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This looks GORGEOUS. I’ve seen pictures where the LP was backlit, but in regular lighting it’s such a gorgeous, deep shade of blue. It’s like the ocean — my favourite shade! I’m so glad they did this pressing because the colour and artwork are beautiful.

Still not over Nectar of the Gods the way I was when I first heard it on May 1, 2019. That song is just gorgeous, I can’t believe it’s real — it sounds straight out of 1970.

Aw, congratulations!!! That is so amazing and so well-deserved <3 and for what it’s worth, I thought it was an official graphic issued by Variety - it was that good

Tulsa Jesus Freak vs. Freak

I love NFR, Violet, and Chemtrails, so I’d be happy with another record produced by Jack! I find myself loving everything she does lol so I’m just excited about new music/poetry!

Oh right! We know for sure that Jack produced Patent Leather Do-Over, so it could be that they’re finishing up the rest of the next audiobook.

According to her stories, she’s at Conway Studios with Jack! Could be an old picture, but perhaps another project is on the way?

Lana Del Rey!

Beyond deserved I can’t believe it’s already been 10 years, what a prolific legend!

I really want to live in this album. It’s so beautiful and confident in a quiet way. The production is delicate and graceful, and Lana’s voice just shines. I love it so much, I’m so happy this record was released the way it was because it’s really a gorgeous, cohesive, 11-track piece to just get lost in thought with.

Raise Me Up vs. Drive By (For K, Part 1)

The last 90 seconds of Black Bathing Suit:

She’s just so in demand, they can’t keep her name out of their mouth!

I know you know that we know you’re joking, but I have a little tip for your next lie — Sweet Carolina was written on a whim and quite literally recorded in one take right after, so there are no “original lyrics” if you’re lookin to entertain, make sure the story adds up!! 💋

I remember being so excited when West Coast and a snippet of Cruel World got posted on Vimeo. I am dying to see the whole thing in all its HQ glory!

I’d love to see studio footage from every record, but I think the post-AKA, pre-and-during BTD sessions from 2009–2011 would be so interesting to see. It’s like witnessing a star in the making. As for performances, I think the iconic Hollywood Forever Cemetery shows in 2014 and the Hollywood Bowl tour-stop in 2019 are strong contenders. Those are, like, the equivalent of Lana doing a residency in Vegas. I’d also like to see unseen footage from 2006–2010 performances! There are so many shows from those years that we know about, but have nothing from.

I know that a lot of people say Born to Die is her most “commercial” album but I don’t think the songs are inherently “commercial” at all — while it was her most commercially traditional album cycle, I actually think that while the lyrical themes and stylistic choices resonated with people and garnered attention, it was really the image that was kind of painted for her by the public that made everything feel more “commercialized”. I’m not saying that Lana and her team didn’t capitalize off of that for the sake of establishing a career — it is quite essential to becoming as well known as she is, and from a business perspective, it is quite genius — but I genuinely believe that it’s still as authentic of a record to her as the records that followed it. I rewatch and reread interviews from 2011 and I truly do see a woman who wrote songs for the simple joy of it and recaptured moments of her life in musical form. And correlating songs to real events and people in her life just reinforces that (not that we are entitled to knowing those things for the sake of actually believing in the merit of the music, it’s just amazing and lucky that we have those things to back it up). She quite literally is a creative genius who created a never-done-before soundscape through which her lyrics could come to life. I don’t think the “grandiosity” of the record compared to her later work negates the realness of her creative output, and it’s a shame that the record — while being lauded as an iconic trailblazer — is somewhat seen as “stale” by some parts of the fanbase. I listen back to the record and I hear so much stardom and interweaving of different places, things, people, and emotions to create a world that is just so immersive. Nobody did it like her, and nobody continues to do it like her. This is just my rant about how Born to Die as a record really is the mother of so many things. I have so much respect and appreciation for it and really want to help restore its legacy to the actual music and the things that have made Lana such an enigma, icon, and legend, but also a friend, nurturer, and comfort in music over the last 10 years. That record is innovative to the nth degree and its classics like the title track, Off to the Races, Blue Jeans, and the song that started it all — Video Games — are history.

Thank you! And I just threw that in there for safety lol I know they were always spotted together and lyrics from both of them reveal it, but it was one of those relationships Lana never outright confirmed!

I found it interesting that 'LA Who Am I to Love You' and 'Mulholland Queen' by Jonathan Wilson (whom Lana allegedly dated in 2016) share similar lines – LA Who Am I to Love You With towering eucalyptus trees that sway in my dominion Not you at your worst Totally on fire, unlivable, unbreathable, I need you Mulholland Queen Under those big eucalyptus' Where your grasses are green Where you sway under the heavens And your dominion is every... Star The poem is obviously more self-reflective than about a relationship, but I wonder what the significance of that mirrored imagery is – perhaps a personal reference that only she and Jonathan know about?

Carmen vs. Salvatore

That is GORGEOUS I’m excited to get one!

Look at us! We’re in sync

To echo the talk about K, I’ve actually always thought he was a real, living person! There is the obvious reference to him in the two “For K” tracks, but I believe the story about his death. For one, the entire record being called Born to Die is even more chilling when you add that piece to the whole pie. Lana has said before that it’s in reference to how her existence was overshadowed by awareness of her own mortality as a child — which was fleetingly eased upon experiencing true love — but given the subject matter of songs like the title track, Blue Jeans, Video Games, Dark Paradise, and Summertime Sadness, it really seems like there was a literal loss and Lana is reconciling these worlds of love and death. I think the “K” trilogy of BTD, BJ, and VG is interesting, though, because we know VG’s verses are about Josh, but the choruses are about how she wished things went with someone else (and perhaps she can only wish, because he’s no longer here). BJ suggests a tumultuous road, the result of which sees Lana vow to love him till the end of time (perhaps in a way that honours someone whose spirit lives on in your memories, in your heart, etc.). And BTD is the thesis statement that precedes these two tracks — the first verse sees Lana touch upon the afterlife, where she hopes she’ll be reunited with him. I also found it telling that in a 2012 interview, Lana was asked if the boy in question knew about these songs, to which she replied “he doesn’t know — his mother knows.” I’ll put it in the spoiler below. Now, Josh has never really fallen out of contact with Lana (as we have seen photos of them together around the early 2000s, in 2009, in 2011, in 2012, Lana posted about his engagement in 2018, and Josh has posted several times about how he inspired Video Games) — so I really do think that this person’s fate as described in Lana’s songs is legitimate and true. But alas, I think this will remain one of the most elusive Lana mysteries unless she herself opens up about it. It’s her story to tell, and if she does choose to tell it, I know it’ll be insightful and moving.

That label always confused me because I read early interviews from 2011 and even EARLIER interviews from 2008/2009 and she even talks about how she writes about the way things used to be during happy times. It’s just thoughtful — and I think that speaks volumes about the status quo’s conflation of reflection and sadness. She was absolutely right when she identified how the world loves to project onto you to try and reconcile what they lack.