One embarrassing yet completely unsurprising thing about me is that Lana Del Rey is literally the only artist on my sex playlist. That’s it—fuck me to “Venice Bitch” or leave me the hell alone. Yes, this is largely a symptom of both my environment and also the everything else about me. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: As a woman who was exposed to Born To Die during her formative years and definitely liked it a little too much, absolutely anyone could have seen this coming and no one could have prevented it.
That said, I humbly implore you not to let my early onset Lana stanhood distract you from the objective bangworthiness of this sad-girl-chic queen’s discography. The reason Lana dominates my sex playlist is not just because I am a devoted stan and she is my mother. I’m also a big fan of Taylor Swift, my other mom, and you won’t find me getting nasty to “Anti-Hero.” The reason I think Lana belongs on both my sex playlist and yours is because her music was literally made to be fucked to. As far as I’m concerned, Lana Del Rey invented sex playlists.
I’m aware that I am hardly the first person to notice that Lana Del Rey’s music is sexy. That’s kind of her whole deal. But that alone isn’t what makes her prolific body of work so bangable. Lots of artists—like, literally most mainstream pop artists, TBH—make sexy music. Icons like Cardi B, Ariana Grande, and Megan Thee Stallion have blessed us with some of the most unabashedly horny lyrics of all time, but I wouldn’t necessarily consider most of their songs ideal sex playlist material. Please bear in mind that I am not a professional music writer, but I believe the technical term for what makes Lana’s music so utterly fuck-worthy is the vibes.
Beyond just the horny poetry of her lyrics and Lana’s whole erotic goddess aesthetic, much of her music offers a dreamy, ethereal tone perfect for lulling yourself into that liminal state that separates the brain-and-body high of (good) sex from everyday consciousness. Trust me, you haven’t had sex until you’ve had it to Lana Del Rey.
To help you bring that LDR magic into your own bedroom, I’ve graciously curated this list of her most sex playlist-worthy songs of all time. Keep in mind that these are not necessarily her sexiest songs lyrically or thematically—there’s plenty of overlap, sure, but that’s essentially a different thing. Now, could I basically put every single song Ms. Del Rey hath ever released on this list and call it a day? Yes. It’s genuinely pretty hard to go wrong when it comes to a Lana sex playlist—if you just hit shuffle on her Spotify artist page you’d probably be fine. But not all Lana songs are quite as worthy of accompanying your most intimate moments as others. For those, you want Lana at her dreamiest, her most ethereal, singing her sultriest slow-burn songs. These ones, to be specific.
Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (2023)
- A&W The songs on this list are arranged by album, not rank. But if this were a ranking, “A&W” would still fall pretty damn near the top. Mostly because it is one of Lana’s most recent releases and thus the only thing I currently care about (the line, “Your mom called, I told her you’re fucking up big time,” specifically). But also because it boasts all the highlights of a perfect Lana sex playlist song: Extended runtime, lyrics too poetic to be distracting, and a dreamy, ethereal vibe. It’s flawless. No notes.
- Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd What can I say? The title track Set. The. Tone.
Blue Banisters (2021)
- Black Bathing Suit Try to tell me the words, “You said I was bad, let me show you how bad girls do, ’cause no one does it better” weren’t meant to be sexed to, I dare you.
- If You Lie Down With Me Steady, smooth, and a pretty seamless transition from “Black Bathing Suit,” so the track change shouldn’t disrupt any carnal flow you’ve gotten into—aka the key to sex playlist success.
- Arcadia I say this very cautiously, but this might be…*the* most beautiful song LDR has ever recorded? This one gets into your veins the way you want good sex to. This song feels like you want good sex to feel.
- Wildflower Wildfire In which Lana literally just lists things that are hot in a breathy, piano-backed voice. (“Hot fire, hot weather, hot coffee…”) So yeah, onto the list this one goes.
- Thunder TBH, as an album, Blue Banisters is pretty cohesive throughout. Most tracks, including this one, flow perfectly into the next and will complement each other on any sex playlist.
- Dealer Remember what I just said about pretty much every song on this album being a seamless fit for a sex playlist that won’t distract from the flow of whatever rhythm you’ve got going on? Yeah, “Dealer” might be an exception. Personally, I love it and it’s got a trippy, vibey feel perfect for trippy, vibey sex. But if you feel like Lana almost scream-singing the words “WHY CAN’T YOU BE GOOD FOR SOMETHING?” might kind of ruin the mood, then maybe skip this one.
Chemtrails Over The Country Club (2021)
I’m gonna be real honest with you, Chemtrails didn’t quite hit for me as an album, so if there’s some ultra-fuckable song from this one that I missed, that’s why, sorry. Please feel free to enlighten me. There is one notable exception, however: The title track, Chemtrails Over The Country Club. This song is perfect. This song fucks. I fuck with this song pretty damn literally. Okay, moving on.
Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019)
- Venice Bitch Again, the songs on this list are not ranked. But if they were, you’d best believe this one would be number effing one. You may not like it, but this is what peak Lana Del Rey sex playlist material looks like. You could literally just play this on repeat the entire time. (And at a nearly 10-minute runtime, you’d probably only get through it a couple times, if we’re all being honest with ourselves.)
- Fuck it I love you Trust me, “If I wasn’t so fucked up I think I’d fuck you all the time” just hits different when you’re actually getting fucked.
- Norman fucking Rockwell I mean, this one starts off with the words, “Goddamn, man-child, you fucked me so good that I almost said, ‘I love you.’” Enough said.
- hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have Lana is full tortured artist mode in this one—in her words, “24/7 Sylvia Plath.” Lyrically, it’s a little on the dark side, so if hearing something like “writing in blood on the walls” is going to turn you off, (which, fair) then this one might be a skip. But otherwise, it’s Lana at her most ethereal.
- Love song Potentially worth avoiding if you’re having extremely casual sex with someone who would be weirded out by doing it to something called, well, “Love song.” Then again, someone who would be weirded out by that is probably not someone who should be having sex to Lana Del Rey at all.
- California There’s some intense yearning and nostalgia going on here, which, honestly, is pretty hot. On the list she goes!
- Happiness is a butterfly I mean, Norman Fucking Rockwell! is basically just straight sex playlist banger after sex playlist banger. Here’s more breathy, dreamy Del Rey at her breathiest and dreamiest.
Lust For Life (2017)
- Love See: everything I just said about “Love song.”
- Lust For Life I mean, this one speaks for itself. Onwards.
- Summer Bummer This is such an exquisite work of horny genius that it might actually be illegal for me to exclude it from this list.
- Get Free Perhaps less thematically lusty than the rest of this album, but it’s basically a five-minute high. Perfect for when you wanna feel like you’re on some trippy Summer of Love shit.
Honeymoon (2015)
- Music To Watch Boys To This song is barely a song. It is an echoey, sultry daydream of a vibe and it will cast a spell on you (in the best way).
- God Knows I Tried See above.
- High By The Beach If this song doesn’t make you want to abandon all your earthly responsibilities for a life of drug-fueled debauchery by the sea then I don’t think we will ever understand each other.
- Freak A classic, breathy LDR whisper inviting you to “be a freak.” Say less, Lana.
Ultraviolence (2014)
- Ultraviolence Warning that this one does feature a voiceover in which Lana repeats the words, “I love you forever.” So if that’s not the vibe of the evening, best avoided. There are also some fairly dark lyrics referencing physical violence/abuse, so…content warning: that.
- Fucked My Way Up To The Top Perhaps best avoided if you have any reason to believe the person you’re with is, shall we say, suspicious of your intentions.
- Old Money See above. Honestly, this pretty much applies to this entire album. (See also: “Money Power Glory.”)
Born To Die (2012)
Quick disclaimer: I am aware that for a lot of women who came of age in the 2010s (myself very obviously included), this album played a fundamental role in shaping your identity as a sexual being and literally every song is thus a sex playlist-worthy one. I see you, I hear you. But, first of all, we don’t have time for that. Second of all—and this is a me thing—but I cannot, in good conscience, condone having sex to a song that starts with, “My pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola.” I’m sorry, I just can't. Lastly, “Born to Die” and “Summertime Sadness” probably would be good sex playlist songs, but they’re just too iconic. Trust me, they’ll send you right back to 2012, and that’s not a place anyone wants to be when they’re having sex as a grown-ass woman in 2023.
- Video Games This is it. This is the original, sultry, sulky Lana we all fell in love with. “I heard that you like the bad girls honey, is that true?” hits exactly the same a decade-plus later, trust.
- Off To The Races If you’re really trying to channel the sugar daddy fantasy with which this song saddled us all (it’s fine, just admit it) this one’s for you, babe.
- National Anthem Sort of the same as above, but JFK is your sugar daddy.
- Body Electric This is arguably one of LDR’s most overtly (and I do mean *overtly*) sensual songs. Real heads will recall that in the 2013 short film, Tropico, our girl grinds it out to this one in a nearly nude Adam and Eve fantasy scene. Sooo, yeah.
- Yayo I’ll admit, “Yayo” did not really hit for me in my formative years. But upon a recent review for the purposes of this article, it immediately landed on my sex playlist. So, do what you will with that information.
- Gods & Monsters I’m just gonna go ahead and let Lana do the talking here: “Fuck yeah, give it to me. This is heaven, what I truly want.” Need we say more?
Kayla Kibbe (she/her) is the Associate Sex and Relationships Editor at Cosmopolitan US, where she covers all things sex, love, dating and relationships. She lives in Astoria, Queens and probably won’t stop talking about how great it is if you bring it up. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
