DEEP DISCOG DIVE: Lana Del Rey 

Since this DDD has taken longer than usual to come out, I won’t be doing a poll for the last DDD of 2023. Trust me, it’ll be a good artist though - one I’ve wanted to talk about for a while. Even more than Pitbull. Thanks for watching! Captions will be available soon.

'it makes me feel like California is real' is the best description of Lana's music I've ever heard

As a fan who’s been here for 10 years : yes, the coquette girlies took everything that Lana was tired of, like the whole sugar daddy thing, roses, and being self destructive, and not only made it their whole personality, but reduced her to these things only. It’s quite annoying.

i need kids today to know the importance of Lana Del Rey’s Born to die album! that era had a whole generation of tumblr kids in a chokehold

I cannot fucking believe that Lou Reed was supposed to be on Brooklyn Baby. this is my Roman empire.

being on tumblr during the peak of born to dies popularity is a generation defining experience

The gushing over West Coast and Ultraviolence in general is SO real

Lana is a genius artist in every way. Most criticism towards her has been deeply rooted in misogyny and I don’t care what anyone says, I know this to be true. If there was a male artist making music this good consistently for so long, with such unique perspective and imagery, he would be hailed as a hero by the mainstream.

Her newest album is easily my album of the year. Seeing her live for the first time this year was a magical experience.

my favorite thing about Lana is how she made a song called Paris, Texas so Paris Texas responded by making a song called Lana Del Rey edit: my second favorite thing is how she worked with Father, of Awful Records fame, on her most recent album

Lana Del Rey, despite being pretty well known and popular, is still very underrated for her actual music post Born To Die. She is one of those rare artists that has fundamentally changed music, by making it moody and darker, but also more honest and liberating for people that are feeling what she's feeling, with Billie, Lorde, Taylor (from 1989 onwards) and others owing a debt to her paving the way. I also love the fact she is musically pretty diverse, she'll give anything a go and commit to her persona, while allowing her real self to blend into it with time. Video Games is maybe, along with Vision of Love by Mariah Carey, the best debut single ever. Thanks for finally covering her, and hopefully more people will listen to her albums. My favorites are Ultraviolence, NFR and Ocean Blvd 🤗😁🎉👌🏻

BTD had me. But Ultraviolence had 14 year old me in a chokehold and still does to this day. Even though I’m still waiting for a new album that has the same sound as UV, the rest of her albums truly solidified her as a queen in my eyes. Love her sm

The NFR era was one of my favourite rollouts I've ever gotten to experience as a fan, not just for the music itself but for the massive re-evaluation of Lana's whole career that was taking place at that time. Like Lana being one of the most impactful artists of the 2010s is an obvious statement now, but the discourse around her massively turned a corner right as the decade was ending, and NFR itself coming out and being as phenomenal as it was felt like the crowning jewel on top of all that

Here after GRAMMYs. Crying

The ex that Lana put a billboard too is the cop boyfriend she had. When you know the backstory of their fallout I totally get her: basically during the pandemic, while they were going to couples therapy, he not only cheated on her but also got engaged (parts of the title track and A&W are about that). Other reason why she changed the album from White Hot Forever to another song Chemetrails, while changing the old song title to Tulsa Jesus Freak.

Can't believe you didn't talk about the masterpiece song known as Pawn Shop Blues off her first record. That's worth seeking the record out alone.

Finally, Mic the Snare shall accomplish what all of my friends failed to do: turn me into a Lana del Rey fan. My time has come.

NFR is my favourite album of all time. I was supposed to see the concert in Verona in June 2020 but… you know. I will never not be sad for this show not happening.

She also has a lot of unreleased stuff as well, crazy amount. Well edited and structured quality content as always, enjoyed watching. Good job, thank you!

so happy you're doing lana 😭 her discog is so interesting and gorgeous

There's something about Blue Banisters. I like to call it infectious sadness/melancholy!

Fun fact: on a recent Rick Rubin podcast (bonus) episode w/the economist Tyler Cowen, they actually compared the song Venice Bitch to frickin Strawberry Fields Forever from the Beatles. That's some high praise.

one day blue banisters will get the justice it deserves, every second of it is so beautiful and it's very comfortably my favorite record of hers

I've been obsessed with her music since NFR released. Something about that album and the following ones, just hits me right where it hurts (In a good way, obviously). There really is no other artist like her. She does her own thing, has an aesthetic that isn't designed to appeal to younger people. She walks her own path and that's got to be admired in the modern pop world. PS. Kintsugi is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

BRO LITERALLY I AM GOING THROUGH HER DISCOG RN THIS COULDNT HAVE COME AT A BETTER TIME

Lana is an incredible songwriter, still so underrated by the media. An artist who transformed pop music for the better! It is so great to grow older together with her growth and freedom as an artist. I will love her forever.

