Before the album's release, Del Rey had attracted attention with her 2011 singles "Video Games" and "Born to Die", which contrasted contemporary electronic/dance music with a cinematic sound accompanied by dramatic strings.

In 2023, it became the second album by a woman to spend more than 500 weeks on the US Billboard 200, where it peaked at number 2, and topped charts in Australia and various European countries including France, Germany, and the UK.

Del Rey's image during promotion of Born to Die was controversial; tabloid media accused her of inauthentic marketing tactics to gain an audience in the indie music scene.

Despite an initially ambivalent reception, the album has been retrospectively ranked in best-of lists by several publications including The Guardian and NME, and helped Del Rey acquire cult status among music fans.

But after hiring new management services, taking an interest in adopting the stage name Lana Del Ray, and a perceived lack of motivation during production, she found herself in conflict with the record label and her producer David Kahne.

[8]The photograph used on the cover for Born to Die was shot in Carpenders Park, Watford by Nicole Nodland,[9][10] while Del Rey and David Bowden oversaw the overall direction for its packaging.

[13]The lyrics of "Off to the Races" have been called "a freak show of inappropriate co-dependency",[29] with a chorus that recalls Sheryl Crow's "down and out drunken loner persona" in her 1994 single "Leaving Las Vegas".

[32] "National Anthem", Lamb says, fits into the lyrical structure of Born to Die in that the theme is that of a "bitter, albeit narcotized, criticism of all of the wealth and emotional artifice Lana Del Rey is accused of embracing".

[32] NME observed that Del Rey sings like a "perfect mannequin" on "National Anthem", criticizing the track for baldly revisiting the beat-driven chorus of "Born to Die".

[34] Del Rey also promoted the album with performances in a number of live appearances, including for MTV Push,[35] and at the Bowery Ballroom, where, according to Eliot Glazer of New York, "the polarizing indie hipstress brought her 'gangsta Nancy Sinatra' swag".

[36] Matthew Perpetua of Rolling Stone commented that, despite Del Rey's nervousness and anxiety while performing live, she "sang with considerable confidence, though her transitions from husky, come-hither sexuality to bratty, girlish petulance could be rather jarring".

[47] "I feel like 'Video Games' and 'Blue Jeans' and 'Born to Die' are all like part of a trilogy; I had met this guy and I was really struck by him visually and when it became clear that we couldn't be together anymore, I just knew in my heart that I would still honor that relationship for a long time...

[50][51] "Video Games" attained worldwide success, reaching number one in Germany and top-ten positions in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Netherlands, Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

"[14] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said that Born to Die is "beautifully turned pop music, which is more than enough", with most melodies "constructed magnificently", but that Del Rey "doesn't have the lyrical equipment to develop a persona throughout the album.

"[19] AllMusic critic John Bush wrote: "There is a chasm that separates 'Video Games' from the other material and performances on the album, which aims for exactly the same target—sultry, sexy, wasted—but with none of the same lyrical grace, emotional power, or sympathetic productions... an intriguing start, but Del Rey is going to have to hit the books if she wants to stay as successful as her career promised early on".

[80] The Observer's Kitty Empire said that, unlike pop singers Lady Gaga and Katy Perry and their "hedonic outpourings", "Lana Del Rey's partying is fuelled by a knowing sadness, and sung in that laconic, hypnotic voice, which ultimately saves this thoroughly dissolute, feminist nightmare of a record for the romantics among us".

[82] Randall Roberts of Los Angeles Times also noted that Del Rey's vocals have "so much potential and yet [are] unrefined", and said that despite having standout tracks like "Summertime Sadness" and "Dark Paradise", listening to the album "has become tiring and woozy, like if you'd taken a half-dozen Ambiens when you'd put the record on—and now you're getting very, very sleepy".

[83] Pitchfork's Lindsay Zoladz commented: "The album's point of view—if you could call it that—feels awkward and out of date... [it] never allows tension or complexity into the mix, and its take on female sexuality ends up feeling thoroughly tame.

"[77] Born to Die has received retrospective reviews through the years, with many critics and journalists giving it a second chance and publishing think-pieces about the industry's perspective on Del Rey.

Meaghan Garvey, writing for Pitchfork, said that "it’s a drag to rehash the Born to Die discourse now [...] a conversation so tediously narrow," praising the album as "thrillingly rich.

"[84] In 2021, Pitchfork included it in their "Rescored" list, with Anna Gaca claiming that "Born to Die turned out to be a sign of things to come, like genre-agnostic pop ballads with hip-hop beats, and the arch, depressive languor that’s more mainstream than ever.

He added that Born to Die "came from nowhere with a fully formed [...] aesthetic that was perhaps too much too soon," arguing that "it felt time-displaced and familiar all at once, like discovering a [...] cassette tape from that part of the 90s where trip hop invaded pop.

[87] In a similar opinion, Grantland's Alex Pappademas questioned if "there [was] any way to separate the Internet hatred of Lana Del Rey from her sort of surprisingly good album.

[139] In defense of the singer, Jaime Gill from BBC Music wrote: "If you want an explanation for the unlikely rise of Lana Del Rey, it isn't that hard to find.

[142] Sasha Frere Jones of The New Yorker came out in defense of the artist as well, writing: "The weirder strain of criticism concerns authenticity [...] Detractors cite a variety of presumed conspiracies, some involving the influence of her father, Rob Grant [...] The rumor of manipulative managers guiding her; the reality of professional songwriters working for her [...] and how Grant's top lip got so big so fast [...] Surely no equivalent male star would be subject of the same level of examination.

[143] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine also proved to be in favor of Del Rey, declaring: "I was initially puzzled by the accusations of inauthenticity that were hurled with such vehemence and frequency at Lana Del Rey in the wake of her meteoric rise to it girl status last year [...] And I guess we're supposed to lament the fact that, unlike Amy Winehouse, she doesn't appear to have a predilection for dope or booze to back up her supposed bad-girl bona fides.

"[147] Al Horner from Red Bull agreed, marking Born to Die as "[a] blueprint for a new sonic world" and describing its sound as the feminine equivalent of grunge music.

[148] He argued that Del Rey's success "convinced record labels to take a chance on [...] emotionally vulnerable pop" and stated that "there's never been more space for melancholy in popular music."

Sorrell Forbes from uDiscover Music named Born to Die "the most powerful moment in her career," while arguing that Del Rey brought "the sound [the public was] looking for.

"[150] Omar N. Goulding from Culturizando called Born to Die "the most influential album of the decade," arguing that "people were getting tired of happy music and wanted to listen to something different" and that Del Rey "set the [sad girl] trend into pop culture."