As the music plays, the lyrics set her mind adrift. “I know what it means to meet someone who's fucking fresh to death,” she says, as if daydreaming about him now. But Born to Die isn’t just a long trip through the swampy parts of the heart. There’s joy in there, too—like on “Off to the Races” when she coos “You are my one true love.” Swathed in strings, her voice runs sweet as wildflower honey.
“When I found somebody who I fell in love with, it made me feel different than I felt the rest of the day,” she reveals. “It was electrifying. That’s what inspired the ‘Off to the Races’ melodies. That’s one of the times when you’re feeling electrified by someone else and they make you happy to be alive.”
“Lolita” is another cut that finds Lana under love’s spell, despite her friends’ worries about the relationship. “I don’t care what they say about me,” she sings defiantly. “You make me happy.” If all goes as planned, a snatch of dialogue from the 1976 film Taxi Driver will start the track off (the Martin Scorsese classic was playing on the studio’s massive flat-screen while they recorded it). Specifically, Lana wants to include the part where Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle urges Iris, the 12-year-old prostitute played by Jodie Foster, to stop selling herself on the street.
Being human is difficult. Some people make it more difficult than others. I was one of those people.
Lana may have pulled from some murky places in her psyche, but she’s not about to let anyone play psychologist. She does, however, suggest that she needed some counseling as a teen.
“I went through different experiences when I was younger,” she says. “I know how to go from being a non-functioning member of society to a functioning one.” These days she seems totally normal, but eight years ago—not so much. “I was crazy,” she says. “I won’t go into it. It’s not helpful to know.” Lana’s laughing now, but they’re nervous chuckles. “I was just reckless,” she adds. “But that was a long time ago. Being human is difficult. Some people make it more difficult than others. I was one of those people.”
Now Lana’s in a better place, one that Ben Mawson helped guide her to. Her English-born lawyer and manager first met Lana two years ago while visiting New York for CMJ week, and watched her perform as a favor to Princess Superstar, another artist he handles. Mawson encouraged Lana to fly to London and helped get her UK record deal with Polydor. He goes hard for Lana because he truly believes in her potential.
“She’s the middle ground between Adele and Lady Gaga,” Mawson proclaims, but both those artists sell loads of records and pack out venues across the globe, which doesn’t exactly fall in line with Lana’s plans. “That’s his ambition,” says Lana, who would be OK with a gold album—but swears she could care less about platinum status. As for extensive touring, don’t count on it.
“My touring agents already know,” she says with a laugh. “I’m tired like that.”
So what does Lana want? Her goal is pretty simple: “I have a personal ambition to live my life honestly and honor the true love that I’ve had and also the people I’ve had around me. I want to stay hopeful, even though I get scared about why we’re even alive at all.”
But she’s got plenty of reasons to stick around. Her music’s taken her from singing in bars in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to getting love from everybody from Anna Wintour to The Weeknd. And like it or not, her schedule is about to get nutty. In the morning she’s hopping on a flight to China to perform at an event for Christian Dior. She doesn’t plan on packing much. Lana will be dressed by the luxury brand and then turn right around and head back to the States when it’s over.
This is Lana Del Rey’s life right now. The world is at her feet, whether they’re in Chucks or stilettos. She is stunning, may or may not have a few screws loose, loves dropping F-bombs, and, above all, is talented as fuck.
As the evening wraps up and the last tracks are played, it’s tough to tell what note Born to Die will close on. The album is a sexy, bass-thumping ride with glamorous retro nods to curvy, cat-eyed ’60s stars like Nancy Sinatra. Like the artist herself, this record is a trip.
“It’s a happy ending,” Lana assures. “It was a happy ending a long time ago. It was a happy ending when I found peace with myself. This is the good life. What a gift.”
Haters will just have to deal with it.
ADDITIONAL CREDITS: ((STYLING) Allison Miller and Johnny Blueeyes. (PROP STYLING) George Fernandez/J&M Special Effects. (HAIR) Anna Cofone. (MAKEUP) Pamela Cochrane. FIRST & SECOND IMAGE: Vintage robe and jewelry Lana's own. THIRD & SEVENTH IMAGE: Dress by Betsey Johnson / Jewelry Lana's own. FOURTH, SIXTH & EIGHTH IMAGE: Dress by ERES / Jewelry Lana's own. FIFTH & COVER IMAGE: Trench by Betsey Johnson / Vintage corset stylist's own / Jewelry Lana's own.
jason chu January 24th, 2012 at 02:55 PM
That's cool, Complex. Call her performance "ever more radiant" and downplay (i.e., absolutely ignore) her millionaire-family background, while playing up her aspirations to social work? Oh, and the millions of record-company money going into constructing that image? I like the girl's music. But I Don't Believe the Hype(beast).
steez January 24th, 2012 at 03:20 PM
get a life man
Wind January 24th, 2012 at 08:38 PM
Eff off steez.
Declan January 24th, 2012 at 11:49 PM
How much did her rich daddy pay to have this article written?
SwaGMEN Chris January 24th, 2012 at 11:54 PM
Why you hating doe? Don't be mad cuz you ain't shit doe. I LOVE NEW YORK NEW YORK GIANTS WINNING DA SUPERBOWL LANA DEL REY I WANNA DATE HER TO SEE WHAT SHE ALL ABOUT AND WHEN I GET TO KNOW HER IF ALL IS GOD MA I WANNA MARRY YOU! Declan=failure son!
