Lana Del Rey has become a highly influential person in many people’s lives. Since she came into the spotlight as Lizzy Grant and today with her latest album release, Did You Know That There Is A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, she has become an iconic figure in music. So many artists like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, A$AP Rocky and many more have proclaimed their love and admiration for Lana’s ability to incorporate melancholia, romance and sadness into her artistic songwriting.
Lana Del Rey has been a part of my life since I was an adolescent and has been my top artist since 2012. In this article, I will rank my top five favorite Lana Del Rey albums, because ranking all of them from worst to best is much harder…maybe? I feel like this would be easier. (Editing note: this was, in fact, not easy. I sat in front of my computer for a good hour vouching for each album and switching them around.)
5. Chemtrails Over The Country Club (Favorite Song: “Tulsa Jesus Freak” )
COTCC is an album that I didn’t listen to for the longest time, but when I did…I fell in love with Lana all over again. I was still stuck on NFR and I refused to be open about Lana’s striped ballads that I feel like she shifted into at this time. Looking back, it was silly of me to want to hold on to this “Old Lana” because the reason I, and many others, adore her in the first place, is because of her lyricism and poetry. COTCC is a testament to the ability she holds to create an experience for the listener to get lost in romance and maybe some sorrow. The tracks “Dark But Just A Game” and “Tulsa Jesus Freak” encompass that art-filled desolation. But the title track “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” holds one of my favorite lines from Del Rey:
We laugh about nothing as the summer gets cool
It’s beautiful, how this deep normality settles down over me,
I’m not bored or unhappy,
I’m still so strange and wild.
You’re in the wind,
I’m in the water,
Nobody’s son,
Nobody’s daughter…
The line about beautiful normality is the type of gratefulness that comes with taking a walk on a summer afternoon after the sun has set, or a walk in fall with layers and someone’s hand to hold. The absence of chaos and the overlooked feeling of being bored in the best way when you can look around and be grateful that at the moment, nothing is wrong.
4. Honeymoon (Favorite Song: “Salvatore”)
Honeymoon is the perfect name for what this record is. It’s romantic, sweet, seducing and a little tragic. Honeymoon is how I would describe a love that is self-sacrificing and dreamy until it’s detrimental. This song was ranked fourth for me solely because I feel it has more lyrics in it that I resonate with or think about more often than I do the ones in COTCC. In contrast to COTCC, Honeymoon’s lyrics, to me, weren’t as easily distinguishable as were the melodies and composition.
3. NFR (Favorite Song: “Bartender”)
I think Norman F****** Rockwell was the album that expanded her fanbase. If people weren’t fans of Lana before, they were now. The album was Grammy-nominated in 2020 and the title track was also nominated for the “Song of the Year” category. I really appreciated the album for encompassing all that Lana is and the surf rock elements she used as a love letter to California. If there are people interested in her music, this is the album I would recommend they listen to.
2. Born To Die – The Paradise Edition (Favorite Song: “Ride”)
I had to pay my respects and put this one in the top two. Born to Die is iconic; “Dark Paradise” was the first song I heard from Lana that altered the course of my life forever. The album holds a lot of nostalgia. Witnessing Lana live at Outside Lands earlier this year was a surreal experience. Before she performed “Ride,” snippets of the music video played as well as the monologue featured at the beginning. I remember starting to cry because I was so overwhelmed hearing the music that defined my adolescence.
1. Ultraviolence (Favorite Song: “Florida Kilos”)
Ultraviolence is the first album that I listened to from beginning to end without skipping and loving every song. Ultraviolence is the “it girl” of Lana’s albums – you can not go wrong; she is the cool girl before she is the lover girl. Throughout the album, she incorporates these guitar riffs that are so captivating and sexy. If you want to be really cool, listen to this album! I have nothing more to say other than art, poetry, love, magic and hot. The iconic song “West Coast” takes you on a ride, cruising on the back of a motorcycle along the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. Envision yourself in Doc Martens and a sleek leather jacket, feeling the wind tousle your hair as the sun sets in the distance. That, is the essence of “West Coast”—an experience in itself.