DEEP DISCOG DIVE: Lana Del Rey

[@MicTheSnare]

Since this DDD has taken longer than usual to come out, I won’t be doing a poll for the last DDD of 2023. Trust me, it’ll be a good artist though - one I’ve wanted to talk about for a while. Even more than Pitbull. Thanks for watching! Captions will be available soon.

[@jordanlandfair8664]

pls be mariah carey 🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@whimsicalname]

Thanks for all these fantastic videos, Mic! After weeks of wondering why I couldn’t hear my snare drum when tracking drum parts, your channel name at last brought me the answer. Thank you.

[@davidbanan.]

YOOO, nice

[@BugVlogs]

Please be Led Zeppelin 🥺

[@itsflynnnorton]

death grips again would be cool great video btw (so far)

[@NikitaGusev888]

'it makes me feel like California is real' is the best description of Lana's music I've ever heard

[@agatahyra4949]

Yeah! And not only NFR album!

[@phoebexxlouise]

The unreleased mixtape has tracks like Hollywood and JFK which really make this statement even more true

[@juliasanders9155]

Yes…. Or the “idea” of California

[@originaozz]

The David Lynch version at that

[@ingvarvolkov]

I moved from fascist Russia to California listening to Lana Del Rey… it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and she was with me whole that time like long time before and after and always ❤

[@24thsagitta]

I cannot fucking believe that Lou Reed was supposed to be on Brooklyn Baby. this is my Roman empire.

[@peaceflowerstudios6833]

This breaks my heart

[@Gothgalactica]

That would have been BONKERS ❤️‍🔥🤯😭

[@leilac.7207]

As a fan who’s been here for 10 years : yes, the coquette girlies took everything that Lana was tired of, like the whole sugar daddy thing, roses, and being self destructive, and not only made it their whole personality, but reduced her to these things only. It’s quite annoying.

[@magnusb9783]

“Coquette girlies” are so cringe. I can’t even say it

[@tennypenny8737]

Uh, what's a coquette girl? I haven't heard of that before genuinely.

[@slashparty]

legit, i wasnt a big fan of lana's sound so i didnt check her out but this ddd inspired me to go through her discog. love it.

[@alienbanana129]

@@tennypenny8737in this context, its embracing hyper feminine elements in both your visual style and personality. laces, frills, hearts, ribbons and bows, various feminine-associated colors like pink, red, and violet just to name a few.

[@lucymorrison]

@@magnusb9783fr

[@Chuuzus]

i need kids today to know the importance of Lana Del Rey’s Born to die album! that era had a whole generation of tumblr kids in a chokehold

[@embunchofnumbers]

I was 29 when it was released and it had me in a chokehold too 😂

[@AlexD-dh2vr]

in my mind, when I hear "tumblr", I see Lana Del Rey. It's like tumblr is the Lana Del Rey of the internet world.

[@f4gsforpele]

They know lol

[@aquariussolaris2492]

Flower crowns everywhere

[@aquariussolaris2492]

Omg ariana what are you doing here???!!!!!!

[@poisonlocket]

being on tumblr during the peak of born to dies popularity is a generation defining experience

[@Zhvianna]

It was truly a moment in history,

[@itsdarraghbabs]

The gushing over West Coast and Ultraviolence in general is SO real

[@juliasanders9155]

No fr it is one of her best songs when it came out I was shocked

[@a.a677]

yepp her best abum and best song

[@tallonrk1]

I have been saying West Coast is an extraordinary song since the day it dropped, i feel so validated

[@musikamiller108]

And him appreciating Ride off Born to Die. I have a similar music palette 🎵 😊

[@salsamonkey65]

Her newest album is easily my album of the year. Seeing her live for the first time this year was a magical experience.

[@AndrewBehm]

I’m so sad I wasn’t able to see her on tour, must’ve been amazing

[@otterwithadarkside4422]

SAME. I'm SO happy she's nominated for Grammy's for this album because it is a freaking MASTERPIECE!!!

[@Mattt.huez09]

I wish she was closer to me on tour! I saw you during L4L tour.. I bet she’s even better now!

[@izoilica2516]

@@AndrewBehm, it’s okay~ I had to go to work instead of the show, and my brother claimed that my vehicle was too broken to use for the drive…

[@idunnowhattonamemyself-vr4qv]

And its an AOTY nominee!!!!!!

[@warrenmacdonald3463]

Lana is a genius artist in every way. Most criticism towards her has been deeply rooted in misogyny and I don’t care what anyone says, I know this to be true. If there was a male artist making music this good consistently for so long, with such unique perspective and imagery, he would be hailed as a hero by the mainstream.

[@oo4758]

You're absolutely right, because there already is a male artist like that with similar content and themes to LDR; The Weeknd.

