Social Media's Misconception Of "Men Written By Lana Del Rey"

[Divineness]

Sorry, but it just kinda pisses me off how social media, especially TikTok, usually portrays "Men written by Lana" as young, attractive, melancholic and romantic guys, when in reality she has been representing mean, chaotic, frightening men who treat her badly ever since the early days of her career.

 

"Men Written By Lana Del Rey"

 

So, I've been diving into Lana's discography, and I decided to separate her symbolization of men. Lana's writing predominantly features three primary types of men: Bonnie & Clyde-style gangsters, depressed and coked-out long-haired rockstars & sugar daddies.

 

Right into her Sirens / May Jailer era, she writes about K, who is depicted as a criminal boyfriend facing imprisonment and a death sentence, both songs about him are gritty and self-destructive. The song Pretty Baby (For K) features direct "mean daddy" and "bad baby" lyrics. My Momma explores this all even further, she uses the gangster archetype for parental disapproval, "My momma wouldn't say you a good boy". Bad Disease is like an aftermath of her being in these kinds of relationships, with Lana rewinding her watching his crimes, him fighting and eventually witnessing his death.

 

AKA opens with Kill Kill, which is her saying that she is in love with a dying man (could imply that he is very old, or simply that he is dying for some other reason?), and she did everything she could to change him. In Smarty, Lana is apparently dating an abusive boyfriend and creates this creepy false romanticization, "Beat me and tell me that no one will love me better than you do", Put Me in a Movie pretty much shares the same perspective through the Lolita-esque relationship with an older guy, "Come on, you know you like little girls". Both Jump and Yayo are melancholic yet romantic songs about guys who are struggling with drug addiction.

 

Born To Die just digs deeper into this world, not just lyrically but in the music videos as well (pretty much the same thing as AKA). Off To The Races presumably narrates Lana in a situation where she is fully dependent on her partner and also has that Nabokov-like story. The man in Blue Jeans gets characterized by the lines "James Dean", "Gangsta", and he gets taken away from her life (likely about K). Diet Mountain Dew is literally about her being mentally trapped inside a toxic relationship, the demo is even heavier "Hit me, my darling, tonight", "Hurt me and tell me you're mine". Million Dollar Man reinforces everything that Off To The Races offered, she is recklessly dependent on a heartbreaker despite his dangerous character.

 

Here comes Ultraviolence, starting with the title track, it serves as a prologue instead of Cruel World and a definitive anthem for the album, with the iconic yet disturbing reference to "He hit me and it felt like a kiss" and other physical and emotional manipulation referenced in the song. Shades Of Cool gives us the most 'Cali Cool' bad daddy vibes, exploring his inability to change and realizing that he is trapped in his own rebellious world. Then there are Bonnie & Clyde references and the perspective of her having an affair in Sad Girl. Back to the first track, Cruel World, she celebrates her freedom from the partner, it's more like a result of the abuse and dependence, just like Bad Disease "Shared my body and my mind with you, that's all over now" & "I'm so happy that you're gone".

 

Honeymoon is much more subtle about the topic, but just from the title track, she mentions how her lover has a violent past and how no man has ever dared to fight or find him. Music To Watch Boys To, Freak and Swan Song continue this theme, but it's more of a codependency, basically both of them going badass and destructive. 24 was literally written for a Bond soundtrack, so it was obviously going to mirror a harmful, untrustworthy guy. "You lay awake with thoughts of murder and carnage".

 

Music Videos, photoshoots, visuals, etc.

 

Iconic gangster guy/rockstar that got hired for Born To Die, Blue Jeans and West Coast MVs.

Ride music video featuring multiple blue-collar men

Father John Misty in Freak

Older men in Candy Necklace, West Coast, Shades Of Cool and I guess Jeremy in White Feather MVs 

Misc. photos and guys she used to date

side note: A LOT more of her songs and visuals are about these types of guys but I'm too lazy to mention them all, i spent 4 hours writing this. it's midnight and i need some sleep

[Mississippi South]

gag it!!!!

[Make me your Dream Life]

I think its cus social media and ppl irl think that lana del rey men are men written by the female gaze, whereas lana’s taste for men are like, men that are tough to be around their peers of men to a degree. 
 

