Ranking My Favorite Lana Del Rey Albums So I Forget She’s Problematic
All right, I’ll give it to you straight. I am quite infatuated with Lana Del Rey and I have been for years and she’s my problematic queen. Whatever your opinion is of her controversies however, there is no doubting that she exudes talent (and if you’re not in that boat, it’s time to exit this article now). Lana is and always will be my quintessential vintage queen and so now I WILL be ranking her released albums from worse to best and no one will be stopping me. (I will be linking my favorite song from each album and mentioned songs will be linked if you are interested in listening.)
#6-Paradise (EP) 2012
Paradise is a mini album and although I enjoy the songs on here, it doesn’t offer nearly enough to warrant any place but this. I thought it should definitely be mentioned however even though it is an EP. Lana’s rendition of “Blue Velvet” by Bobby Vinton brings the best sad vintage Lana vibes of the whole EP and “Ride” is a close second as well as being a fan favorite (for those who don’t know, “Ride” has a small movie attached to it). The problem I have with this EP is that the rest of the tracks on here require a particular mood for me to be in and they are some of my most skipped Lana tracks. I don’t hate them, but we don’t see each other often either. Paradise is good if it is just tacked on to Born to Die but it does not necessarily work great by itself. It is in a weird grey area.
#5-Lust for Life 2017
2017’s Lust for Life is great in many regards but I don’t feel much except on particular tracks. “Change,” “Tomorrow Never Came,” “Heroin” and maybe “13 Beaches” have the best feeling that I always chase for in Lana’s music but the other songs are a hit differently. I do bop to the album but Lana is not the woman I go to when I am simply looking for bops. “Cherry” and Del Rey’s collabs with A$AP Rocky (“Summer Bummer” and “Groupie Love”) use some more up beat instrumentals but do I think they necessarily fit Lana? Not particularly and there are quite a few tracks on this album that I truly never listen to. The title track as well featuring The Weekend could be stronger and after listening to the unreleased version of it, I am left a bit disappointed. This is the album I start to see Lana’s vocals start to differ as well. In her prior albums, she used a sultry low register and while she is still hitting low notes, her voice has noticeably changed and personally, I don’t believe she is able to hit those notes anymore. Maybe they were damaging her vocal chords but even though I don’t mind her “new voice,” I’d be remiss not to mention that I crave it on newer projects.
#4- Norman F — -ing Rockwell 2019
NFR deemed itself a difficult album to rank because there is so much to love about it and it really launched Del Rey into better light to the public. Lust for Life (which was the album prior) seemed to fade into the background while NFR made the public realize that LDR is not just a sad one trick pony. It told the general music listener that, “hey, this isn’t just Taylor Swift- but make it edgy.” “Mariner’s Apartment Complex” hits and truly makes me cry when I really take the time to sit and listen to how beautiful it is. That track is up there for my favorite songs of all time. What NFR gains in its emotional maturity and growth, it looses in pretty much all of its vintage appeal for me which drew me into Lana’s art in the first place. Of course, I get instrumental ques of music of later days (and it is very prominently heard on “F — — it I love you,”). I love all the songs on this record but the transformation and loss from her original roots of a more sultry, tragic, old Hollywood vibe is a little sad for me. That’s just me though.
#3-Born To Die (Bonus Track Version) 2012
Alright, I think you know where the rest of this list is going. Born To Die is LDR’s first real album under the name Lana Del Rey and I think it is tragically underrated. Is it Lana’s earlier work? Yes and if you’ve heard any of her unreleased music, you would know that a lot of it is extremely well done. (I particularly love “Kill Kill” and “Say Yes to Heaven.”) The album encompasses a young Lana who is both a vintage doll and gangster bad girl. It is a combination that wouldn’t normally work but Lana meshes the two aesthetics well into one that is uniquely her own that worked its way into many young teens. “Off To The Races” screams sad girl energy but in the most glamorous way (the version linked above is the concert version during the Lust For Life tour and it is amazing). Most of the album is painted in a vintage New York color that goes over the themes of toxic relationships, growing up, tragedy, and depression. Of course, Del Rey received a lot of flack for her brand of music but I find that there is something so darkly beautiful about it which made me fall in love in the first place. “Summertime Sadness” was the first ever song of Del Rey’s that I heard back in 2012 but I didn’t revisit her till around 2015 when I started listening to the rest of this album and her song for The Great Gatsby, “Young and Beautiful.” All together, this is not Lana’s best, but what it lacks in maturity it makes up for in how different and experimental it is with its sounds, and how it explores storytelling through lyrics and instrumentals.
#2- Ultraviolence (Deluxe) 2014
A controversial choice for the Lana stans I know, but we’ll get to that later. I really can not say anything bad about this album and the only reason that it isn’t first is purely preference. Ultraviolence is the album you listen to when you want to melt into Lana’s hauntingly tragic scenario. There are no upbeat tracks on this album but it strikes me directly in the heart and these are the songs to wear black to. There are so many favorites on this record but the title track “Ultraviolence” stabs me when I listen to it late at night. And when I say listen to it, I let it envelop me. I feel every harmony, every note and all the beauty within. “West Coast” is such a well done song as well and it lets me live out the fantasy that I am the baddest B but there’s one man I’m NOT the baddest B with ya know? An odd favorite off the deluxe version of Ultraviolence is “Florida Kilos.” The guitar is just a whole mood. I swear to God, there really isn’t anything bad about this album and it is just that I prefer the next one slightly better.
#1- Honeymoon 2015
Please my fellow Lana stans, do not be too quick to judge! Honeymoon is generally regarded as being similar to Lust For Life in the sense that it was kind of forgettable. HOWEVER, I wholeheartedly disagree with that opinion and I love this album dearly. I believe that it fits my personal aesthetic the best. Ultraviolence is wonderful, and I love that it retains her iconic darker aesthetic while continuing to remain vintage. Honeymoon however, fits me the most by taking the most inspiration from the most glamorized period of American history: Old Hollywood. It’s spicy but iconic Lana sad in the most appropriate times and way more cinematic in nature. The orchestral instrumental in many of the songs, especially “Honeymoon” fills me with an emotion of joy and beauty. It is the song you play when you have a vintage convertible and you’re driving in the beauty of a warm summers day of a wealthy Californian neighborhood. Although I said Lana is not someone I go to for a pop like track, I do like the trap inspired “High By The Beach,” and the extremely sultry “Freak.” “Terrance Loves You” is another tear jerker to be totally up front and I can not stress enough how much this album fits my romanticized aesthetic of 60s upper class life.
So, I hope that we have all forgotten Lana being problematic for a hot second to remember how beautiful her music is. Controversial, but there isn’t much Lana could do that would make me stop loving her to be totally honest. I will forever be in debt to how her music makes me feel. She IS my favorite artist and her music speaks to me on levels that are too hard to explain with words and it must be trusted that there are emotions I feel when listening to her that only I understand. Understandably, you do no have to love Lana or even support her, but I think it is important to separate her personal life from her artistic one for a minute and really delve into art in these trying times.