[@warrenmacdonald3463]

@@oo4758 that’s like comparing shein to mugler

[@oo4758]

@@warrenmacdonald3463 who's shein in this analogy? I think both the weekend and Lana are amazing artists who stick to their own style but still find ways to reinvent themselves. They're both influential and partially responsible for bringing in new eras of music, and a new wave of production styles. Their aesthetics and content were even connected in a lot of ways when they both started, but only Able gets universal praise and Lana gets a lot of mixed to downright dismissive reactions from ppl outside her fan base. It's probably a lot to do with misogyny like you said, but potentially something to do with broad appeal too.

[@warrenmacdonald3463]

@@oo4758 the weekend is shein (to me at least). I just don’t see them as very similar artists, but I see what you’re saying and I mostly agree.

[@flaminhotfuckingcheetos2536]

Nah she’s just trash u prolly like Taylor swift too😂😂😂

[@maxlimit9129]

my favorite thing about Lana is how she made a song called Paris, Texas so Paris Texas responded by making a song called Lana Del Rey edit: my second favorite thing is how she worked with Father, of Awful Records fame, on her most recent album

[@Beansquishy]

Lmao i was wondering why the song was called that

[@haisesasaki8198]

It’s referencing the film you uncultured swine

[@snks8828]

It’s also a movie as well, I’m guessing that’s where she got it from

[@aaronquest9514]

Even better: I went to see Paris Texas in Dallas while she was in Dallas at the same time and they played Lana Del Rey.

[@yrdpk3656]

It’s named after the movie that came out in 1984, not the band lmao. It is funny that the band named a song after her tho

[@jon.callaghan4165]

Lana Del Rey, despite being pretty well known and popular, is still very underrated for her actual music post Born To Die. She is one of those rare artists that has fundamentally changed music, by making it moody and darker, but also more honest and liberating for people that are feeling what she's feeling, with Billie, Lorde, Taylor (from 1989 onwards) and others owing a debt to her paving the way. I also love the fact she is musically pretty diverse, she'll give anything a go and commit to her persona, while allowing her real self to blend into it with time. Video Games is maybe, along with Vision of Love by Mariah Carey, the best debut single ever. Thanks for finally covering her, and hopefully more people will listen to her albums. My favorites are Ultraviolence, NFR and Ocean Blvd 🤗😁🎉👌🏻

[@shireenqasimm]

1989 taylor owes quite a bit to lana too, wildest dreams is literally so lana coded.

[@jon.callaghan4165]

@@shireenqasimm the instrumental is very similar to Without You from BTD Deluxe, also, 'Let's get out of this town' is the opening line to Lucky Ones as well, another BTD Deluxe track

[@LynnHermione]

basic ass white girl music is world changing now? lol

[@lethybridtheorygolucastheo2191]

Also add the fact that she ended the Late 00s Early 2010s club boom in Pop Music and was a breath of fresh air in the mainstream

[@jon.callaghan4165]

@lethybridtheorygolucastheo2191 not to say I don't love some of that music, Till the World Ends is one of my all time favorites, as is Tik Tok. But you're right, it was a breath of fresh air that we still need

[@emilywhite1429]

The NFR era was one of my favourite rollouts I've ever gotten to experience as a fan, not just for the music itself but for the massive re-evaluation of Lana's whole career that was taking place at that time. Like Lana being one of the most impactful artists of the 2010s is an obvious statement now, but the discourse around her massively turned a corner right as the decade was ending, and NFR itself coming out and being as phenomenal as it was felt like the crowning jewel on top of all that

[@spicyyyv]

This!! It was beautiful to see in real time

[@vfsdm]

The ex that Lana put a billboard too is the cop boyfriend she had. When you know the backstory of their fallout I totally get her: basically during the pandemic, while they were going to couples therapy, he not only cheated on her but also got engaged (parts of the title track and A&W are about that). Other reason why she changed the album from White Hot Forever to another song Chemetrails, while changing the old song title to Tulsa Jesus Freak.

[@quinnnewman9538]

ooooooohhhh that is some spicy drama. cheating on someone and then getting engaged the minute the relationship is over is a dick move if I have ever heard of one

[@vfsdm]

@@quinnnewman9538 oh no, he got engaged DURING their relationship

[@beatsventura8813]

Who is he?

[@vfsdm]

@@beatsventura8813 look up Lana cop boyfriend, it’s him

[@gloriaalarcon2192]

BTD had me. But Ultraviolence had 14 year old me in a chokehold and still does to this day. Even though I’m still waiting for a new album that has the same sound as UV, the rest of her albums truly solidified her as a queen in my eyes. Love her sm

[@ene66]

I deeply relate, but for me BTD is The Album that got me. I heard Video Games first when I was 12, so that probably has something to do with it lol

[@gloriaalarcon2192]

@@ene66 I get you. Video games is in my top 10 fav Lana songs. Spoke to my teen self lol

[@ciaraskeleton]

​@@ene66me too!