Men of older america. She really said no twinks, but daddies 

[hongkongdisco mysterygirl15]

Dont let this queen fool you sister

40 minutes ago, Divineness said:

Misc. photos and guys she used to date

 

Enjoyed ur lyrical breakdown. Set the record straight 

Is 'men written by Lana' an actual trend/thing?  

[An Ocean of Time]

52 minutes ago, Divineness said:

Misc. photos and guys she used to date

 

not Mel Ottenberg from the Interview Magazine, he's gay 

[In The Birdcage]

 

[Surf Noir]

and then there’s the sensitive young man from birds of a feather…

[King of Roses]

I guess this "Man Written by Laba Del Rey" thing is the same as what happened with the "Coquette" trend of 2023/24. They prioritize "aesthetics" over the reality of the lyrics and the music. Still, always it's worth remembering that she doesn't sing about Old Money twinks wearing expensive hoodies over their shoulders and drinking Matcha while reading a self-help book. 

 

I loved your post; when you delve deep into Lana's music, there's so much to see, and it's always nice to read other people's perspectives. 

[Embach]

I really loved this analysis, been loving your analyses here so far! I have always considered this type of trend really cringe when it emerged in 2022 because they take it way too seriously where they're not joking at all. Their kind of way interpretation is basically not based on the lyrics but the music, like men who are as pretty and sexy as the music and the melodies of Lana Del Rey's music. Which is sad because it makes Lana's music seem superficial.

 

I remember seeing this in 2022 (by the way when I listen to Lana's music on YouTube, this STILL gets recommended to me and to my surprise it has so many views ) and I thought to myself like why and what is this based on lolol, like are they all these mentally disturbed tough guys who cheat and beat their girlfriends and do heroin or are they just "aesthetically" looking "sexy" and "pretty" men just like the song in the background...or what else...as someone who doesn't really feel easily attracted to anyone or doesn't have any celebrity crushes, I thought nothing about these men in the video, I know who these people are but at first I had hard time recognizing because the video looked weirdly edited lol.

 

At surface level, the best and most basic idea you would get of a man who is like written by Lana Del Rey, is if you'd watch films she's mostly inspired by, like the Godfather films or Scarface or any kind of old (cult) classic.

 

At some level, maybe women who have gone the deepest horrors and terrors depicted in the songs, can recognize the men who could similarly be described as the men in the songs.

 

But at the deepest level possible, only Lana knows, who are these men actually she wrote about, she claims her story and she can claim the men she wrote about.

[Tallulah]

crazy how I grew up listening to this shit but somehow became a lesbian

[sameoldheartLAtoNYC]

 agree 200%

[Lilacs In My Mind]

On 7/7/2026 at 10:22 AM, Embach said:

I really loved this analysis, been loving your analyses here so far! I have always considered this type of trend really cringe when it emerged in 2022 because they take it way too seriously where they're not joking at all. Their kind of way interpretation is basically not based on the lyrics but the music, like men who are as pretty and sexy as the music and the melodies of Lana Del Rey's music. Which is sad because it makes Lana's music seem superficial.

 

I remember seeing this in 2022 (by the way when I listen to Lana's music on YouTube, this STILL gets recommended to me and to my surprise it has so many views ) and I thought to myself like why and what is this based on lolol, like are they all these mentally disturbed tough guys who cheat and beat their girlfriends and do heroin or are they just "aesthetically" looking "sexy" and "pretty" men just like the song in the background...or what else...as someone who doesn't really feel easily attracted to anyone or doesn't have any celebrity crushes, I thought nothing about these men in the video, I know who these people are but at first I had hard time recognizing because the video looked weirdly edited lol.

 

At surface level, the best and most basic idea you would get of a man who is like written by Lana Del Rey, is if you'd watch films she's mostly inspired by, like the Godfather films or Scarface or any kind of old (cult) classic.

 

At some level, maybe women who have gone the deepest horrors and terrors depicted in the songs, can recognize the men who could similarly be described as the men in the songs.

 

But at the deepest level possible, only Lana knows, who are these men actually she wrote about, she claims her story and she can claim the men she wrote about.

Not one of those men are Lana Del Rey adjacent