“Born to Die” by Lana Del Rey

"Born to Die" gave Lana Del Rey's major-label debut album its name, and Interscope sent it out as her second single in December 2011: a slow-motion pop and trip-hop ballad about a love that's doomed from the start, full of end-of-the-world imagery, with strings that critics compared to John Barry. She wrote it with Justin Parker, who produced her lead vocal, while Emile Haynie produced the track and played drums and keyboards, with Jeff Bhasker on guitar.

Yoann Lemoine, better known as Woodkid, directed the video, a car trip with a volatile boyfriend, played by model Bradley Soileau, that ends in her death; it won Best Pop – International Video at the 2012 UK Music Video Awards. The single reached number 9 in the UK, and in 2019 Billboard counted it among the 100 songs that defined the 2010s.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.