[@ciaraskeleton]

Me too! Literally 14/15 year old me had UV blasting in my headphones on the way to and from school, ❤

[@kylel6782]

10000%

[@WaitingForTheHook]

Can't believe you didn't talk about the masterpiece song known as Pawn Shop Blues off her first record. That's worth seeking the record out alone.

[@giovanniortiz8378]

Been saying that her best song as Lizzy Grant

[@juliasanders9155]

“It’s nice to love and be loved but I’d rather know what God knows.” Like???

[@joelwagg8314]

Never knew that was ever on an album, I thought it was one of the many unreleased songs that float around. On Our Way remains one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, and Damn You must have been so close to making the cut for one of the early albums.

[@luvley5323]

And it goes perfectly lyrically with white dress of chemtrails a true full circle moment

[@rachelluviano7514]

That's my favorite song from Lana and Arcadia

[@MM-dw4ew]

NFR is my favourite album of all time. I was supposed to see the concert in Verona in June 2020 but… you know. I will never not be sad for this show not happening.

[@kogotokLenok]

Oh, I was supposed to see her concert in London that year. Got visa to UK. Was so excited. And then the concert was cancelled. And then corona, lock-down, war. I still have this idea somewhere in my mind that I just need to get to her concert and this terrible period will be over somehow 😅

[@johnindigo5477]

Dang four years go by so fast

[@whimsicalname]

Finally, Mic the Snare shall accomplish what all of my friends failed to do: turn me into a Lana del Rey fan. My time has come.

[@eliasmg9144]

For real, i had a friend in middle school who was super into her, and he was insufferable about it i just couldn't stand it. Ever since nfr i started warming up to her and finally gave her a chance with "did you know there was a tunnel " and know I'm intrigued, this ddd might help me to finally diving into her whole discography

[@PeggyKoneko]

Same! One of my besties adores her and I couldn't get into it, no matter how hard she tried. Guess she should have made a video essay instead of a tumblr blog😂

[@winnd44]

Have a clear and open mind when delving into her music. Honeymoon is a gem

[@Lotusmustdie]

This is my experience as well

[@moisesrodriguezcruz3471]

welcome sister

[@sarei95]

Here after GRAMMYs. Crying

[@nisansalajayaweera9762]

I was in school andafter it was over , I literally RAN home to see the results and I didn't even had dinner that day cause I was speechless and sad af

[@disx1317]

so happy you're doing lana 😭 her discog is so interesting and gorgeous

[@f4gsforpele]

Been waiting for him to do her for forever tbh

[@seraby7151]

One of the best artist decade run... Probably in line with t swift, taylor just happens to be more commercial. Most artists kinda fall off after 2 albums(like lady gaga, britney and most pop female artists) but not them.

[@Cinema_Inc2000]

⁠@@seraby7151While I agree with you on most artists falling apart after one to two albums, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga shouldn’t be in that list as after their second albums respectively, they still maintained a level of popularity that people still tune to this day.

[@peterpallagi4776]

She also has a lot of unreleased stuff as well, crazy amount. Well edited and structured quality content as always, enjoyed watching. Good job, thank you!

[@bubblegumbitch2191]

I’d love Mike to do a dig on her unreleased songs it’s some of her best music

[@wiseguy100]

I've been obsessed with her music since NFR released. Something about that album and the following ones, just hits me right where it hurts (In a good way, obviously). There really is no other artist like her. She does her own thing, has an aesthetic that isn't designed to appeal to younger people. She walks her own path and that's got to be admired in the modern pop world. PS. Kintsugi is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

[@rylymbona]

Same, same. NFR is perfect and I simply cannot move on.

[@kiems840]

YESS kintsugi is my second fav lana song ever its just soooo beautiful and i relate to the lyric so much.

[@elainedeyoung7515]

one day blue banisters will get the justice it deserves, every second of it is so beautiful and it's very comfortably my favorite record of hers

[@MrTerrorFace]

Fun fact: on a recent Rick Rubin podcast (bonus) episode w/the economist Tyler Cowen, they actually compared the song Venice Bitch to frickin Strawberry Fields Forever from the Beatles. That's some high praise.

[@petergabriel8961]

No but to be honest she is probably one of the most popular alternative artists in this decade and last decade

[@bootsdooown]

that entire album is full of slept on masterpieces. it deserves so much more

[@PhoenixDad14]

Thank you for validating what I have known for nearly 10 years now, which is the first 5 songs on UV are genuine masterpieces. “Black Beauty” is also easily my favorite Lana song of all time, and it has no reason being only a bonus track

[@franks8462]

Ditto on Black Beauty. The demo version, while being extremely minimal, is what made me fall in love with it.

[@peter.mlnr.]

Yes, yes and yes! Black Beauty is a masterpiece! People don't talk about it enough.

[@ananda5634]

Actually this song was supposed to be the lead single for Ultraviolence but for some reason it didn't work out so Lana and her team decided to put it as a bonus track

[@cottage-core_]

​@@ananda5634 My guess is the fact that it got leaked

[@prodthetagrapper4468]

BRO LITERALLY I AM GOING THROUGH HER DISCOG RN THIS COULDNT HAVE COME AT A BETTER TIME

[@WaitingForTheHook]

Don't go by his picks, though... lmao. Bro called Born To Die "ok"

[@TheRealBlueSwan]

You are in for a treat.

