Lana Del Rey, Fiona Apple among 'New York Times'' 30 greatest living American songwriters

Lana Del Rey and Fiona Apple are included on The New York Times Magazine's new list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters.

According to the mag, the list was based on feedback from more than 250 music insiders and six New York Times critics, noting that in making their picks, they decided to focus on "contemporary practitioners working in the ever-evolving tradition of the great American songbook."

The Times describes Del Rey as "one of the most influential female singer-songwriters of her lifetime." It notes, "Everybody wants to sound like her, but no one else can quite replicate the particular sonic grammar of her writing, which unfurls like an intimate dispatch from the blurry edge of sleep and wakefulness." 

The mag says of Apple, "What makes Apple a tremendous songwriter is her tenacity. The songs are about guts. Spilling them, trusting them, checking them."

Other songwriters on the list include JAY-Z, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift. In an accompanying video interview, Swift names Dashboard Confessional and Fall Out Boy as among her biggest songwriting influences.

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