Of Warcraft. It was “about this guy I’d been seeing and the way our relationship was at the time”, she informed NME. “It was a time in my life when I had let go of my own personal career ambitions and just enjoyed being with him at home.”
Suppose we’ve missed among the finest Lana Del Rey songs? Tell us within the feedback part.
Entries and introduction written by Sorrell Forbes and Jamie Atkins.