[@edjack5on]

Lana is an incredible songwriter, still so underrated by the media. An artist who transformed pop music for the better! It is so great to grow older together with her growth and freedom as an artist. I will love her forever.

[@gemma2182]

I've literally been voting for this for YEARS. Thank you!!

[@LizApizaa]

There's something about Blue Banisters. I like to call it infectious sadness/melancholy!

[@noahkeolanui4478]

When I’m sad it’s one of my Lana go to’s 😅

[@drinkmoreagua8984]

It’s such a good album

[@quinnnewman9538]

I feel that in all the talk of her aesthetic and her lyrics there is little actual talk on her talent as a singer. Women singing in a contralto way often get pegged for not having a great range but she obviously does and showcases an engaging style overall

[@klu5301]

I first heard Lana in 2013, a friend played me the song ‘Blue Jeans’ and I ended up downloading her first album and have been a fan ever since. I’ve seen her live twice, once in 2018 & again in 2023. There’s something about Lana’s IDGAF attitude while also being so humble that I just love. Her pen game speaks for itself. Her world building for her albums is always so exciting and you can never guess what she’s going to release next. Seeing her so happy right now, traveling the world with her family & friends and releasing a *now 5X Grammy nominated album (Ocean Boulevard) is just so great! … I just f*cking love Lana & her art!

[@MysteryMii]

It’s kinda of funny that the Cedric Gervais remix of Summertime Sadness ended up being Lana’s biggest hit because at first, Interscope didn’t even want to release it. So it ended up being initially released through Gervais’ primary label at the time, Spinnin’, and it was only after the remix started blowing up that Interscope ended up deciding to release the remix and push it to the radio.

[@ryyaannn_]

i personally don’t think honeymoon sounds anything like born to die. honeymoon is my top two fave albums of hers. it’s so brilliant. the use of the trap beats sounds so natural and perfectly mixes with her vocals

[@pawnblue]

Well honeymoon was originally supposed to have a similar sound to born to die and it was more pop-driven, if we look at the demos we can see that

[@seraby7151]

Lana said it herself.

[@crescentfreshsongs]

I'm a few albums behind on LDR, but Born To Die and Ultraviolence are aging beautifully. Absolutely love both. Some awkward writing throughout, but I find it charming more than anything.

[@f4gsforpele]

Those are her worst 😭 she’s grown a lot, Ocean Blvd is a masterpiece and NFR! is also a classic

[@folklore9062]

​@@f4gsforpeleworst = lust for life

[@noeisnothere]

​@f4gsforpele nah, even if the songwriting isn't all there at least it's not a bore fest like chemtrails or blue banisters

[@f4gsforpele]

@@noeisnothere it is a bore fest tho lol. The songwriting is extremely one-dimensional, cringy, and cliché, the singing is super weak, with Lana being off-pitch at least a few times on every song, the production is *extremely* one-dimensional as well as just very dated at this point; practically every song does the massive string arrangement + hip-hop beat approach, which gets super old super quick, especially as it becomes clear that it’s just musical accoutrement to dress up song after song that is utterly lacking in substance. Born To Die is a very bad album. Chemtrails has some of her best songs, White Dress alone is easily better than the entirety of Born To Die lol. Blue Banisters is a super messy and often boring album but at least it has *some* likeable content and songwriting unlike Born To Die or Ultravapid.

[@f4gsforpele]

@@folklore9062 Lust For Life is really lopsided but it has some of her best songs. Ultravapid contains the absolute worst songwriting and vocals of her career and Born To Die is more consistent than LFL but consistently bad is not better than occasionally gr8 and only sometimes awful like LFL lol

[@tegantalks9612]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate Todd and Mike shouting each other out in their videos? I love to see it!!

[@ciaraskeleton]

This feels like sacred information. I remember when people found out that she previously went by Lizzie and it started a whole conspiracy theory. Like the idea of persona's and stage names were so foreign that it freaked people out. Now we have videos like this just displaying every detail accurately and without rumour. Back in 2011/2012 a lot of people were weirded out by her and didn't get it. I remember my friends bullying me for playing her music all the time. Times have changed and I'm very happy. Her work has been full scale independent, layered, nuanced art since the beginning. She wasn't manufactured, only by her own hand. It took people a while to appreciate how much talent she actually had. She's one of the most unique artists of our time male or female+people actually like her music in a widespread way now! Makes me super excited ❤ Born to die rocked peoples f*cking socks off when it came out though. No one made music like that. Those of us who were young teens when it came out were utterly held in a chokehold by it. Ill never get over how it shaped me and my taste in art and music. And in West Coast, as it transitions from verse to chorus, Lana samples Kurt Cobain's version of 'and I love her' by the Beatles. Those iconic 4 notes. 😊

[@oh_banana]

I hate this taboo that surrounded Lana since she was introduced to the internet with Video Games and has pervaded her history in many different ways. Even now I sometimes have to explain myself to someone before I recommend her music. I first listened to her albums earlier this year and I was stunned when I listened to NFR and the latest Did you know..., they are easily in my top singer-songwriter albums.

