
Luxury, beauty and the dark side of love are all central focuses of Lana Del Rey’s “Born to Die: Paradise Edition,” which hit stores this week.
The mini-album, which can be purchased together with her full-length “Born to Die,” which was released earlier this year, features eight tracks of new and original songs.
This release rings true to the young artist’s established persona and is reminiscent of days past. The songs are timeless and spin tales of heartache and heartbreak.
It is still up for debate whether or not the singer is the real deal, which has been called into question since she burst onto the scene with a botched set of performances on Saturday Night Live earlier this year.
However, she has amassed an unprecedented following in both domestic and international audiences. She performed at countless European music festivals throughout the year and sold out three performances each in New York and Hollywood over the summer.
The singer pushes the envelope at several points throughout “Paradise.” The most eyebrow-raising moment is the opening line of “Cola,” in which Del Rey laments in a moaning melody, “My p*ssy tastes like Pepsi Cola, my eyes are wide like cherry pies.”
Easily the greatest number among the eight is “Ride,” an ethereal anthem about living fast, dying young and encouraging the most spirited of individuals to “just ride.” A 10-minute music video for the song was released a few weeks prior to the album’s debut, which helped to drum up anticipation of fans and skeptics alike.
Another noteworthy hit on the album is “Blue Velvet,” a vintage-sounding track that is Del Rey’s version of the 1963 classic by Bobby Vinton. The song was featured in an ad campaign for H&M stores, which currently boast wall-length posters of Del Rey bearing garments from her very own winter capsule collection in the shops.
Clearly, money is still “the anthem of success” for Del Rey, who followed the cue of the countless other artists by re-launching a previous album with a handful of new songs tacked on. In this way, fans don’t have to wait years for new songs, and the artist – Del Rey in this case – won’t wait to pull in another fat check.
Despite maintaining a reputation for evoking a love-or-hate opinion by listeners, there is no denying that Del Rey makes an impact. She has undeniably catchy tunes that linger on your tongue long after you’ve decided that you don’t like her but still opted to buy her album anyway.