“Being a Lana Del Rey fan since discovering her through Tumblr, Lust for Life has always felt like an interesting chapter in her discography for me. I was there from Born to Die, so I naturally connected with the cinematic, melancholic Lana who seemed to live somewhere between old Hollywood, California and a doomed romance. By the time Lust for Life came around, she was still very much Lana, but something about her felt different.
She was smiling on the cover. And somehow, that felt significant.
What I love about Lust for Life is that it doesn’t completely abandon the darkness we’ve come to associate with Lana. Instead, she seems to be searching for light within it. “Love” is probably the best example of that. There’s something genuinely comforting about hearing Lana tell a younger generation that it’s okay to be young and romantic, even when the world feels like it’s falling apart.
But then you get songs like “13 Beaches,” “Cherry,” “Heroin” and “Get Free,” and you’re reminded that this isn’t necessarily a happy album. It’s more like Lana trying to figure out what happiness means to her while still carrying everything she’s been writing about since Born to Die.
“13 Beaches” remains one of my favorites. There’s something so lonely and beautiful about it, while “Cherry” feels like the kind of Lana song that immediately transports me back to why I became a fan in the first place. “Heroin” is another standout for me because it feels messy, vulnerable and incredibly human. And “Get Free” is such a beautiful way to close the album, especially knowing how much of Lana’s earlier music was centered around feeling trapped in certain cycles.
I do think the album is a little messy. That’s probably my biggest criticism. There are moments where the collaborations and different sounds don’t necessarily flow together as naturally as they could, and I sometimes find myself wishing the tracklist had been tightened up a bit. Compared to how cohesive Honeymoon feels, Lust for Life can feel like Lana throwing a lot of different ideas onto the table at once.
But honestly, that’s also part of its charm.
This album captures a very specific moment in Lana’s career and in the world around her. She’s talking about love, fame, California, politics, fear, youth and finding hope while everything feels uncertain. It’s Lana trying to look outside of herself a little more.
As someone who’s been listening to her since those Tumblr days, I appreciate that evolution. I don’t necessarily think Lust for Life is her best album, but I think it’s one of her most revealing. It shows that behind the melancholy and romanticized sadness, there was always someone searching for a reason to keep believing in love and life.
It’s imperfect, a little overstuffed, occasionally uneven, but there’s so much heart here.
And maybe that’s why I’ve grown to appreciate it more over time. Lust for Life isn’t Lana leaving her old world behind. It’s Lana trying to find a little light inside it.”