[@drinkmoreagua8984]

Everyone has this pre conceived notion of what Lana Del Rey’s music is, when in actuality it’s something completely different. I genuinely believe that she is the greatest artist in the last 20 years or so. Some might think that’s a joke or I’m exaggerating but if you listen to her entire discography you can’t really deny it.

[@emilyb.8219]

Back in like 2017 I had somebody ask me why Lana Del Rey was my favorite artist. I said, "what do you mean, why?" And he said "well I listened to her music a lot when I was going through my last breakup because it's sad music, so like, are you sad about something?" 💀 like no dude, her music is just good ok!

[@beauavpc]

I knew Cruel World was laced with crack from my first listen. I'm a true Ultraviolence stan

[@MaryHatake97]

I won’t stand for this Mermaid Motel slander! Great vid lol. Lana was the perfect artist to follow as a teenage girl on Tumblr. It’s crazy to see how much she’s evolved over time and I feel like a lot of her audience has grown up with her too. While I think her newer lyrics are a lot more deep and honest, I do wish she would put out some faster tempo songs with a bigger production sometimes. Can’t help it, I am and always will be a BTD girlie!

[@tylerhackner9731]

It’s undeniable the influence she has

[@cryptidstar]

i can't stress enough how often your videos actively make me go and listen to the artists you discuss - even if i've already listened to them before or been a fan for a long time. your passion for music is infectious and i can't thank you enough for sharing that passion with us through these videos

[@marsgoodday]

“Did you know that there’s a tunnel under ocean Blvd” is my AOTY. I hope it will be even more appreciated and recognised.

[@abrahamgarcia5663]

Now ocean blvd is nominated for 5 grammys. I hope she wins atleast one.

[@sophiaLOONA]

:(

[@atunnelunderswiftblvd]

She doesn’t need a Grammy to prove how timeless she is

[@jakesj]

God damn Mic child You snared me so good that i almost said i love Spoon

[@wpk914]

I was so pleasantly surprised by how GREAT “Ocean Blvd” turned out to be. I became a fan after “NFR!” and thought her next two albums certainly had their moments, but I was also ready to never fully love a Lana album again. But it’s a stunning record, just beneath “NFR!” in quality in my opinion

[@TrekkinRanger]

I'm SO glad you did this one! I was one of the sad Tumblr girlies who latched onto LDR over a decade ago, and she's been my life's soundtrack since then (basically what Taylor Swift is to many of my friends.) But I didn't actually know that much about her or give much thought to her discography as a whole, so this was really interesting! I'm not enough of a musical person to really pinpoint the differences between her various albums (and why I'm drawn to some more than others), so having this context adds an entirely new layer to her work for me. Thanks for the deep dive! Off to listen to NFR for the thousandth time.

[@marthson4235]

I first started listening to Lana Del Rey back in 2021. I didn’t care much for her music aside from NFR and even that album took me awhile to get into. Fast forward to this year when she released A&W and it blew everything wide open for me. She is incredible and one of the greatest artists who have ever lived.

[@healxo]

Born to die really spoke to me when it came out, i was the target audience. Idk, if you weren't there you might say it was ok at best, but born to die was monumental!

[@agonzalez7095]

about the taking her music at face value: Yes that happens and it is problematic but it isn't something relegated to newcomers, back in the early 2010's with the whole Tumblr core scene a lot of people did seem to take her a bit too seriously. Like you've got that whole retro melancholia lolita coquette culture that has developed around her music and aesthetic but its not a new development.

[@Jamie-fg7kk]

Lana is still super underrated for some of her songs that aren't in BTD or paradise some of her best songs are in CTOTCC

[@yourstruly9013]

I was a MASSIVE fan when BTD and Ultraviolence came out and listened to those albums to death. I remember getting Honeymoon and being so unimpressed that I deleted it off my phone so it wouldn't mix in with the other Lana songs... I think now, I can have a new appreciation for it, but after the rock sounds of Ultraviolence, I was not vibing with the soft mellow pop. Deserves a relisten now that I am not stuck on the early Lana.

[@sjtv1000]

Omg I felt this exact same way too! When I heard honeymoon I was like ‘this is toooo slow’ and I missed her old sound so much but you just reminded me to give it another listen

[@elg2931]

i was so overwhelmed with nostalgia listening to the snippets of born to die i had to pause to relisten to the album.

