Born to Die (album)

chronology
Born to Die
Studio album by Lana Del Rey
Publication ; (s)	January 27, 2012
Label (s)	Interscope Records , Polydor
Format (s)	CD, digital, vinyl
Genre (s)	Pop , indie pop , trip hop , sadcore
Title (number)	12 (+ bonus tracks)
running time	49:28 (+ bonus tracks)
occupation	Lana Del Rey
production	Patrik Berger • Jeff Bhasker • Chris Braide • Mike Daly • Emile Haynie • The Nexus • Rick Nowels • Justin Parker • Robopop • Al Shux
October 7, 2011	Video games
December 30, 2011	Born to Die
April 8, 2012	Blue jeans
June 22, 2012	Summertime sadness
July 6, 2012	National Anthem
1st of March 2013	Dark Paradise

Born to Die ( Eng . : 'Born to Die') is the second studio album by the American pop singer Lana Del Rey .

Creation and artwork

All songs were composed by Lana Del Rey in cooperation with various composers. The composer Justin Parker took part most often. All titles were produced by Emile Haynie in cooperation with changing co-producers. The album was mastered by Metropolis Mastering in London under the direction of the British John Davis. All songs by Duncan Fuller, Manny Marroquin and Robopop were mixed. The album was released under the music labels Interscope Records and Polydor . On the cover of the album - next to the inscription of the artist and the song title - you can see Del Rey in a white blouse with a red bra against the background of a car. The cover picture and the pictures in the booklet were shot by photographer Nicole Nodland.

Publication and promotion

The album was first released on January 27, 2012 in Germany, Ireland , Austria and Switzerland . The album consists of twelve new studio recordings. In addition to the regular album release, a “deluxe edition” with three additional bonus tracks was released at the same time. In addition to the worldwide released deluxe edition, there are also many regional releases of the album, all of which differ in the number and selection of bonus tracks. Already three weeks before the album was released, Del Rey released an EP called Lana Del Rey , which contained a total of four tracks and gave a first taste of the album. On November 9, 2012, the album was re-released worldwide under the name Born to Die - The Paradise Edition . This deluxe edition also included an EP called Paradise and eight other songs.

Lana Del Rey was presented by MTV as "Push Act" of the month with her album for one month in all commercial breaks on all MTV stations. In order to promote the album in Germany, u. a. Live performances of the song Video Games during the ECHO Pop 2012 awards ceremony and at Inas Nacht . In the USA she had u. a. made a live appearance on the comedy show Saturday Night Live , where she sang the songs Video Games and Blue Jeans .

Track list

With the exception of Carmen , all of the lyrics are completely in English. In Carmen there is a complete French-language stanza. Musically, the songs range from pop , indie pop , trip hop and sadcore . For each of her songs, Del Rey was supported by various instrumentalists. (see contributors)

