Lana Del Rey

The Paradise Edition added a second CD for a total of 23 tracks. Even after selling nearly three million copies of her debut album worldwide, Lana Del Rey still faced a challenge during 2012: namely, proving to critics and fans that Born to Die wasn't a fluke. In that spirit, she released Paradise, a mini-album close to Christmas, one that finds her copying nearly wholesale the look and feel of her vampish Born to Die personality. The sound is also very familiar. Strings move at a glacial pace, drums crash like waves in slow motion, and most of the additional textures in these songs (usually electric guitar or piano) are cinematic in their sound and references. Del Rey is in perfect control of her voice, much more assured than she was even one year ago, and frequently capable of astonishing her listeners with a very convincing act, even while playing nearly the same character in each song.

Lana Del Rey is a femme fatale with a smoky voice, a languorous image, and a modeling contract. Not coincidentally, she didn't lack for attention leading up to the release of her Interscope debut, Born to Die…

Lana Del Rey is a femme fatale with a smoky voice, a languorous image, and a modeling contract. Not coincidentally, she didn't lack for attention leading up to the release of her Interscope debut, Born to Die…

Ultraviolence is the third studio album and second major-label record by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey, released on June 13, 2014 by UMG Recordings. Ultraviolence received positive reviews from contemporary music critics, who commended its cohesion as a concept album, compared to her previous albums, and its overall production. It has also been noted as an improvement from Del Rey's debut album Born to Die. It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 182,000 copies, becoming Del Rey's first number-one album on the chart and the best-selling debut week of her career.