As a fan who barely knows Lana, what should I listen to first?

[mssainttropez 14,799]

If you want to really get into her, I’d recommend listening to her discography in order. If you just want to learn more about her and her art, I’d recommend BTD, NFR, and DYKTATUOB. Some songs not in those three albums I think you’d enjoy are-

— Brooklyn Baby

— West Coast

— Art Deco

— Cherry

— Watercolor Eyes

 

I would also highly recommend checking out some of her music videos!! I’d watch Born To Die, National Anthem, Ride, Chemtrails Over The Country Club, and Candy Necklace. Heavy on Ride and Candy Necklace. 

[never2heaven 6,807]

i’d love to hear your thoughts on the tropico short film knowing very little about her discography! i’m not sure it would be the best starter but an incredibly interesting one

[saith 1,186]

They said it all. I'de be very interested to hear how you'll decide to approach this and what's your feeling toward her discography.

You're so lucky being new to Lana. That's such a great place to be.

[oldandugly 1,672]

Listen to all the albums in order, and pick out your favioruite songs

[Elle 122,822]

I’m glad to hear her Coachella performance has made you more interested in her music!

I would say to start with Norman fucking Rockwell or her newest album Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd as those two have a good mix of different sonic styles and have a lil something that can appeal to everyone.

Then move onto Born to Die (Paradise Edition) & Ultraviolence - her two cult classic albums, but they each have very distinct unique sonic styles. The first is more pop focused and the second is more influenced by rock. My personal favourite album is Ultraviolence, and it won Album of the Decade in 2022 for LanaBoards’ annual awards ceremony, so it seems to be the general fan favourite here as well.

Honeymoon, Lust for Life, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, and Blue Banisters are her more underrated records again with each having their own distinct style, but they all have their gems and each album has at least a couple songs that will appeal to someone based on their individual taste.

If you want to list some of your favourite artists and your favourite songs from them I could give you more personalised recommendations, but 10 good general starter songs for everyone are Born to Die, Off to the Races, Ride, West Coast, Shades of Cool, The Blackest Day, Cherry, Get Free, Cinnamon Girl, and A&W (I would say Video Games too, but you said in your post that you’ve listened and liked that one)

I would also say to watch the music videos too as seeing the visuals with the music brings a whole other level to the songs. Some great videos to watch are the ones for Ride, Born to Die, National Anthem, Shades of Cool, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, and Candy Necklace.

I hope you enjoy! Xx

[Thats why they call me Dita 10,264]

I think sonically all of her albums are so different that you should just go chronologically! You will find what sounds hits right for you!

 

I can’t even settle on a favourite, it changes all the time, depending on my mood! 

[ChicaSkas 80]

Thank you everyone so much for these recommendations. I think I will start chronologically and make sure I experience all of her albums the way she intended it.

How is her unreleased catalog? Does she have many unreleased tracks? I really like the flow of your Media section, maybe I messed up posting the interludes/openings to Coachella, sorry about that mods

 

I really appreciate you all so much for the guidance. I will return to this thread to let everyone know what I think. I kinda wanna burn Lanachella to a CD and listen around the house also hahahahaah

9 hours ago, Elle said:

I’m glad to hear her Coachella performance has made you more interested in her music!

I would say to start with Norman fucking Rockwell or her newest album Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd as those two have a good mix of different sonic styles and have a lil something that can appeal to everyone.

Then move onto Born to Die (Paradise Edition) & Ultraviolence - her two cult classic albums, but they each have very distinct unique sonic styles. The first is more pop focused and the second is more influenced by rock. My personal favourite album is Ultraviolence, and it won Album of the Decade in 2022 for LanaBoards’ annual awards ceremony, so it seems to be the general fan favourite here as well.

Honeymoon, Lust for Life, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, and Blue Banisters are her more underrated records again with each having their own distinct style, but they all have their gems and each album has at least a couple songs that will appeal to someone based on their individual taste.