#	title	composer	producer	length
1	Born to Die	Lana Del Rey , Justin Parker	Emile Haynie, Justin Parker (Co)	4:46
2	Off to the races	Lana Del Rey, Tim Larcombe	Patrik Berger (Co), Emile Haynie	4:59
3	Blue jeans	Lana Del Rey, Emile Haynie, Dan Heath	Emile Haynie	3:29
4th	Video games	Lana Del Rey, Justin Parker	Emile Haynie, Robopop	4:41
5	Diet Mountain Dew	Mike Daly, Lana Del Rey	Jeff Bhasker (Co), Mike Daly (Co), Emile Haynie	3:42
6th	National Anthem	Lana Del Rey, The Nexus, Justin Parker	Jeff Bhasker (Co), Emile Haynie, The Nexus (Co)	3:50
7th	Dark Paradise	Lana Del Rey, Rick Nowels	Emile Haynie, Rick Nowels (Co)	4:03
8th	radio	Lana Del Rey, Justin Parker	Emile Haynie, Justin Parker (Co)	3:34
9	Carmen	Lana Del Rey, Justin Parker	Jeff Bhasker (Co), Emile Haynie, Justin Parker (Co)	4:08
10	Million dollar man	Chris Braide , Lana Del Rey	Chris Braide (Co), Emile Haynie	3:51
11	Summertime sadness	Lana Del Rey, Rick Nowels	Emile Haynie, Rick Nowels	4:25
12	This Is What Makes Us Girls	Lana Del Rey, Jim Irvin, Tim Larcombe	Emile Haynie, Al Shux	4:00
	Deluxe edition
13	Without you	Lana Del Rey, Sacha Skarbek	Emile Haynie	3:49
14th	Lolita	Lana Del Rey, Liam Howe, Hannah Robinson	Emile Haynie	3:40
15th	Lucky ones	Lana Del Rey, Rick Nowels	Emile Haynie, Rick Nowels (Co)	3:45
	North American iTunes Store / Japanese versions
13	Video Games (Joy Orbison Remix)	Lana Del Rey, Justin Parker	Emile Haynie, Robopop	4:59
	Target version
13	Without you	Lana Del Rey, Sacha Skarbek	Emile Haynie	3:49
14th	Lolita	Lana Del Rey, Liam Howe, Hannah Robinson	Emile Haynie	3:40
	French standard version
13	Born to Die ( Woodkid & The Shoes Remix)	Lana Del Rey, Justin Parker	Emile Haynie, Justin Parker (Co)	7:32

Single releases

Five months before the album was released, on September 5, 2011, the single Video Games was released in advance . The single Blue Jeans was also released two months later, on November 4, 2011, one month before the album was released, on December 30, 2011, the single Born to Die , on January 6, 2012 the single Off to the Races and on 26 January 2012 the single Carmen . After the album was released, the single of Summertime Sadness followed on June 22, 2012, National Anthem on July 6, 2012 and the so far last single, Dark Paradise, on July 1, 2013.

Chart successes in the single charts

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, , Placements, weeks, awards, comments)					Remarks
year	title	DE	AT	CH	UK	US	Remarks
2011	Video games	DE1 platinum (33 weeks)DE	AT2 platinum (21 weeks)AT	CH2 × 2 Double platinum (30 weeks)CH	UK9 platinum (31 weeks)UK	US91 gold (1 week)US	First published: September 5, 2011 Sales: + 2,137,600
	Blue jeans[DE: ↑][AT: ↑]	DE1 platinum (33 weeks)DE	AT2 platinum (21 weeks)AT	CH39 (16 weeks) CH	UK32 (7 weeks) UK[US: ↑]	US91 gold (1 week)US	First published: November 4th, 2011 Sales: + 255,000
	Born to Die	DE29 (11 weeks) DE	AT10 (12 weeks) AT	CH13 (12 weeks) CH	UK9 (18 weeks) UK	-	First published: December 30th, 2011 Sales: + 655,000
2012	Summertime sadness	DE4th × 3 Triple gold (35 weeks)DE	AT8th gold (26 weeks)AT	CH3 gold (47 weeks)CH	UK4th platinum (50 weeks)UK	US6th × 4 Quadruple platinum (23 weeks)US	First published: June 22, 2012 Sales: + 6,205,500
2012	National Anthem	-	-	-	UK92 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: July 6, 2012
2013	Dark Paradise	DE45 (5 weeks) DE	AT42 (2 weeks) AT	CH48 (1 week) CH	-	-	First published: March 1, 2013