Thank you for validating what I have known for nearly 10 years now, which is the first 5 songs on UV are genuine masterpieces. “Black Beauty” is also easily my favorite Lana song of all time, and it has no reason being only a bonus track

I feel that in all the talk of her aesthetic and her lyrics there is little actual talk on her talent as a singer. Women singing in a contralto way often get pegged for not having a great range but she obviously does and showcases an engaging style overall

I've literally been voting for this for YEARS. Thank you!!

It’s kinda of funny that the Cedric Gervais remix of Summertime Sadness ended up being Lana’s biggest hit because at first, Interscope didn’t even want to release it. So it ended up being initially released through Gervais’ primary label at the time, Spinnin’, and it was only after the remix started blowing up that Interscope ended up deciding to release the remix and push it to the radio.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate Todd and Mike shouting each other out in their videos? I love to see it!!

i personally don’t think honeymoon sounds anything like born to die. honeymoon is my top two fave albums of hers. it’s so brilliant. the use of the trap beats sounds so natural and perfectly mixes with her vocals

I first heard Lana in 2013, a friend played me the song ‘Blue Jeans’ and I ended up downloading her first album and have been a fan ever since. I’ve seen her live twice, once in 2018 & again in 2023. There’s something about Lana’s IDGAF attitude while also being so humble that I just love. Her pen game speaks for itself. Her world building for her albums is always so exciting and you can never guess what she’s going to release next. Seeing her so happy right now, traveling the world with her family & friends and releasing a *now 5X Grammy nominated album (Ocean Boulevard) is just so great! … I just f*cking love Lana & her art!

It’s undeniable the influence she has

I knew Cruel World was laced with crack from my first listen. I'm a true Ultraviolence stan

God damn Mic child You snared me so good that i almost said i love Spoon

This feels like sacred information. I remember when people found out that she previously went by Lizzie and it started a whole conspiracy theory. Like the idea of persona's and stage names were so foreign that it freaked people out. Now we have videos like this just displaying every detail accurately and without rumour. Back in 2011/2012 a lot of people were weirded out by her and didn't get it. I remember my friends bullying me for playing her music all the time. Times have changed and I'm very happy. Her work has been full scale independent, layered, nuanced art since the beginning. She wasn't manufactured, only by her own hand. It took people a while to appreciate how much talent she actually had. She's one of the most unique artists of our time male or female+people actually like her music in a widespread way now! Makes me super excited ❤ Born to die rocked peoples f*cking socks off when it came out though. No one made music like that. Those of us who were young teens when it came out were utterly held in a chokehold by it. Ill never get over how it shaped me and my taste in art and music. And in West Coast, as it transitions from verse to chorus, Lana samples Kurt Cobain's version of 'and I love her' by the Beatles. Those iconic 4 notes. 😊

Now ocean blvd is nominated for 5 grammys. I hope she wins atleast one.

I'm a few albums behind on LDR, but Born To Die and Ultraviolence are aging beautifully. Absolutely love both. Some awkward writing throughout, but I find it charming more than anything.

I hate this taboo that surrounded Lana since she was introduced to the internet with Video Games and has pervaded her history in many different ways. Even now I sometimes have to explain myself to someone before I recommend her music. I first listened to her albums earlier this year and I was stunned when I listened to NFR and the latest Did you know..., they are easily in my top singer-songwriter albums.

“Did you know that there’s a tunnel under ocean Blvd” is my AOTY. I hope it will be even more appreciated and recognised.

i can't stress enough how often your videos actively make me go and listen to the artists you discuss - even if i've already listened to them before or been a fan for a long time. your passion for music is infectious and i can't thank you enough for sharing that passion with us through these videos

honeymoon is my favourite album ever 😭😭

Excellent timing, releasing this after her latest Grammy nomination

I won’t stand for this Mermaid Motel slander! Great vid lol. Lana was the perfect artist to follow as a teenage girl on Tumblr. It’s crazy to see how much she’s evolved over time and I feel like a lot of her audience has grown up with her too. While I think her newer lyrics are a lot more deep and honest, I do wish she would put out some faster tempo songs with a bigger production sometimes. Can’t help it, I am and always will be a BTD girlie!

