Lana Del Rey | Born To Die (Deluxe) | lyrics

Radio

lyrics:

—
not even they can stop me now
boy, I be flying overhead
their heavy words can't bring me down
boy, I've been raised from the dead

no one even knows how hard life was
I don't even think about it now because
I've finally found you...
(now sing it to me)

now my life is sweet like cinnamon
like a fucking dream I'm living in
baby, love me 'cause I'm playing on the radio
how do you like me now?

lick me up and take me like a vitamin
'cause my body's sweet like sugar venom,
oh yeah
baby, love me 'cause I'm playing on the radio
how do you like me now?

American dreams came true somehow
I swore I'd chase 'em till I was dead
I heard the streets were paved with gold
that's what my father said

no one even knows what life was like
now I'm in LA and it's paradise
I've finally found you...
(now sing it to me!)
—

analysis:

Lana's thoughts

(on how the song was made)

"With the track Radio, Justin just held down long keys. Sometimes what I ask my producers to do is just hold down long, extended, melancholic notes and I end up just free-styling over them."

(an interview in 2012)

"People always said, 'oh well, people will come out of the woodwork and change their mind about you - they'll start to like you because you're on the radio'. It is true, but I don't mind, 'cause I'd rather have people be nice to me, so I liked it. I don't really care why people are nice to me, I just like it when it's easier."

"I wrote the song because there was this guy who I used to know and date, who left me, and then all of a sudden came back into my life later. So I was like 'now my life is sweet like cinnamon' because he came back."

—

my thoughts

Radio is the eighth track off Lana Del Rey's debut record Born To Die. The song was also known as Cinnamon before its release, but the title of one of Del Rey's tracks on her highly-anticipated fifth record and sixth studio release Norman Fucking Rockwell (set to release August 30th 2019 - future) goes by the same name, so maybe it is a reference back to her first record. Like Video Games, Lana wrote Radio with Justin Parker.

The song starts with vinyl crackling over continuous violins in monotone, like a radio. Lana begins to sing without a beat cue. "not even they can stop me now, boy, I be flying overhead." This line in particular is a confident statement of pride and success, with Lana singing "their heavy words can't bring me down, boy, I've been raised from the dead." This could be referring to her dark, suicidal writing in the previous track, Dark Paradise, or simply another way of saying she is a phoenix risen from the ashes. The song could mark a sort of turning point between two halves of the album. Maybe Lana has gotten over her bad-boy, gangster boyfriend who she's been wallowing over in the previous tracks, because Radio is certainly a more upbeat track, with touches of Diet Mountain Dew dripping in, like the bopping beat and flirtatious, girly backing vocals during the chorus, all breathy and sugar sweet. She seems to be in a much happier state of mind compared to the previous track, having gone from despairing over her past lover to cheerfully alluring new ones out of her advantage of fame.

As above, she tells of a true story where someone she dated really came back to her after she was playing on the radio and earning success for her music. Her stage name was becoming heard through crowds and Video Games and Born To Die were massive hits that were surely played on the radio many times before the highly-anticipated release of her album. But in the line talking about "heavy words" Lana could be talking about how haters and people who dislike her (or even bullies) can't get to her now, physically or emotionally because of her fortune and fame.

In the chorus, Lana sings "lick me up and take me like a vitamin, 'cause my body's sweet like sugar venom..." which is talking about her fame being too big to ignore. She is now a big star all over Hollywood and other parts of the world, and she's teasingly saying that because she is so famous she is irresistible and important in music like a vitamin. Something you have to hear or see or hear of at least. To take in. You can't ignore her, especially when she talks about her body being "sweet like sugar venom". This is a sexy allure for her lover to take her body "downtown" (as said in Video Games). But the comparison between "sugar" and "venom" is another of Lana's use of pairing two very different words to make a match. Like in Blue Jeans, when she uses "fresh" and "sick" together. Venom is a deadly, powerful poison usually originating from animals, like snakes, as a protective weapon against predators. She's warning her lover she's sweet to taste and act, but she's also dangerous like a deadly venom.

All in all, Lana is a happier, more confident person in this song, becoming less dark and sad and more upbeat, sexy and positive.

—