Born to die poster
Drawing on Clip Studio Paint with iPad pro Apple pencil
01/2024
I still remember the first time I heard Born to Die in Beijing at the age of 12 while painting at my local art studio. The year was 2013, and I had nagged my instructor to put the CD on because I had heard her music in the Great Gatsby movie a few years before. What a life-changing moment.
Fast forward to summer 2023, as I drove across the Mojave desert, across the Nevada-California state line, and gradually into Los Angeles, I played this album once more. I was moving temporarily for my internship there from the Midwest, and in the car were my mom and my dog, Princey. As I drove past the mansions, ochre-colored hills, and golden palm trees that lined the Southern California highway, I felt as if I had earned my place in the very paradise Lana had sung about in her first album, and it was everything I had imagined when I first heard it in Beijing a decade ago and more.