Declan January 25th, 2012 at 06:52 AM
Wow. It's so rare to encounter an actual medically retarded person on the internet. Mind if I take a blood sample? You know, for science.
kevin January 30th, 2012 at 06:15 PM
Declan, your response made me laugh really hard. And I'm a scientist (seriously).
suckitmarshall January 25th, 2012 at 09:19 AM
Who gives a fuck if her folks have money or don't? The songs are good. Bob Dylan was a complete fraud and made some of the most significant songs of the 20th century. If you don't like the music, that's fine, but hating on someone because they're beautiful or born affluent is the corniest shit ever.
Declan January 25th, 2012 at 10:13 AM
How much did her rich daddy pay you to post that comment?
TotallyAgree January 31st, 2012 at 06:41 PM
1thing iDon't understand whyTry toDeceive theConsumer theMusic isFantastic eitherLove itOr leave itAlone FYI* theBeats areSick &theLyrics areDope Enough toCure Them
sicknastywitit January 25th, 2012 at 11:50 AM
Not for nothing, journalist should fact check. "Homegirl" graduated from Fordham University. Done sat with her in classes during her senior (final) year.
Kerda January 25th, 2012 at 02:43 PM
I would agree that much of the internet backlash aimed at Ms. Grant has been a bit extreme, but her meteoric rise over the course of 6 months, from viral video obscurity to Interscope record deals and SNL performances before she's even released an album, has been equivalently extreme. Such is the vicious cycle of internet insta-celebrity, as breakneck fast as it is heartbreak cruel. But this article very much reads as hagiography. It makes a concerted effort to downplay the most odious aspects of her backstory (having a millionaire daddy to fund her roleplaying ventures), and casually brushes off all critiques as just examples of "haters gon' hate". I'm all for letting Lizzy have her moment in the sun and giving people a chance to judge the album on its own merits, but there's no denying that Lana feels in a way like the Lehman Brothers of pop music, the bursting of a cultural bubble, where the baseless nature of modern music is laid bare to even the most casual observer.
angeline January 26th, 2012 at 04:17 AM
It´s not her on that moped, it´s some Swedish guys. There´s even an interview with them up on youtube.
LOLSH January 26th, 2012 at 02:53 PM
HATERS GON' HATE!!
Lama Dell PC January 30th, 2012 at 09:36 PM
suckas gon suck.
2257 January 26th, 2012 at 07:18 PM
I could give one shit about any of it. Homegirl is hot. Music is dope. Done dada. What? So her daddy's got some bread? If your pops had loot, you'd use it, too. You trying to tell me if your folks were filthy rich and offered you opportunities, you'd be like, "Nah. Thanks, though. Do this one on my own." Hell nah. You'd deposit that check with the quickness and get to doing your hustle. I don't give a fuck if they actually manufactured Lana in a Chinese factory using child labor. She's still talented. And beats some random, junkie broad wearing a meat dress and showing her sandwich on stage. WTF.
Justin January 26th, 2012 at 07:40 PM
I really do like Lana. She's awesome. I completely get her, too. Sometimes we take people so seriously - as if they're god-like figures solely because they're in the limelight, and we ultimately forget that they're just human beings with the same emotions and desires as everyone else. She fucked up her SNL performance. So what? The girl can sing. She's proved it many times, and it's all the proof I need. I admire her because she "rose from the ashes" and reinvented herself; developed a persona reflective of her inner being. She's got a strong heart, from what I can see. If I had a choice, I'd love to meet her... but I have no idea how. Oh well! All I know is that I'm working on my life and it's inspiring to see someone fall perfectly in place... almost meteorically... within the pop culture landscape. I'm a visual artist: a painter, a designer, a photographer... an artist. And I feel as though living a nameless life isn't for me. It's not why I am on this earth. Some people can live with it... I don't think Lana could have, and that's why I feel comforted by her success. She took the bull by the horns and got what she wanted in the end. Hell, she even wrote a song about it called "Radio". Proud of you! Can't wait to see where your journey takes you.
plokzee January 26th, 2012 at 11:15 PM
gotta say, her PR team is doing a great job with these comments. Dunno how much daddy's paying them, but he's getting his moneys worth.
Declan January 27th, 2012 at 06:56 AM
Seriously. I ran a syntax analyzer on the comments in this thread; all of the positive comments come from two distinct styles of writing, meaning two people. I'll betcha they were posted from the same IP too. With a support team like this, LDR doesn't have to have any actual talent, yeah?
Holyladies!!! January 27th, 2012 at 10:54 AM
@Declan the time you put into posting how fake this Lana chick is, is time you could've been using to see enough success to remove all that bitterness. She blew up off one song, her SNL performance was terrible, but (I feel) she made a good album. Whether she did or not however isn't your concern if you don't like her, are you really going to read an article and then comment on it? You realise people like you are why she's famous? If you took all the youtube hate away, you'd have a good song that was at a push a moderate hit. But when everyone tells everyone else to look at this chicks fake lips, fake hair, bad voice, the views go up, and now she has a record deal. So really if anyone's being paid by the pr team it's you. And just incase her daddy decides to cut her off from her trust fund, why don't you spend more of your time hating and get her mansion?
Litmus January 29th, 2012 at 07:28 AM
@ Declan: Damn, are you a spambot? You just keep posting the same useless comment over and over again!
Declan's IP Comment January 31st, 2012 at 03:23 PM
I was just thinking the same thing!!
Justin January 27th, 2012 at 07:21 AM
You people are seriously nuts in the head. Do you honestly think I'm some "PR" guy from Lana's team? Too hysterical... I wish I was, though. Sorry to disappoint.
homer January 28th, 2012 at 09:25 PM
I actually like what I've heard from her, despite the awkward stage presence & bad personality. But this article is embarrassing. She's a very plain looking woman made kind of ugly by the inflated top lip. Nobody is hating on her because of "beauty", there are a few legitimate things to pick on.