If you want to list some of your favourite artists and your favourite songs from them I could give you more personalised recommendations, but 10 good general starter songs for everyone are Born to Die, Off to the Races, Ride, West Coast, Shades of Cool, The Blackest Day, Cherry, Get Free, Cinnamon Girl, and A&W (I would say Video Games too, but you said in your post that you’ve listened and liked that one)

I would also say to watch the music videos too as seeing the visuals with the music brings a whole other level to the songs. Some great videos to watch are the ones for Ride, Born to Die, National Anthem, Shades of Cool, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, and Candy Necklace.

I hope you enjoy! Xx

hiiii! I Love your site and thank you so much for this detailed reply. I really appreciate the insight and the introduction to this new beautiful world. :

[Fingertips 72,051]

15 hours ago, taco truck said:

I feel like every new listener should just listen to BTD/NFR/OB I think they are her “essential albums”  and show her artistic growth perfectly. Personally I would throw LFL in there too because it’s great bridge from BTD to NFR (I think UV and Honeymoon are better albums but they are a little more secluded in their sounds). 

This is the correct answer

[Dark Angel 203,377]

4 minutes ago, ChicaSkas said:

Thank you everyone so much for these recommendations. I think I will start chronologically and make sure I experience all of her albums the way she intended it.

How is her unreleased catalog? Does she have many unreleased tracks? I really like the flow of your Media section, maybe I messed up posting the interludes/openings to Coachella, sorry about that mods

 

I really appreciate you all so much for the guidance. I will return to this thread to let everyone know what I think. I kinda wanna burn Lanachella to a CD and listen around the house also hahahahaah

hiiii! I Love your site and thank you so much for this detailed reply. I really appreciate the insight and the introduction to this new beautiful world. :

 

oh, it's fantastic, we have unreleased songs all the way back to 2005 (if you count the young like me and from the end EPs, they aren't on streaming services) all the way to the late 2010s, she's experimented with so many styles of music, there's really something for everybody, there's also many demos of her officially released tracks, you can find pretty much everything (as well as her homemade music videos which are amazing as well!) on lanatrailercollection.tumblr.com

 

i would recommend listening to her albums chronologically, than, listening to these projects

 

lana del ray aka lizzy grant

sirens

young like me

from the end

no kung fu

 

some of her most popular unreleased tracks are serial killer, queen of disaster, jealous girl, every man gets his wish, trash magic, fine china, and your girl, that would be a good place to start, her unreleased catalog is so vast, i'm sure you'll find stuff you'll love

[ChicaSkas 80]

11 hours ago, saith said:

They said it all. I'de be very interested to hear how you'll decide to approach this and what's your feeling toward her discography.

You're so lucky being new to Lana. That's such a great place to be.

thank you, I really look forward to it. I mean what's not to like. She's laid back, cool, sexy, has great music, is a real poet. She's her own vibe. I'm glad to try everything here! But I realize that I'd tell people to start chronologically with Gaga as well if someone asked me, so I'll start there, and treat her early unreleased as a prequel, and the unreleased following as sidebar flavors/sequels.

 

It's a whole new soft sensual world here. Thank you to everyone  

 

Oh and someone mentioned a short film. I think Ill watch that as well

[Fingertips 72,051]

2 minutes ago, ChicaSkas said:

thank you, I really look forward to it. I mean what's not to like. She's laid back, cool, sexy, has great music, is a real poet. She's her own vibe. I'm glad to try everything here! But I realize that I'd tell people to start chronologically with Gaga as well if someone asked me, so It's a whole new soft sensual world here. Thank you to everyone  

Please let us know here what you think while you're on your journey! 

[ChicaSkas 80]

1 hour ago, Fingertips said:

Please let us know here what you think while you're on your journey! 

if there is a blog / personal experiences section. I can blog my way through as I go. I know i've been under a musical rock for a long long time. This will be fresh and new for me so I look forward to it!

[Fingertips 72,051]

1 minute ago, ChicaSkas said:

if there is a blog / personal experiences section. I can blog my way through as I go. I know i've been under a musical rock for a long long time. This will be fresh and new for me so I look forward to it!

Yay! I remember loving to read your posts on GGD, so I'm sure anything you have to say will be great to read.

