How involved is Lana in writing the music/melodies of her songs? (I'm a relatively new LDR fan.)

[CinnamonOcean]

I've been really enjoying her Born to Die, Ultraviolence, and NFR. I know she writes her own lyrics, and she collaborates closely with the same 2-3 songwriters most of the time, but I'm curious how involved she is in the actual writing of the music and melodies? Any information or resources is appreciated. Thank you so much!

[longtimeman]

I think she''s a collaborative songwriter, which means that although she doesn't compose on an instrument (leaving that to her producers), she is still very involved in creating the melodies and structures of her songs. This interview with Rick Nowels about Lust For Life gives some good background. I know Jack has also talked several times about how working with her happens.

Quote

You’ve been working with Lana for a long time now. What’s your songwriting process like, and how has it evolved?

Our process has not changed over the years. Lana always comes in with a concept and often, a melody and lyrics on her iPhone. I listen to it acapella, find the exact key she’s singing in and start to create a chord progression around it. We start playing together and define the exact chords and melody. Then she finishes the lyrics. I’m always knocked out by how incredible her lyrics are and how effortlessly she seems to write them.

After that, we solidify the verse and chorus. We usually write the middle eight from scratch—that’s the section that comes after the second chorus. It is a construct of classic songwriting sometimes called the bridge. You don’t see a lot of middle eights in songs anymore. I love that we write them because I think they make the songs more timeless and satisfying. Lana usually records her vocals right after the writing process. I play piano or guitar with her and we do live takes. This gives the songs a performance aspect, and I think it contributes to the intimacy in her vocal delivery. I work out my piano or guitar part and accompany her voice. I follow her mood and together we get a feeling in the room. She doesn’t do many takes. She knows when she’s got the master take.

After she gets her lead vocal she immediately starts arranging and singing her background vocals. This is a very exciting thing because she’s completely unique in her approach to it and it’s all a part of her songwriting process. When the backing vocals are complete you essentially have a finished Lana Del Rey record. The song speaks with minimal instrumentation and just her vocals. After that we begin the process of building the backing track, which can take some time and experimenting and inviting some great musicians to contribute.

 

[PARADIXO]

It seems she's the sole writer of her words and comes up with her melodies either humming or recording herself and then asking some collaborator to identify the chords, or vice versa she makes a melody out of her collaborator's previously made chord progression.

 

She seems extremely hands on on the entire process of a song. From the very beginning to the very final product.

 

She also works on the production, which as usual for women a lot of people don't talk about this or always give credit to her male producers.

 

One of the things I love about Lana is that she is the mastermind behind her whole work.

[Anthony Applewhite]

Tbh I always thought that Lana writes all her lyrics (obviously with collaborators as well) and then when all those Tough demos leaked I was like wtf… I still wonder if it’s one of the only/few songs manufactured for her