I'm SO glad you did this one! I was one of the sad Tumblr girlies who latched onto LDR over a decade ago, and she's been my life's soundtrack since then (basically what Taylor Swift is to many of my friends.) But I didn't actually know that much about her or give much thought to her discography as a whole, so this was really interesting! I'm not enough of a musical person to really pinpoint the differences between her various albums (and why I'm drawn to some more than others), so having this context adds an entirely new layer to her work for me. Thanks for the deep dive! Off to listen to NFR for the thousandth time.

Man, I completely agree with your takes both on The Black Keys AND West coast!! Back in 2014 I randomly put West coast on my Mp3 player, and I remember it being a really special song with its tempo changes and lush soundscapes. Truly a great song!!

I have AKA Lizzie Grant on vinyl, and Mic’s underselling it. You DO need Mermaid Motel in your life.

i was so overwhelmed with nostalgia listening to the snippets of born to die i had to pause to relisten to the album.

I didn’t learn about Lana until 2012 when I moved out of my childhood home and town to drive across the country to start a new life. I decided to add born to die to my driving playlist. I will always remember how significant and cinematic that album was as I drove away from everything I knew. When I got to the song Ride, I left it on repeat and cry drove for an hour lol

Thank you for giving Zella Day a mention, however brief. She's very underrated

Lana is still super underrated for some of her songs that aren't in BTD or paradise some of her best songs are in CTOTCC

Thank you Mr The Snare for validating my decision to listen to A&W on a loop pretty much all year. Probably my favorite track of 2023

I bought Born to Die in 2012, so I'll always have affection for it. I'd never heard anything that sounded like Video Games. Also, I'm glad you stuck up for Ultraviolence, a lot of critics hated it, as I'm sure you're aware.

I first started listening to Lana Del Rey back in 2021. I didn’t care much for her music aside from NFR and even that album took me awhile to get into. Fast forward to this year when she released A&W and it blew everything wide open for me. She is incredible and one of the greatest artists who have ever lived.

lana del rey shaped my entire teen years, she will always be my favorite singer, artist, and person.. she means so much to me

I was a MASSIVE fan when BTD and Ultraviolence came out and listened to those albums to death. I remember getting Honeymoon and being so unimpressed that I deleted it off my phone so it wouldn't mix in with the other Lana songs... I think now, I can have a new appreciation for it, but after the rock sounds of Ultraviolence, I was not vibing with the soft mellow pop. Deserves a relisten now that I am not stuck on the early Lana.

Fan of 12 years here! Love this video! You did a great job covering her career. You and I feel the exact same way about West Coast- when that song came out I was absolutely floored and it remains my fave to this day. And I appreciate how you characterized the “idea” of born to die- its vision is certainly stronger than its execution but nevertheless remains as one of the fundamental building blocks in today’s pop music. Definitely one of my favorite records. As for what you said about taking video games at face value, I don’t really have an answer. I never got the feeling of her as an industry plant. Not at all. I think it’s because video games just feels like a real relationship to me. Beer, video games, love… seems pretty “authentic” to me. 😊

At 47 years old I never thought I'd be blown away again by any artist as I had when I was younger. I'll be 50 in March and still can't believe how incredible Lana Del Rey is.

I was so pleasantly surprised by how GREAT “Ocean Blvd” turned out to be. I became a fan after “NFR!” and thought her next two albums certainly had their moments, but I was also ready to never fully love a Lana album again. But it’s a stunning record, just beneath “NFR!” in quality in my opinion

33:00 i love how the girl behind the drummer is giving everything and Lana is just sitted on the stage, chill af.

Born to die really spoke to me when it came out, i was the target audience. Idk, if you weren't there you might say it was ok at best, but born to die was monumental!

Nectar if the gods, which is one of the songs on Blue Banisters, is actually very dark and personal and criminally underrated. It’s about her drug addiction and how it has affected her relationships and how she acts. It is very sad and haunting.

the West Coast appreciation yes, love the transitions within the track.

FINALLY! Great episode! Happy you enjoy "Ride", it's my fave Lana song.

The way I waited so long for this Deep discog dive!!

27:48 has the wildest fucking edit I’ve ever seen I actually had to pause the video to gather myself

33:36 Todd shouted out Mic in his most recent video; Mic shouts out Todd in his most recent video. The collab in my dreams grows more feasible by the day.

