As the most passionate Lana stan here at Interview, I can tell you that we need a breather after the rush of revealing our instantly iconic March cover shoot. This would be the moment, then, to center ourselves and reflect on how Mother’s prolific output has shaped us over the years. Here, me and my fellow staff members do just this; join us as we ride, back in time.—JACK VHAY
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DARA
Fashion Director
“Any real glamour girl cannot resist the power of Lana Del Rey. My favorite Lana moment is when she eschewed a rack of designer pulls and wore a dress she bought at the mall to the Grammys. UNDENIABLE SERVE! I love that she goes her own way.”
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MITCHELL NUGENT
Senior Manager, Brand Marketing + Special Projects
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MEL OTTENBERG
Editor-in-Chief
“One day I was driving around Paris during shows. My driver and I were listening to “Sad Girl” on repeat and loving it. I texted Lana a little video of Titi the driver bopping along to the song. She immediately texted me back a video of her singing “Sad Girl” to me. WHO ELSE WOULD DO THAT? I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m just glad she’s like that.”
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“For me, no era of Lana tops that of Norman Fucking Rockwell!. The music video for her cover of “Doin’ Time”? Unmatched. What more could you ask for than giant Lana towering over LA freeways, picking up palm trees, and conquering Venice Beach?”
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CAITLIN LENT
Editorial Assistant
“It was an unseasonably warm morning in February, weirdly exactly one year ago today, and I was heading to Coney Island for a photo series I was working on. While I was stuck on the Q, I took an edible, and it hit (hard) as soon as I stepped onto the sand. Naturally, I queued up “High By The Beach” and “Carmen,” and just wandered the mostly empty boardwalk for hours, very high, with those two songs on repeat. Unsurprisingly, very few of the pictures turned out well, but whenever I’m back on that beach I think of Lana. I’m still struck by how her music captures time and place so specifically and beautifully—forever my Queen of Coney Island!”
MICHAEL-MICHELLE PRATT
Intern
“My favorite Lana moment or era would be “Young and Beautiful.” It’s somewhat haunting. The song encapsulates Lana’s signature yearning for love in a nostalgic and dramatic fashion while also nicely coinciding with the film it supports, The Great Gatsby. I really enjoyed the Lana Del Rey of the early 2010s.“
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BEN BARNA
Executive Editor
“After her call with Billie, Lana hung out on Zoom for about an hour, first to catch up with her publicist and then just to shoot the shit with us. Can’t imagine another star of her stature doing that.”
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ALEX WEISS
Managing Editor
“My favorite Lana Del Rey moment? I was in a punk band when I was 21 and we were on tour when Born To Die came out. I remember listening to the record in the middle of the night, during super long drives in the middle of nowhere and genuinely feeling like she was speaking to my soul. I also remember hearing (and seeing) “Ride” for the first time; I’d been literally out on that open road, travelin’ too long and tryin’ too hard… At one point, my band and I had been asked to officially leave the state of South Carolina and were being escorted to the border by a fleet of Highway Patrol officers. I was driving and my bandmate put on “Ride.” It felt like the perfect Lana moment. When it comes to Lana’s own moments, she kills it every time. I loved her just as much in Tropico as I do standing in front of the Cook County Jail.”
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JACK VHAY
Designer
“On The Endless Summer Tour of 2015, Lana included her unreleased, fan-beloved track “Serial Killer” in the setlist. There’s a specific moment in the song, at the end of the bridge, where she lets out a quick, sexually-charged “uhn!” To have witnessed her exclamation first-hand—in my case, during her stop at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield—and experienced the roaring, unhinged cheers that followed, is unforgettable. (I should add that she giggled playfully after she did her little moan; she knew what she was doing to us.) I also need to highlight two iconic and personally life-altering Born To Die-era music videos: “Born to Die” and “National Anthem.” The glamour! The tragedy! The hair!”
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ERNESTO MACIAS
Editorial Assistant
“I can still remember the feeling evoked in me the first time I experienced the music video for Lana del Rey’s “Born to Die.” Nothing was ever the same. Her then new-to-me approach to romance and desire awoke a deep adoration for her music and aesthetic, duh! I discovered power and sexiness in just a pair of blue jeans. I followed her to Austin City Limits (where the crowd for Eminem, playing after her, nearly killed me) and two tour stops across Texas, including one in Grand Prairie for the Paradise Tour. She opened with “Cola,” smoked a cigarette on stage, and covered Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” I didn’t know, until that moment, that heaven can be a place on earth with you (Lana Del Rey).”
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TAYLORE SCARABELLI
Senior Editor
“Like Billie Eilish, I too attempted to cover “Brooklyn Baby” during the height of my lockdown delirium. I had my husband (also a Lana Stan) learn the chords on his acoustic guitar so I could sing along. It sounded tragic, but not in the way Lana intended. Thankfully, no videos were ever uploaded to YouTube.”
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JAKE NEVINS
Digital Editor
“In the Summer of 2019, the day Norman Fucking Rockwell! came out, I was driving solo to the beach in Delaware, which required me to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, one of the country’s longest over-water steel structures. Mind you, I’m somewhat terrified of bridges, and I’d been waiting until that exact juncture of the drive to start listening to NFR! so I’d be distracted from the abyss below. When those first, swooning piano chords of the title track hit, I white-knuckled the steering wheel and basically let Lana carry me across the bridge. To this day, it’s probably my favorite song of her’s, so doting, so funny, so rude.”