[@ConvincingPeople]

Lana Del Rey is one of those artists I've never really explored but for whom the hatred always felt curiously overblown in a way I couldn't put my finger on, a good example being Anthony Fantano's review of Ultraviolence back in the day which I sort of took at face value at the time but in retrospect feels kind of weird. Looking back on it, I also always really loved "Video Games", and Spectrum Pulse's review of Ocean Blvd got me really intrigued back when that record dropped, and… am I going to turn into a Lana Del Rey fan? That feels weird, but I suspect it's been kind of inevitable for a while given the mix of artifice and confession which I'm drawn to in music.

[@vfsdm]

I’m going to check this Spectrum Pulse channel after you mentioned him

[@SaccharineCHNOS]

It's really crazy how much hate she got for her SNL performance, I think people hopped on the bandwagon and decided that "this fake bitch sucks and we all hate her" going forward just to seem cool or like they had the right opinion.

[@muenchhausenmusic]

Man, I completely agree with your takes both on The Black Keys AND West coast!! Back in 2014 I randomly put West coast on my Mp3 player, and I remember it being a really special song with its tempo changes and lush soundscapes. Truly a great song!!

[@juliasanders9155]

Fan of 12 years here! Love this video! You did a great job covering her career. You and I feel the exact same way about West Coast- when that song came out I was absolutely floored and it remains my fave to this day. And I appreciate how you characterized the “idea” of born to die- its vision is certainly stronger than its execution but nevertheless remains as one of the fundamental building blocks in today’s pop music. Definitely one of my favorite records. As for what you said about taking video games at face value, I don’t really have an answer. I never got the feeling of her as an industry plant. Not at all. I think it’s because video games just feels like a real relationship to me. Beer, video games, love… seems pretty “authentic” to me. 😊

[@Betta66]

Excellent timing, releasing this after her latest Grammy nomination

[@joannawiley7907]

I bought Born to Die in 2012, so I'll always have affection for it. I'd never heard anything that sounded like Video Games. Also, I'm glad you stuck up for Ultraviolence, a lot of critics hated it, as I'm sure you're aware.

[@sarahgilmour7699]

Thank you Mr The Snare for validating my decision to listen to A&W on a loop pretty much all year. Probably my favorite track of 2023

[@embunchofnumbers]

I was on an lj community when Video Games happened. I was 29 and it was instantly appealing to me, giving me the Tindersticks, Cowboy Junkies European goodness of my teenage years. The lj youth were calling her out for being an industry plant & for the facial “enhancements”. But they were stanning hard the second Born To Die dropped.

[@lanafan211]

lana del rey shaped my entire teen years, she will always be my favorite singer, artist, and person.. she means so much to me

[@rafaelaugustodantasmota5427]

honest mic, found your channel a while ago and really apreciate it. YOU made me a lana fan, YOU made me listen to NFR, and now i think she's the best singer i've ever heard. Really thanks for that. YOU'RE AMAZING

[@izziaismailsalleh]

NFR made a fan too haha

[@scottmiller9174]

I didn’t learn about Lana until 2012 when I moved out of my childhood home and town to drive across the country to start a new life. I decided to add born to die to my driving playlist. I will always remember how significant and cinematic that album was as I drove away from everything I knew. When I got to the song Ride, I left it on repeat and cry drove for an hour lol

[@TheGegemon23]

Feel you, mate. Ride playing on the car ride is a transcendent experience

[@travel5521]

33:36 Todd shouted out Mic in his most recent video; Mic shouts out Todd in his most recent video. The collab in my dreams grows more feasible by the day.

[@AndrewBehm]

I have AKA Lizzie Grant on vinyl, and Mic’s underselling it. You DO need Mermaid Motel in your life.

[@healxo]

Highly highly recommend Jamie Loftus' Lolita podcast. It definitely addresses the Lana stuff, but it's really good at critiquing and contextualizing how popular culture uses (and abuses) Lolita, the book by Nabokov and its titular character.

[@Safira812]

I’ve loved Lana for a long time and hearing you say “it makes me feel like California is real” it finally made sense

[@beatricetellier6838]

as a hardcore lana fan, AKA is one of my fave albums and deserves more appreciation. It's so good!

[@hyperballadbradx6486]

Your description of NFR was perfect. It's exactly what made me pay attention to her as an artist and make the effort to revisit the stuff she has made I didn't click with. I also loved Chemtrails. It's a bit more contained. Some of the issues I've had with getting into her work has been the sheer length of albums. Its easy to get lost in the middle. An issue I've found again when listening to Bannisters and Ocean Boulevard. Honeymoon is one of the stand outs for me. It's like stepping into the Mediterranean summer sun and basking in it.

[@orduroord275]

It's incredible how I’ve become a devoted fan of Lana Del Rey. I first discovered Lana through "Video Games," and even though I was struck by her music style, I didn’t immediately fall in love with her as an artist. Fast forward to 2023, when I listened to "A&W," and... WOW! That single impressed me so much. I really liked it, and I remember listening to it compulsively for weeks. After "A&W," I came across "Venice Bitch." Guys, that is a masterpiece! I still remember the first time I listened to it... suddenly, I stopped whatever I was doing and froze! It was so incredibly stunning that didn’t want to end "over and over, honey"!!! After that, I listened to the entire NFR album and quickly became obsessed. There isn’t a single song on that album that I don’t deeply love! Then I listened to the "Ocean Blvd" album-what another great album! I love it!