Contributors

Album production

Carl Bagge: arrangement (string instruments) (song 2)
Emilie Bauer-Mein: background vocals (song 6)
James Bauer-Mein: background vocals (song 6)
Patrik Berger: drum computer (song 2) , bass , guitar , percussion , co-producer (song 2) , synthesizer , sampler
Jeff Bhasker: guitar (song 1, 5 and 6) , keyboard (song 5, 6 and 9) , co-producer (song 5, 6 and 9) , string instruments (song 9)
Chris Braide : drum computer (song 10) , guitar, piano , composer (song 10) , co-producer (song 10) , string instruments
Lorenzo Cosi: sound engineer (song 13)
Mike Daly: composer (song 5) , co-producer (song 5)
John Davis: Mastering
Lana Del Rey : vocals , composer
Duncan Fuller: Mixing (songs 1–3, 8, 10, 11 and 13)
Chris Galland: Mixing assistant (songs 5–7, 12 and 15)
Larry Gold: arrangement (string instruments), conductor (song 1, 5–9, 11–13 and 15)
Dan Grech-Marguerat: Mixing assistant (songs 1–3, 8, 10, 11, 13 and 14)
Pelle Hansen: Cello (Song 2)
Emile Haynie: guitar (song 3, 8, 9, 13 and 15) , keyboard (song 1, 2, 5–13 and 15) , composer (song 3) , producer , drums (song 1–3, 5–8, 10–13 and 15)
Dan Heath: arrangement (string instruments), conductor (song 3 and 6) , flute (song 11) , composer (song 3) , string instruments (song 13)
Erik Holm: viola (song 2)
Liam Howe: keyboard, composer (song 14) , programming (song 14)
Jim Irvin: composer (song 12)
Devrim Karaoglu: pads (song 11) , drums (song 7) , synthesizer
Brent Kolatalo: drums (song 5) , sound engineer (song 1)
Lenha Labelle: background vocals (song 9)
Tim Larcombe: composer (song 2 and 12)
Ken Lewis: background sounds (song 1) , drums (song 5)
Erik Madrid: Mixing assistant (songs 5–7, 12 and 15)
Manny Marroquin: Mixing (songs 5–7, 12 and 15)
Kieron Menzies: sound engineer (song 15)
The Nexus: composer (song 6) , co-producer (song 6)
Rick Nowels : Guitar (song 7) , keyboard (song 15) , composer (song 7, 11 and 15) , co-producer (song 7, 11 and 15) , string instruments (song 11)
Justin Parker: composer (song 1, 4, 6, 8 and 9) , co-producer (song 8)
Dean Reid: Pads (Song 7)
Hannah Robinson: background vocals (song 14) , composer (song 14)
Robopop: co-producer (song 4) , mixer (song 4)
David Sneddon: Backing vocals (Song 6)
Al Shux: E-bass, guitar, keyboard, co-producer (song 12) , programming (song 12)
Sacha Skarbek: composer (song 13) , Omnichord (song 13)
Fredrik Syberg: violin (song 2)
Steve Tirpak: string instruments (song 1, 5–9, 11–13 and 15)
María Vidal : background vocals (song 7 and 15)
Patrick Warren: guitar, keyboard (song 11 and 15) , string instruments

Artwork

Nicole Nodland: Photographer (booklet and cover)

Companies

Interscope Records: music label
Metropolis Mastering: Mastering
Polydor: music label

reception

Reviews

The album received mixed to benevolent reactions. On Metacritic.com , the album received a 61% rating based on 38 English-language reviews.

The Allmusic .com site awarded 2.5 out of five stars. John Bush wrote that Del Rey was "unable to consistently sell herself as a heartbreaker, and most of the songs here sound like cobbled retreads of Video Games ." (" ... unable to consistently sell herself as a heartbreaker, and most of the songs would ." like cobbled-together versions of video games sound. ")

For Christoph Dorner from laut.de the work “with its twelve glamorous sadcore songs is still a decent, evocative pop album”. For him it “fills a gap between Beyoncé and Nancy Sinatra ”. However, it becomes clear "that the album will run out of air at the end".

The Musikexpress is also criticized for not having succeeded in “breathing life into a complete album”. So "Lana Del Rey [...] landed back on the ground after the early high-altitude flight", she also experienced the "slide into, let's just say, normal".

Jens-Christian Rabe shares this view for the Süddeutsche Zeitung . With the last tracks, “the album is pretty much out of breath”: “The atmosphere is still coherent, but the sound sounds more and more like canned synths.” Overall, despite its retro presentation, the album is largely a work of "Informed mainstream pop, music completely up to date."

