January 22, 2022 – There are artists I like, meaning modern artists. I’m not sure if a ten-year history makes Lana Del Rey “modern”, but for me, for someone my age, she qualifies as modern. And I like her. I would say she’s my favorite of modern music. But… And this is a big but.

She has been putting out many albums. That’s generally a good thing. In fact her number of albums is more than one per year, but… And this is the “but”: the last three albums have been a bit flat for me. The first two I blamed on the producer. She used Taylor Swift’s often-collaborator, Jack Antonoff, and his interpretation of Lana’s music was super stripped down. I can honestly say I’ve only listened to those records a few times. I never really warmed up to them. Then she released a new record late last year, called Blue Banisters, this time with a different producer, in fact several different producers, but that album too feel flat for me. I thought it was better than the two she made with Jack Antonoff, but still, as did those, Blue Banisters, seemed more poetic than an album of songs. Perhaps that was because what she really wanted to write were poems. And that’s great. I want an artist to do what makes them happy, but I really do love the orchestral, complex Lana songs of the past. Or even the quirky songs she made under her real name Lizzy Grant, before she was Lana Del Rey. I missed those versions of Lana. Even as I tried to like the newest record.

Then along came the Lana news of this week. There’s a particularly strange show on HBO called Euphoria. It’s supposed to be a high school story, but from the episodes I saw before (a long while ago when I had HBO), the shows focused on drugs and one particular character who was trans-gender. I’m sure it’s something generational, but that didn’t seem like relatable “high school” to me. Regardless that’s a hip and trendy show. The main star is a young actress named Zendaya. All the teens know who she is. Apparently, my youngest nephew thinks she’s “______” (insert whatever they call a young actress now that one thinks is attractive).

Enter the promo for this coming Euphoria episode, which features a Lana Del Rey song. (The link above). The song is called Watercolor Eyes. And Lana, being Lana, released the full song herself today. (The link below).

I listened this morning, expecting it to be more of the same. But it was an actual song. And it had a guitar intro, reminiscent of another vintage Lana song, called Shades of Cool, or even West Coast, two of my favorites. And I love the sound.

I’ve been in a musical funk. That shows in my lack of stories. Nothing moves me. Nothing inspires me. Nothing. But finally, finally, I like a new song. And I need to like new songs to want to be inspired to write. Indeed, I need to like new songs to want to be inspired to play guitar. I’m not sure if inspiration will come. But, for me, this song is a tiny little ray of light in an otherwise very dry time for anything musical that moves me. And better yet, hopefully it’s a sign that Lana will make yet another album, this time with songs and not poems, and hopefully that sound like this. I would like that. I’m not sure what it would mean for inspiration, but I’ll take it.