July 22, 2017 — Sometimes we just have to, you know? Play music that’s just for ourselves. Sure, I’m not the only one on this planet who likes Lana Del Rey, but I’m sure I’m the only one around these parts who does. I am going to give a review of the record, Lust for Life, her fourth major studio record distributed under her label Interscope, her fifth overall (the earliest was under her given (nick) name, Lizzy Grant), but I think I have to preface my review with a description of her sound — noir, sort of a Billie Holiday throw-back, supported by very modern arrangements. Think minor chords, lyrics about self-expression, finding oneself, losing oneself, about being lost and not giving a damn about it, music that was love at first listen for me because, to quote Lana, I’m fucking crazy, but for others, a learned taste. That being said, I’m not as hard-core as some Lana fans. I say that because I’m only beginning to learn the old-old stuff, the unreleased stuff, the Lizzy Grant stuff, the demos and early live recordings. You see, Lana, be it accidentally or on purpose, has tons of songs out there, many of which aren’t even actually on records. I can picture her writing, literally, every day. And writing? Her writing, at least for me, is more literary than lyrical, an expression of times, of thoughts, of themes. Probably that’s why I like it.

Each of her records have a sound, a theme. The first, 2012’s Born to Die, and the often-grouped EP that followed, called Paradise (later grouped as Born to Die, the Paradise Edition), was a darkly charged record, sad even, but that typical first record by which the others are judged. She went to the Grammy’s on the strength of that record. Her live performances around that, however, were challenged at best, not because she’s some autotuned recording artist, but the opposite, because it’s almost too organic, something that made her awkwardly nervous in her performances. Literally, she had to hold onto the microphone with two hands just so you wouldn’t see her shaking. Okay, I don’t know that for sure; that’s just how it looks to me.

The next, 2014’s Ultraviolence, mixed a heavier, more psychedelic guitar sound in, and for obvious reasons, that was my long-time favorite. Many fans agree, although I’m not sure it’s because they are fans of the guitar; I think they are fans of the more solidified self-made image that Lana very successfully depicted in that album. Fall of 2015 brought Honeymoon, a slightly mellower album, perhaps a tiny bit happier, as if in a time progression Lana thought her music could be happy, okay not happy, but something approaching happy. Or perhaps the word I’m looking for is high, thinking Honeymoon’s song lyrics “all I want to do is get high by the beach” and “come to California and be a freak like me too,” yep very fun lyrics to sing, even for someone who is the farthest from that subject matter than one could get, well except the California part.

Lana is prolific; that’s a description given to her in press reviews of the latest record – Lust for Life, and reportedly, prolific Lana started working on this release in 2015, immediately after Honeymoon dropped. I heard the first song Love and a video tease featuring her sitting, make that living, in the “H” of the Hollywood sign right when I returned from Texas following my Operation Save Whisper’s Dad of February and March. The release date of that advance song was February, with the press on the record saying the release date would be late May for the album. The press, featuring pictures of Lana with an ear-to-ear smile (what?!), said the record would be happy. Happy?! Lana even gave the titles of a couple of songs, saying those songs would be a conclusion-like resolution to the record to musically document her journey to happiness. And the record would feature collaborations with other people, The Weekend, Stevie Nicks and Sean Ono Lennon, being teased. The release date, however, became July 21 for one very simple reason. It’s Lana, and that happiness theme, well… it’s Lana.

This Spring, Lana, and half of the Southern California millennials went to Coachella, and while there, that North Korean nutcase started acting up. There had been marches too, the women’s marches, and while coming home from Coachella, these things inspired Lana to literally stop her car somewhere around Arrowhead (a detour if you ask me), get out on some mountain road and film a snippet of herself singing into her camera phone a song about Coachella juxtaposed as a happy place against world tension. After that, the press on the record said Lana was going to rework or add some songs, Coachella being one. So there, now you’re caught up. Lana’s record was supposed to be happy, but instead, Lana decided to be worried about the world.

I saw an interview where Stevie Nicks (one of the collaborators) and Lana were trading questions and thoughts. Lana offered real estate in the Hollywood sign, both identified with being “witchy”, and both said it was important to be positive in times of trouble. The song title of their duet was stated too: Beautiful People, Beautiful Problems, a precursor to Lana’s plans to both address the world-condition and perhaps be happy about it.

Many of the other collaborations were released ahead of time. Two songs, Summer Bummer and Groupie Love feature a rapper who not even I have heard of, A$AP Rocky, and I was really worried about those songs. I absolutely don’t want rap with my Lana. The song with The Weekend was released a couple of months ago, the title track incidentally, and his vocals don’t interfere with the song at all. I really like that song. And given that I’d heard at least four or five of the songs, heard the Coachella camera phone snippet, and read half a dozen interviews, as well as Lana’s very accessible and fan-friendly Twitter page, I was interested in how those songs would fit into the theme, the story of the record, and whether Lana had it right – would it be happy? Political? And for that matter, what would Lana be like in a political vein?

