Desperation has a particular stench all to its own. When this aroma taints a newly released album, each song leaves an aftertaste that overstays its welcome. The recently released EP Born to Die by hyped seductress Lana Del Rey does not carry its destined weight. Without much direction and mood focus, Born to Die lives up to its name as it fell flat on its face.
For weeks and months even, Lana Del Rey was prophesied as a second-coming siren with hypersexualized features and a voice that bordered on childlike. Her big hit ‘Video Games’ carries a decent amount of ammunition on Born to Die, yet not enough to sail it into the following eight songs. The opening song ‘Born to Die’, which the entire album is named after, packs the biggest blow of the whole package. Her vocals have two distinct ranges, smoked out husky and childish prepubescent. As a listener, this range leaves very little to be desired.
It’s a shame really. LDR was surrounded with the whispering hype of a star about to be born. Despite the fact that her coming of musical age was a mastermind behind a team of brand management, Del Rey still had a few legs to stand on. Her awkwardness, her dripping-with-desire eyes, and her alluding indestructible feminine frailty created a structure that caused general fascination. It wasn’t that Del Rey’s music was stunning, it was merely that she was stunning.
This, however, does not make a good artist. Born to Die was doomed from the beginning with Lana Del Rey left behind in the wake of poor artist development and cheap dreams.