Lana Del Rey is a fairly new artist from America that has been brought into the music industry, she is known for her single “Born

To Die” and a collaboration with A$AP Rocky - “Ride”.

For my music analysis I have chosen her most popular song “Born To Die” which was released on iTunes on the 30th December 2011.

The genre of this song is sadcore/indie pop, because the artist herself is alternative in her music the music video conventions is

difficult to identify yet I believe that the music video does suit conventions of this genre.

The purpose of me choosing to use this music video for my analysis is because I believe that it is diverse from any usual music videos that I normally would watch and enjoy, also the music video

is unique and interesting.

Yoann Lemoine AKA Woodkid is a French music director, aged only 29 has more than just one title, Yoann is not only a music video director but also graphic designer,

and musician.

Yoann has directed various popular music videos such as Katy Perry- "Teenage Dream", Taylor Swift- "Back to

December", Rihanna ft Drake – “Take Care” as well as most music videos for Lana Del Rey, including “Born to

Die”.

Yoann himself writes indie music but of course has directed music videos of pop, indie and hip hop genres.

Born to die was different from Lana’s previous videos, it was the most expensive to produce. The majority of the video shoot took place in  Palace of

Fontainebleau in Yuan's birth country France. Unfortunately the video was leaked in 14th December 2011, yet the music video has

60,408,552 views currently on YouTube and therefore has become a huge success.

The music video is opened with a mid-shot of Lana and a oddly tattooed man hugging one another

whilst in front of the American flag, Lana stares at the camera whilst the man has his eyes closed which suggests they are in a relationship, but

maybe he is more interested in her then she is to him, maybe because of the attraction the

attraction isn't strong enough or possibly because he has done something to jeopardize the

relationship

The next important scene is taken in a French Palace as the audience we are shown the beauty of the palace and then taken to see a long shot of Lana sitting on a throne elegantly whilst dressed

to look as royalty, two real tigers are at either side of her, this scene suggests power and authority,

especially because the tigers are so relaxed sitting beside her which seems as if they are to protect her and therefore she must have some form of

control over them.

The next scene is introduced being extremely different from the last. Lana wears casual

clothing (a leather jacket, converses, denim shorts and a crop top) and approaches a man who is also dressed casually, the man is the

same man who we saw earlier in the first seen which suggests the music video is narrative as a

story seems to be unveiled.

The atmosphere seems to be a desert or woods at night which gives a romantic element to the seen as she speeds up to him he lifts her onto

the car and then leans in to kiss her, this suggests they are a couple as they giving hints

of sexual attraction.

The scene goes back to Lana in the palace which gives the audience the impression that Lana is having flashbacks about this moment

with her lover.

The scene appears its taking a turn for the worse as abusive elements arise when he

aggressively pokes her in the head and forces Lana to kiss him. Midshots are used throughout this scene, the shot is far enough to see both

couples but close enough to see the expressions on their faces.

A whole different scene is shown with yet again another mid-shot where Lana is laying

in a silk night dress on a bed by herself, some form of a fade occurs and Lana is now in the same position as before but now her “lover” is beside her whilst watching her

whilst stroking her which suggests there is an obsession and that he controls her.

Because Lana is frowning and looks upset it suggests to the audience that she does not want to be trapped any longer, the fact that

the man is smiling suggests that he is content with how things are and does not

find his actions wrong also Lana faces away from him when she is upset with her back toward him which also suggests she wants

to hide her pain and is scared of him.

As the flashbacks continue the man now has his hand on her throat as if he is strangling

her or letting her know he has authority over her which therefore shows her as the victim, her face seems to look as if she has tears in her eyes which shows the audience what the

man is doing to her is seriously effecting her.

A scene is showed where Lana is wearing her previous casual clothes and where she is now in the car that was

shown previously as the lyrics of the song entwine with the music video and as the man no longer concentrates on driving and now just leans over to kiss Lana us as an

audience can identify that the man is possibly attempting to commit suicide.

The couple approach a bright red light as the audience can see from the reflection of the car, this alerts the audience that they are approaching something dangerous especially because thee colour is red which is a symbol for hazards,

stop and danger.

Lana is now shown in a long white dress which hints purity she approaches a door as she opens it a beaming white

light is shown behind it which makes the audience question if this is the bright light that is referred to as heaven.

The next scene is a close up which zooms out into a long shot which shows the man holding Lana, he has cuts on his face as well as blood, whereas Lana is covered in blood and appears to be dead, the look on the mans face insists that

he is guilty and remorseful from what he has done, the flames in the background suggests that the couple did

crash but only Lana was affected, so this suggests that his plan to kill himself with Lana failed.

He is now living in his own hell living with the crime that he has committed and she is now at peace in her heaven

which was shown in the previous scene. This connects to the song lyrics “we were born to die” which implies that

was his initial intentions in the first place.

The video then goes back to the first scene with the couple hugging one another which allows the

audience to make their own judgment on the story behind the music video.

The target audience is indie or sadcore lovers aged between 18-28 of the female sex as most females can relate to the video because there is love, abusive and argumentative

elements involved with the video.

The audience will see the music video in a narrative and cognitive light, this is because the music video tells a story

which interests the audience but also informs the audience of the realisation of relationships especially those in young

relationships.

In conclusion the music video is unique from the regular music video, it gets the audience thinking and allows them to

interpret their own story into it.