 

Blogs are here: https://lanaboards.com/blogs/

[Elle 122,822]

17 hours ago, ChicaSkas said:

How is her unreleased catalog? Does she have many unreleased tracks? I really like the flow of your Media section, maybe I messed up posting the interludes/openings to Coachella, sorry about that mods

 

I really appreciate you all so much for the guidance. I will return to this thread to let everyone know what I think. I kinda wanna burn Lanachella to a CD and listen around the house also hahahahaah

hiiii! I Love your site and thank you so much for this detailed reply. I really appreciate the insight and the introduction to this new beautiful world. :

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! & I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying LanaBoards! It makes me so happy to welcome new members to our community, even those who are just starting out with Lana’s music! This will be an exciting adventure.

 

As far as Lana’s unreleased catalog, she literally has hundreds of unreleased songs including everything from scrapped tracks, album outtakes, demos for both released and unreleased, and shelved albums/eps that span over two decades. She could more than double her discography with her unreleased songs. Getting into Lana’s unreleased is what converted me from a standard fan to ultra mega stan when I first stumbled across her unreleased music on the day Paradise EP was released in 2012. That was the day my world truly changed forever. Leaks of unreleased tracks are rather frequent for her, so there’s pretty much an endless trove to explore with always more to anticipate.

Like her albums, her unreleased music has many different sonic styles, even those that she doesn’t use much in her released discography. Again, knowing a bit more about your favourite artists & songs would be helpful in recommending songs you would like especially since her unreleased has even a broader span of different styles than her released music, but 10 good general starter unreleased songs are Hollywood, Dragonslayer, Fine China, On Our Way, Hollywood’s Dead, Hundred Dollar Bill, Angels Forever Forever Angels, If I Die Young, Hawaiian Tropic, and Come With Me (this last song is one that leaked just a few months ago, so it’s a good example of what is still to come in terms of unleaked music!)

She’s also had quite of a bit of her unreleased songs become viral on tiktok that you may have heard without realising, including Queen of Disaster, Jealous Girl, Playing Dangerous, You Can be the Boss, Meet Me in the Pale Moonlight, Driving in Cars with Boys, Serial Killer, Every Man Gets His Wish, Go Go Dancer, St Tropez, Trash Magic, Put Me in a Movie, etc. That last song is from her shelved 2010 record Lana Del Ray AKA Lizzy Grant, which is one of my personal favourites in her whole discography. One of her unreleased songs that was a scrap from Ultraviolence that leaked in 2016 became super viral on tiktok in recent years, leading her to ultimately release it last year - Say Yes to Heaven. It’s now one of her most popular released songs. Lana is known to sometimes put her unreleased leaked songs on later albums or rework elements of them - for example, her Blue Banisters album contains 4 songs that were scraps from other projects that leaked a few years before she ultimately decided to release them. She’s also performed a few leaked unreleased songs during her tours including Serial Killer, Us Against the World, You Can be the Boss, and Paradise. She also just used a remix of Jealous Girl as part of her intro for her Coachella performance!

Don’t overlook her demos either. One of the most popular demos among the fandom is Pink Champagne which was originally intended for Ultraviolence, but was later reworked into Let Me Love You Like a Woman for Chemtrails nearly a decade later (even though the demo didn’t leak until after the release of the final.) The demo version is truly so much better, along with some of her other demos such as Lust for Life, The Next Best American Record, and the Lolita/Diet Mountain Dew/National Anthem demos from Born to Die just to list a few. If you’re interested in the process of song creation, her demos are also a really interesting part of her catalog as you can see the evolution of certain songs as she makes minor-to-major changes in everything from lyrics, melodies, production, etc from the first concept to its final version. Again, this is the case for both released and unreleased songs.

So, needless to say, her unreleased catalog runs very deep and is one of the most exciting parts about being a fan x

[Pink Champagne 9,577]

On 4/17/2024 at 1:26 AM, details said:

sometimes i wish i could erase born to die from my memory just so i could listen to it for the first time again so i say go listen to born to die! really cherish that experience bc listening to it for the first time is like losing your virginity 

I remember listening to it for the first time on the bus ride to high school (over an hour ride). It was magical. 

[Lana Del Dufrene 11,259]

You need to listen to get free. It’s a masterpiece and probs one of if not her best song.