[@garyspears7342]

At 47 years old I never thought I'd be blown away again by any artist as I had when I was younger. I'll be 50 in March and still can't believe how incredible Lana Del Rey is.

[@sambolles3575]

I do not know much about Lana Del Rey, but like the rest of the world, "Video Games" has imprinted on my brain in a mostly positive way. It was used to extremely strong effect as an orchestral in the last season of Westworld, with this wonderful reveal at the end of the first episode.

[@hrctdelrey9540]

She is one of the very few musical artists who will remembered as a legend for the Art they made.

[@talamainnctzen]

I love lana she’s just such a complex writer and there’s just so much to go down a rabbit hole with her music and albums.

[@danagigi13]

As a lana fan for 12 years now, I always listen to the demos, the born to die demos are for me superior forms of the songs we had , so I always listen to the demos after I listen to the albums.

[@juliasanders9155]

This is going to sound incredibly pretentious but 1:20 Sirens is in fact not Lizzy’s earliest known recordings; you can find her EP “From The End” (also known as Rock Me Stable, as you mention) on KZbin including tracks like Blizzard, In Wendy, More Mountains, etc. This record was released in 2005! I’m sure she also recorded Sirens around the same time but don’t sleep on these songs. :) Theyre so lovely!

[@pawnblue]

"From The End" does not include the songs you mentioned, but her EP called "Young Like Me" does, "From The End" has songs from sirens, the only 2 different songs from that EP are "For You" and "Wait"

[@gabrielpigatto2016]

33:00 i love how the girl behind the drummer is giving everything and Lana is just sitted on the stage, chill af.

[@itsROMPERS...]

What i love about LdR is that she never seems to be trying very hard. Madonna, Mariah, Brittany, Taylor, Cardi, Ariana... They all seem to really be putting in hard to be BIG and FAMOUS. Lana releases EPs.

[@argotsambience]

I'm mad at peoples reduction of video games. i think its sweet, n singing wistfully about moments from a time that wasn't so perfect is something we all do.

[@drinkmoreagua8984]

NFR is what got me hooked. I had heard about it a little and then one day I actually listened to the entire thing. Since then I have been a dedicated fan and even got to see her live this summer. She truly is one of the greatest to ever do it.

[@thegd2567]

27:48 has the wildest fucking edit I’ve ever seen I actually had to pause the video to gather myself

[@Gothgalactica]

When I first heard A&W Ibwas listening to it through headphones also and when that second half hit, it literally melted my fcking brain. 🤯 I was FLOORED. SHOOK. Insane in the BEST way possible.

[@borealiv]

Wait Video Games only was a week in the billboard charts??? It debuted at number 1 here in Germany, that’s wild that this was the one case where our charts were ahead of the times

[@Jamaal.R.]

BTD was so essential in crafting my own personal musical taste. It will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s my favorite from her. Her albums in recent years have been so one note and dry. I know I’ll never get another BTD 🫠

[@milenaarcher8901]

Nectar if the gods, which is one of the songs on Blue Banisters, is actually very dark and personal and criminally underrated. It’s about her drug addiction and how it has affected her relationships and how she acts. It is very sad and haunting.

[@LostCommenter7]

FINALLY! Great episode! Happy you enjoy "Ride", it's my fave Lana song.

[@tacosavings9751]

The one point of context missing to the skepticism around Lana when she first hit the mainstream was the timing of her marketing post Amy Winehouse's untimely death. It initially felt like a pale imitation of an authentic throwback pop artist....like someone was like...what if we just do the same thing but slow it down. Which obviously was an unfair criticism in retrospect, but I think leaving the Amy Winehouse of it all out of the conversation sort of misses a key piece in why people pushed back against her.

[@lunabear]

The only two ties that I have to miss Lana are Young and Beautiful reminding me of the delightful fanfic on ao3 by the same name, and the fact that I found her at her most attractive during her waffle house stint. This says far too much about me. Thank you for the video. 😂

[@quintessence_sailor]

I like the original version of snow on the the beach… The first time I listened to the album I wasn’t looking at the song titles, and when Lana started singing I was like this sounds like Lana del Rey. And then I looked and realized it was. I think it’s very artsy, Lana is like a ghost haunting the song, whereas the other version just sounds like two women singing a song together. Which is also fine but it wasn’t a moral issue. She was credited. The idea of “having enough lines” or enough of a presence in a song is so arbitrary. Just let the writers fulfill their artistic vision.

