Lana Del Rey // Born To Die

It is time to get this out there.

I was introduced to Lana Del Rey through Twitter. The name anyway, the songs and the visuals would have to wait until her appearance on Saturday Night Live. I was tempted to give it a listen, I keep up with music, see a lot of names thrown around various music magazines I lay my eyes upon now and then, so when I saw that name appear following Daniel Radcliffe in the week ahead, my first though was "YES! Finally. I get to hear this! And I want to hear it live." I had asked a friend/fellow employee if she had heard anything by her and she had responded with "Yes, I've heard 'Video Games' and I wasn't that impressed." ::world crashes:: I was b u m m e d. I had heard so much about this girl on twitter touting her amazing-ness and here was someone with a similar taste in music saying it fell flat. So I was even more anxious to see where I would fall in this line of mixed opinion.

So then it happened. She appeared on stage. My first reaction was "HOLY JESUS! She is beautiful." Then the beat happened and then her mouth opened and I was unsure of how to feel. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. But I loved what was happening, just watching her, but then my thoughts of her needing to sit down or have a mic stand got in the way of me adoring that fantastic face and that glorious dress. Her vocal style seems hard to do live, let alone the lack of her In Ear Monitor. Um, that makes that performance that much more difficult. But seriously, should she have been sitting? Needless to say, I kept thinking about her long after her presence had faded from my television. The reactions were bad, but what the hell people, does anyone remember, um, oh, I don't know, ASHLEE SIMPSON?...or any of the other whack ass artists that took the music stage on Saturday Night Live? When I go back and watch the performance now, it's something I can't say I love. It's said best in this music show breakdown of it;

But the emerging pop star, whose debut album for Interscope,

Born To Die, hit stores Tuesday (January 31),

thinks she did a perfectly fine job on the legendary sketch show,

telling Rolling Stone, "I actually felt good about it.

I thought I looked beautiful and sang fine

...I know some people didn't like it, but that's just the way I perform,

and my fans know that."

Unfortunately this is from an MTV article, but it's a decent sum up of her reaction to it.

Then I watched this performance with about four other people who all gave me different opinions. However, I wanted to delve deeper into Del Rey and hear this album and see some videos. So I watched 'Born To Die' and thought "My God, someone has FINALLY done a video that I would have done." It may be even more fabulous due to the fact she conjured up the main idea of it. I love it. Tigers? Churches? Flower Crowns? Ugh. We WERE Born to die.

This is where I blatantly became hooked. I found going through her album that I liked it all initially but would find myself gravitating to different songs during different weeks. 'Off To The Races' is the perfect example of that because I never really dug it. It took awhile, and now it might be one of my favourite songs of hers. I'm funny like that. I just completely phase with certain songs and I feel it coincides with what's going on in life. I can deal with that.

I feel the reason there is such a huge outpouring of adoration over Lana (and defense), besides her flooring looks, is because her music takes you somewhere, it has a level of escapism to it. It literally transports your mind to this image of tattooed lovers, fast living, red dresses, glamour, and taking your body downtown all with the faint smell of weed in the background. I feel there is a similar vibe with Gossip Girl. People like something that makes them feel like they are part of a different world, something yours will never be. Born To Die is chocked full of that kind of imagery. I love sharing this album with people who then seem to become instant Lana fans. This makes me ever so happy.

I have never been so intrigued by a musical artist, besides that of Florence Welch, WHO IS ALWAYS MY NUMBER ONE, YOU HEAR ME? (I think you probably know this by now?) But there is something different about Lana, as we all know that mysterious element is written all over her, but it's her whole vibe that almost makes you feel sexier just by watching her or listening to her music. You can tell she is so comfortable within her sexuality/femininity and that's something you can take to the bank. Maybe this is just what I needed. Something confident. Something that took me through something familiar. Something that seemed sure. I drown in these lyrics and I'm sure try to emulate them at least 35% of the time. Sometimes certain songs hit me ('Video Games' & 'Dark Paradise') me and I feel this overwhelming personal understanding to them. A lot of good elements within this album. It's the same kind of sound throughout, but I feel each possesses a different vibe. I think this is the perfect album to bump while you're getting ready or driving for a night out, although I will admit, her album makes me feel like I'm not living enough...

This gem came out the other week and it is exquisite. I am so glad that her videos are so close to what you'd imagine the video being like. I almost get annoyed if it is something not relevant in any way to the song. How gloriously entrancing.

Please, indulge me with your Lana thoughts. Seriously.