At the same time , Frank Sawatzki realized that the album apparently followed the mainstream musically: “Born to Die was neither heaven nor hell, but a decent pop record, and this decent pop record doesn't differ that much in sound and texture from currently socially acceptable mainstream productions ". As a result, the album loses its magic: "Decoupled from the flood of images that surrounds the artist on the Internet and during the projections of her performances, the Lana Del Rey phenomenon shrinks to normal".

Charts and chart placements

Born to Die reached position one in the album charts in Germany and was able to stay in position one for a week, 16 weeks in the top 10 and 84 weeks in the charts. In Austria the album also reached number one and was able to stay at the top for one week, six weeks in the top 10 and 70 weeks in the charts. In Switzerland, the album also reached number one and was able to stay at number one for a week, 16 weeks in the top 10 and 103 weeks in the charts. The album also reached number one in the UK and stayed at the top for two weeks, 15 weeks in the top 10 and 141 weeks in the charts. In the United States, the album reached number two, staying in the top 10 for one week and in the charts for 362 weeks.

In 2012 Born to Die placed fourth in the German annual album charts, as well as sixth in Austria, two in Switzerland, fourth in the United Kingdom and 54th in the United States. In 2013, the album was ranked 77th in the annual German album charts. In 2014, the album was number 56 in the annual US album charts. In 2016 the album was placed at position 116 in the US annual album charts and at position 143 in 2017. The album also reached position one in the following countries: Australia , Belgium (Wallonia) , France , Greece , Ireland and Norway .

For Del Rey it is the second chart success in the US album charts, as well as the first in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In none of the states has an album by Del Reys been in the charts for longer, except for the United States no album has been able to place higher in the charts.

Chart placements
Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	1 (94 weeks)	94
Austria (Ö3)	1 (70 weeks)	70
Switzerland (IFPI)	1 (103 weeks)	103
United Kingdom (OCC)	1 (141 weeks)	141
United States (Billboard)	2 (... Where.)	...

Annual charts
Charts (2012)	placement
Annual charts (2012)
Germany (GfK)	4th
Austria (Ö3)	6th
Switzerland (IFPI)	2
United Kingdom (OCC)	4th
United States (Billboard)	53

Charts (2013)	placement
Annual charts (2013)
Germany (GfK)	77

Charts (2014)	placement
Annual charts (2014)
United States (Billboard)	56

Charts (2016)	placement
Annual charts (2016)
United States (Billboard)	116

Charts (2017)	placement
Annual charts (2017)
United States (Billboard)	143

Awards for music sales

Born to Die has been awarded a total of five gold records , 33 times platinum and two times diamond. The album thus received record awards for over 4.4 million copies sold. According to sources, the album is said to have sold over five million times.

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	2 × platinum	140,000
Belgium (BEA)	platinum	30,000
Brazil (PMB)	platinum	40,000
Denmark (IFPI)	platinum	20,000
Germany (BVMI)	4 × platinum	800,000
Europe (IFPI)	2 × platinum	(2,000,000)
France (SNEP)	diamond	500,000
Greece (IFPI)	3 × gold	9,000
Ireland (IRMA)	2 × platinum	30,000
Italy (FIMI)	platinum	60,000
Canada (MC)	platinum	80,000
Mexico (AMPROFON)	3 × gold	90,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	platinum	15,000
Norway (IFPI)	gold	15,000
Austria (IFPI)	2 × platinum	40,000
Poland (ZPAV)	diamond	100,000
Portugal (AFP)	2 × platinum	40,000
Russia (NFPF)	platinum	10,000
Sweden (IFPI)	2 × platinum + gold	100,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	2 × platinum	60,000
Spain (Promusicae)	platinum	40,000
Hungary (MAHASZ)	gold	3,000
United States (RIAA)	platinum	1,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	4 × platinum	1,200,000
All in all	5 × gold 33 × platinum 2 × diamond	4,422,000