Lana Del Rey’s best album? Yes! Photo by Addison Lyons

Lana Del Rey, the mysterious, glamorous, and slightly emo singer/songwriter, is one of my favorite singer/songwriters of all time. With her intimate and honest lyrics and her raw and pure discography, she has a total of  nine studio albums. Of those nine studio albums, I have three favorites, which I happen to personally view as some of the best albums to exist. Her albums include Lana Del Rey, Born to Die, Ultraviolence, Honeymoon, Lust for Life, Norman F*****g Rockwell, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, Blue Banisters, and Did you know that there’s a tunnel over Ocean Blvd. All of Lana’s work holds a special place in my heart and soul but I’m going to explain why these three albums are my favorite. 

In third place, lucky number three, it would be the iconic Born to Die-Paradise Edition. Born to Die is one of those albums that I could listen to over and over again without fail. It is the definition of 2010 retro-pop and alternative rock. Every time I open my Apple Music to listen to this album, it is the most rejuvenating and magnificent feeling one can get. It immediately brings you to the 2010 pop culture and overall atmosphere of how it was 13 years ago. Some honorable mentions of this album would be: “Cola,” “Lucky Ones,” “Ride,” “Dark Paradise,” “Summertime Sadness,” and “National Anthem.” 

The absolutely enthralling, intimate, and captivating lyrics and music in this album are what makes this one of her best albums. Lyrics such as: “And there’s no remedy for memory. Your face is like a melody, it won’t leave my head. Your soul is haunting me and telling me that everything is fine, but I wish I was dead,” from “Dark Paradise” is truly an enrapturing lyric. It takes you through what the heartbreak of death feels like, and plants you in the heartache of an unwanted solitude. The song resonates with the feeling of losing someone while having to remain with their memory. All the songs in this album would suggest that you aren’t alone in any grieving or loss while also adding a more attractive tone to what losing someone feels like. The album also gives you some fun music that you can just scream your lungs out to. 

In second place, we have the heartfelt and moving album Blue Bannisters. I would say this is definitely one of her best albums precisely because it reaches out to you in a way you may not at first realize. I remember when this album was released and I first listened to it in my seventh grade Spanish class. Listening to “Wildflower Wildfire” and “Text Book” for the first time reached me and honestly made me feel comforted, heard, and safe. Honorable mentions of this album are “Text Book,” “Arcadia,” “If You Lie Down With Me,” “Dealer,” “Thunder,” “Living Legend,” and “Black Bathing Suit.”

Unforgettable lyrics include: “They built me up three hundred feet tall just to tear me down, so I’m leavin’ with nothing but laughter, and this town,” as well as “‘Cause my body is my temple, my heart is one, too. The only thing that still fits me is this black bathing suit.” This album, I feel, is one of her more laid-back/not-as-pop-like albums. To me, this is more of a healing album, an album that I would say is completely honest and intimate, more so than an album like Ultraviolence or even Born to Die. This album is the perfect way to start your mornings, something slow, calming, and euphoric all at the same time. 

In the first place, her most recent album Did you know that there’s a tunnel over Ocean Blvd. Despite being her most recent album, it completely engulfs us in its pure beauty. It’s an album that can hit you with a variety of different emotions and take your breath away. Some great songs on the album are “Fishtail,” “Taco Truck x VB,” “Peppers,” “Paris, Texas,” “Candy Necklace,” and of course, “Did you know there’s a tunnel over Ocean Blvd.” 

The album is truly a masterpiece that reaches all audiences and all moods. Lyrics like “You’re so funny, I wish I could skinny-dip inside your mind,” and “Feel like it’s you the one whos bringin’ me down, thought that we were cool and we were kickin’ it like Tribe Called Quest, You the best, but, baby, you’ve been bringin’ me down,” truly define Del Rey’s pure and raw lyricism. I remember waking up the morning this album came out and being stunned by its absolute beauty and shocked by how peculiar the overall songs were. 

Overall, these three albums are something that I hold in high regard and have looked up to whenever I was in need of feeling something and feeling heard. If you do end up taking my recommendations and listening to these albums, it is my only hope that you gain or feel something from these albums. Music is made to reach everyone in more ways than one; music is up to your perception and how you can make it align with memories and emotions that occur in your life. If Lana Del Rey and these music recommendations do that for you, that is the greatest privilege one can have.