Having a millionaire for a father doesn't make your music good, neither does a controversial back story. And a couple of wobbly talk show performances don't make your music rubbish either. So setting aside all the hype, the bitching, the questions about whether or not her lips have been chemically enhanced, is Lana Del Rey's much anticipated debut going to keep her in the spotlight on its own merits?
Her vocal ability is both the best and worst aspect of the album. In her lower register she's weary and wise, with a unique crooning, and occasionally biting charm. Her resignation on Born To Die is a brooding, melancholy opening (even if there's one cliche too many). It's when she heads into her upper register that things start sounding a little annoyingly Lolita. It's an interesting contrast. All soft-focus and breathy when she sings "come take a walk on the wild side, let me kiss you hard in pouring rain", it's suddenly an entirely different song. It could be she's using her voice to play different characters, to poke fun, but it's hard to tell.
Off To The Races is one of the many swaggering RnB tracks on the album, and the production is on the button (Eminem/Kid Cudi producer Emile Haynie is responsible for the whole album), but when she's singing about her old man being a bad man, having a tar black soul and a broke down life, and referencing cocaine, black Cristal and Bacardi chasers in that weird breathy falsetto, is she lambasting the romanticised excesses of a pop star lifestyle, or simply being that pop star?
She may be playing a role, but it's a confusing one.
Some of the songs (Video Games, This Is What Makes Us Girls) have Kei$ha-like lyrical sentiments, but are delivered with serious drama and earnestness that seem out of step. And then there's all the taking off and putting on of red dresses, red nail polish, white bikinis, black bikinis, high heels and perfume, in between a lot of 'hard kissing'.