The record is 16 songs long. All but one song are just shy of five minutes; many are over five minutes. The length of the songs is interesting because there isn’t really any song that would stand out as a radio-friendly hit, not that many of her songs have been. She’s a modern anomaly – a successful record artist. Because of that, and the fact that the record is essentially a record of deep cuts, you’ll find every Lana fan liking a different song, or a different handful of songs. Many people really like the collaboration with Stevie Nicks, a nice thing for Stevie. Personally, that one is going to have grow on me.

I saw the record as a collection of songs. The first eight are more Lana, the Lana I’m used to – minor chord progressions, self-analyzing lyrics, lots of talk of black beaches. I like that Lana, so those are my favorites. I like the already-released songs, Love and Lust for Life. On first listen, my wow songs were 13 Beaches and In My Feelings, both in the first eight songs. Even the two songs with the rapper on them, including in that set of the first eight songs, were good, good that is when heard in the progression of the album. On their own, I was totally scared and not anticipating those songs, but like I said, listening to the succession of five minute songs, I found I could tolerate the little bits of rap added to them. Perhaps it’s because the words of the “rap” (if that is what it’s called) seem to describe the Lana of Lana. They made her the subject, her powerfulness front and center, and rap doesn’t do that too much.

The last eight songs are of a different mindset, a different writing style, what I believe Lana wanted to add to the record after her phone recording of Coachella. They are political, the lyrics to God Bless America – And all the Beautiful Women in It and When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing, asking questions such as “is America dead”, but after hitting on the problems of the current time, pointing out in other, perhaps harder times, we survived by dancing. “We’re just beginning”, she assures us. This is not, for lack of a better metaphor, Lana moving to Canada.

Others of the last eight invoke influences, the Stevie Nicks duo mentioning a “turtle dove” (an image from vintage Stevie’s lyrics) coupled with the world not as a “video game” (a reference to Lana’s song that put her in the limelight, and the word “not” signifying she has grown). Tomorrow Never Came is a musical nod to the Beatles, fitting for a song with Sean Lennon on it. The song Heroin, is an ode to heavy metal. Honestly I wanted her to reference Van Halen, an influence she has said is a love of hers, but she did mention Motley; the lyric has a double reference, and I haven’t seen anyone say it’s a reference to Crue, but I’m going with it. The song even features a little guitar wail that pops in from time to time; I really like this song, and actually it fits with the first eight.

Overall, Lana’s sound is the same, but different too. I believe singing live helped her. Over time, she went from that stance of holding the microphone with two hands like it was her shield to walking into, literally into, the audience with her fans. How’s that for conquering her fears? She has developed a strength about her voice, even a high-register range that was not present on the earlier albums. No, Lana is not a “belter”, a modern-day Christina Aguillara or whatever female belter is the hit woman of the year; her talent lies in her ability to vocalize herself, sometimes singing in a voice that approaches a whisper, an ebb and flow that gives her vocals a personality, and something she does very well. As for the music side, much of the songs are co-written and produced with her long-time collaborator, Nick Nowels, someone I want to read more about, and who apparently has known Stevie Nicks since he was 13, hence that connection. Hopefully more on him later, but I’ve always wondered why I can relate to Lana’s sound so much. Perhaps it is because of Nick Nowel’s influence – a person obviously of a decade not of modern music.

The record concludes with two songs about change, Lana’s change, entitled Change and Get Free. The often-present current of beaches, the sounds of seagulls and the surf, is the fade-out following the last song, but for me, Lana’s message of hope, of future happiness, is in the second to last song – Change. I think that song probably replaced the song she wanted on the record but left off, the song that was to relay the message that Lana was now a changed and happy person. Perhaps Change was a bit hastily written, the evidence of that being the line they should have discarded — “change is a powerful thing, people are powerful beings”, but makes up for it with the depiction of Lana’s current state, which she sings with a different emotion on each word:

“maybe by the time something is done

I’ll be able to be honest

capable

of holding you in my arms without letting you fall

when I don’t feel beautiful

or stable

Maybe it’s enough to just to be where we are….”

I don’t know if Lana’s next album will have that song she thought this one would have, the song where she’s all-the-way happy, but somehow I doubt it. I think Lana will find out, someday, that happiness is what it is, moments. And I thank her for the moments she gave me with this record, this record that, especially with that group of words I so relate to, I feel is here just to entertain me.

Here’s a song link I think will last, for the song Lust for Life (also featuring The Weekend, who is a  male pop singer):

Cover image of Lana Del Rey’s selfie video on her Twitter page, thanking her fans.