[@nikfiendluvr666]

NFR was the album that got me into Lana. You're absolutely right, it's the album where everything just clicks. It became the soundtrack to my shitty relationship I was in at the time of its release. Lana's whole "question for the culture" debacle made me not particularly want to be an active fan of hers anymore, but NFR will always have an incredibly special place in my heart, and deserves to be recognised for the masterpiece it is.

[@valterssluka1945]

she didnt say anything wrong in question for the culture, yall just be getting offended over anything

[@oo4758]

​@@valterssluka1945There are a lot of intentionally and unintentionally offensive things in this world, it really doesn't make sense to be angry when ppl react to that

[@valterssluka1945]

@@oo4758 I believe that most people got offended not because they actually found her message innapropriate but just because everyone was jumping on the narrative that she was a bad person for saying the things she said. Way too many people on twitter cancel people just because of group instincts. When enough people tell you that something is offensive its easier to just go along with it, without actually trying to understand the nuances of the situation.

[@oo4758]

@@valterssluka1945 I have to disagree, mainly because the people calling her out were her fans. People who love her and want her to succeed but genuinely felt hurt by her implying that other artists, mainly rnb and rappers, are making morally bad(or "worse")content than Lana herself. They might feel hurt that she treated feminism like this exclusionary section of women, or like a dirty word. And she definitely lacked self awareness when she said stronger women are taking her voice away. Also why act mad ppl say you're glorifying bad relationships, when that's literally the music you make?? Anyway, Outrage has existed before Twitter, saying that it's just twitter mobs isn't a good defense because there are actual ppl behind those accounts who have their own reasons for being hurt by what she said. They didn't just wake up and decide to hate Lana. In my own opinion, She probably isn't a bad person, but she definitely needs better pr and to sit with her thoughts before she writes them down.

[@valterssluka1945]

@@oo4758 New age feminism is morally very wrong and isnt about women anymore. I completely understand her fear of the word, cause it attaches a lot of shit that i believe she doesnt agree with. I might agree that her statement wasnt worded very well but the the message wasnt to put down any other artist in any way. Singing about sex and lust all the time isnt much more liberating than singing about toxic relationships at all. Oversexualisation of women and humans in general in mainstream media has gone out of hand and does a lot of harm to society altogether.

[@Emma-j3721]

You missed a crucial theme shift in her discography!! You cant leave out Change and Get Free from your LFL analysis!!! There’s no NFR without them!!

[@Betta66]

Thank you for giving Zella Day a mention, however brief. She's very underrated

[@vfsdm]

Met her through Lana, I love her song Holocene featuring Weyes Blood, it’s now one of my top played songs ever and made me appreciate even more Lana’s collab with both

[@a.a677]

She is iconic, she creates masterpieces and she paved the way for so many artists in the alt-pop genre. She doesn't get half the respect that she deserves. Ultraviolence is my all-time favourite album and West Coast is my all-time favourite song. I hope Lana finally gets her Grammy (I'm so pissed NFR got snubbed). I also love the many collabs Lana and the Weeknd did, they're my two favourite artists and they work so well together, their music is complementary.

[@rinaxused]

I AGREE SO MUCH with your opinion on West Coast. Such an underrated masterpiece, I love the switch-up/slow down into the chorus.

[@Riileyrose]

My life was forever altered by "lolita" (Demo version) popping up on my tumblr on a random 2013 morning

[@Whitehotforever1_]

Lana is such a poet and her music gives me life

[@jovanicamarena2637]

100% agree on west coast! So many don’t like it and I’m like “I’m sorry were you dropped as a baby?! This song is amazing!”

[@alexismay470]

Lana also has an unreleased album that was written and sang in collaboration with The Neighbourhood. that will probably never see the light of day as it was teased teased 5 years ago and not even snippets or leaks have been put out.

[@Sapienss123]

He forgot to mention these songs by Lana. These are masterpieces as well: I f*cked my way up to the top The Blackest Day Freak Flipside Gods and Monsters Money Power Glory

[@Actuallyusefulthings]

When I first heard her, for me it really resonated. Not the lyrics but her voice and maybe the way the songs sounded as a melody. Like he said, it was really different from the music that was being played in the mainstream. There was lady Gaga and Katy Perry and others who seem to all have the same high vocal register but when I heard Lana, it was like I finally understood there was more music than what was on the radio ( I was 12... in 2008). Lana worked so well for that era because it was a difference sound for people who didn't really fit with that bubbly gum pop we heard. She is definitely a legend in music history that I think paved the way for people to open their ears to finding their ow music that resonated with them. For me, she was a symbol of not needing to like whatever one liked because I truly enjoy her music. She was one of the first singers that made me stop and listen in the moment to that actual music instead of chasing some trendy upbeat summer jam

[@jackjohnston5317]

The gasp I gasped when this popped up... I have been waiting for so long

[@LonkinPork]

NFR absolutely is what got me into her, and then I was so deeply hooked that I ventured to the only Urban Outfitters in my city just to track down the UO exclusive version of the _Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd_ LP