Lana Del ReyBest Lana Del Rey Albums Ranked

Chemtrails Over the Country Club

nme

10

“Almost 10 years ago, a beautiful song called ‘Video Games’ emerged online, introducing a mysterious new artist to the wider world. The track immediately captured people’s imaginations, with its vintage Hollywood sheen, poetic lyrics and its creator’s elegantly downcast drawl. Lana Del Rey had arrived, and she’s barely stopped spearheading the conversation since. Throughout a decade as one of musi”

Norman Fucking Rockwell!

nme

10

“In Lana Del Rey’s Twitter bio you’ll find a quote from Walt Whitman’s 1892 poem Song Of Myself. It’s an unsurprising move for someone who’s spent much of the last decade carving out her niche as a 21st-century pop poet documenting, much like Whitman did, her own perspective of America. The quote itself – “Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself; I am large – I contain multitud”

Ultraviolence

consequence

9.5

“Elizabeth Grant is exactly the villain our history needs”

Lust for Life

Ryan1Nunez

8.2

“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.”

Honeymoon

Ryan1Nunez

7.8

“I’ve been listening to Lana Del Rey since I discovered her through Tumblr, back when Born to Die was first making its way into my life, so Honeymoon has always felt like one of those albums I’ve appreciated more and more as I’ve grown with her music. When I first heard it, I remember thinking it was beautiful, but it didn’t hit me in quite the same immediate way that Born to Die did. Born to Die pulled me in with the drama, the melodies, the larger-than-life production and that whole Tumblr-era Lana aesthetic that I fell in love with. Honeymoon, on the other hand, asks you to slow down. It’s more atmospheric, more intimate and almost deliberately detached. And honestly, that’s what I love about it now. There’s something so cinematic about this album. It feels less like listening to individual songs and more like stepping into Lana’s world for an hour. The strings, the dreamy production and her vocals create this hazy, almost old-Hollywood atmosphere that only Lana can really pull off. Songs like “Honeymoon,” “Terrence Loves You,” “The Blackest Day” and “Swan Song” feel like they’re meant to be experienced rather than simply listened to. “High by the Beach” is still one of my favorites because it gives the album a little more bite, while “Art Deco” has that hypnotic quality that makes it impossible for me to skip. And then there’s “Salvatore,” which is probably one of the most Lana Del Rey songs ever recorded. It’s dramatic, romantic, slightly ridiculous in the best way, and completely committed to its own fantasy. What I appreciate most about Honeymoon now is how cohesive it is. As someone who has followed Lana since Born to Die, I can hear the evolution. She’s still giving us the romance, Americana, doomed relationships and larger-than-life characters that made me fall in love with her music in the first place, but there’s a greater sense of restraint here. She doesn’t always need to explode emotionally. Sometimes she just lets the atmosphere speak for her. I also think this is one of those Lana albums that gets better as you get older. There were songs I didn’t connect with immediately that mean much more to me now simply because I hear them differently. That’s one of the reasons I love having followed Lana’s music for so long: albums can grow with you. Is Honeymoon my favorite Lana album? Probably not. Born to Die will always have that special place because it was my introduction to her and the soundtrack to a very specific time in my life. But Honeymoon has become one of the albums I appreciate most within her catalog. It’s beautiful, melancholic, cinematic and completely unapologetic about what it wants to be. This is Lana Del Rey at her most hypnotic. 🌙”

Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd

Ryan1Nunez

8.0

“As a longtime Lana Del Rey fan, this album feels like one of her most personal and vulnerable records. Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd isn’t necessarily an album you throw on in the background—it asks you to actually sit with it and listen to what Lana is saying. Songs like “The Grants,” “Kintsugi,” “Fingertips,” and “A&W” feel incredibly intimate, while “Let the Light In” and “Margaret” are some of those beautiful moments that remind me why I’ve been a fan of her music for so long. What I really appreciate is how unfiltered Lana feels here. She isn’t trying to recreate Born to Die or Ultraviolence; she’s embracing where she is now as an artist and as a person. It’s dreamy, emotional, strange, beautiful, and sometimes messy in the best possible way. As someone who has followed her music for years, I love hearing her continue to grow while still keeping that unmistakable Lana atmosphere. This might not be the easiest Lana album to digest, but that’s honestly part of its beauty. It feels like reading someone’s diary while they’re still writing it and I think that’s what makes this album so special to me.”