I love your videos and how much effort and research you put into them. They're always amazingly structured and beyond hilarious (especially love the editing). Thanks for lighting up many of my days! Just felt the need to write this down today. Love the new haircut too. Keep up the great work! 👏

THANK YOU SO MUCH I WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS

This has made my entire week i cannot even tell u how happy this makes me

great vid it was so cozy and so heartwarming

I’ve loved Lana for a long time and hearing you say “it makes me feel like California is real” it finally made sense

great ddd as always and so glad it’s on one of my favorite artists! one thing I have to note because it’s hysterical to me, is how similar your preferences are to mine every time because those albums are my holy trinity as well lol

I’ve been waiting so long for this DDD, thank youuu 🥹

Great video!! Each album kept getting better and better 😭

I AGREE SO MUCH with your opinion on West Coast. Such an underrated masterpiece, I love the switch-up/slow down into the chorus.

Your description of NFR was perfect. It's exactly what made me pay attention to her as an artist and make the effort to revisit the stuff she has made I didn't click with. I also loved Chemtrails. It's a bit more contained. Some of the issues I've had with getting into her work has been the sheer length of albums. Its easy to get lost in the middle. An issue I've found again when listening to Bannisters and Ocean Boulevard. Honeymoon is one of the stand outs for me. It's like stepping into the Mediterranean summer sun and basking in it.

This is the most spot-on discography review I've ever seen. Absolutely perfect song and album choices and explanations as to the overall perception that I also have had

I’ve waited for this for so long. Thank you Mr Snare

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG FOR THIS ONE

Thank you Michael Snare. This is a great birthday present

Thank you so much I almost cried when I saw this was uploaded 🙏

I loved watching this so much! ❤ I enjoyed your appreciation of her work.

Yesss!! I've been waiting for this one for a year now 😂

omg, u got her and got us so much. thank u so much

Omgggg I was waiting for this for years, thank you Mic! ❤❤❤❤

When I first heard A&W Ibwas listening to it through headphones also and when that second half hit, it literally melted my fcking brain. 🤯 I was FLOORED. SHOOK. Insane in the BEST way possible.

NFR is what got me hooked. I had heard about it a little and then one day I actually listened to the entire thing. Since then I have been a dedicated fan and even got to see her live this summer. She truly is one of the greatest to ever do it.

Highly highly recommend Jamie Loftus' Lolita podcast. It definitely addresses the Lana stuff, but it's really good at critiquing and contextualizing how popular culture uses (and abuses) Lolita, the book by Nabokov and its titular character.

Thank you for doing this Mic!

Thank you for producing and creating such interesting deep dives. I really appreciate them and you! So much hardwork goes into these dives, we salut you king

this DDD was so good, i felt like we just chitchat about Lana's career and had a blast ♥️

Wait Video Games only was a week in the billboard charts??? It debuted at number 1 here in Germany, that’s wild that this was the one case where our charts were ahead of the times

You're SO GOOD! These videos, omg

THIS IS BEAUTIFUL 😭

as a hardcore lana fan, AKA is one of my fave albums and deserves more appreciation. It's so good!

Lana also has an unreleased album that was written and sang in collaboration with The Neighbourhood. that will probably never see the light of day as it was teased teased 5 years ago and not even snippets or leaks have been put out.

Oh man.... Your videos are SO GOOD!!! You are truly a positive motivation in my life and I wish all the best in your life. Every comment is deep, and cut-to-the-bone, sharp yet not edgy, but soft and considerate. You find a perfect way to include some of the "controversies" and drama, but you immediately go back to what's important, THE MUSIC. Music really lives whiting you, and I'm extremely grateful and happy for you to share your ART with US. Keep finding inspiration to do this type of videos and happiness in your life. Also, I normally watch the videos about artist I enjoy (pretty normal), but from now on, if you release a video on a singer or group that I'm unfamiliar with, be totally sure that I'll take a DEEP DIVE into their discography to be able to enjoy and appreciate your point of view better. I could definitely can enjoy it without prior knowledge, and I will try it, but my prefer mode, before hearing/reading/watching a review, is to understand what we are talking about, but LIFE CAN SURPRISE, just the same way you go to a different country and decide to taste new food without people telling you "Oh it tastes just like chicken", definitely a different experience. I'm finally out, hopefully you can read this message, and it makes a little sense for you. Furthermore, I'll go nap, while listening to Did You Know There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard and Ultraviolence THANKS TO YOU. Have a great life, and I'll do my best to keep coming back to comment and enjoy everything you decide to share with us. P.S. I cried three times while watching and writing this message, tears of happiness, of course.

Omg it’s finally happened! Been waiting for this for a while 😊