Lana's Ultraviolence

Turns out the best thing Lana Del Rey has ever done was ditching Lizzy Grant, a shy and timid ghost of her past. Del Rey's third album is unlike her previous and in a really, really old-school, awesome way. I've always respected her as a singer and songwriter but this new record is seriously unlike anything I have heard from this generation of new music that puts the word "pop" in front of everything. I really dig the old jazz, blues, simple sounds of the 50's-late 70's. 

What should you expect from this album? Heartbroken Lana, pissed off Lana, vengeful Lana, lots of slow-tempo, dark melodies. String-laden ballads and vintage bluesy, jazzy sound. You have never heard Lana Del Rey like this. Born To Die could easily fall into a pop music category but this is a sound we haven’t heard for a very long time, and Lana does it justice with vocals that weren’t even comparable from her last record.
Here's my take on the new album..

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Lana’s newest record, Ultraviolence, opens up with “Cruel World” a slow tempo melody in which her man is a bible-toting, gun carrying, drug addict that she kicks to the curb. Though throughout the song we figure out she will keep repeating her old habits with lowlife losers and eventually maybe even run back to him.

In “Ultraviolence” the title track, Lana tells her lover/abuser that she will take it as long as he doesn’t leave. Basically a tale of an abusive relationship with a play on The Crystals circa 1963. Del Rey got much slack for this because the media said she was glorifying abuse. What’s your take on it? Woman blinded by love? Desperate to prevent loneliness? A sad woman who will take a beating over her lover leaving? Lana says there are multiple meanings behind the lyric “He Hit Me and It Felt like a Kiss” to her. It's the passion behind a relationship, not necessarily an actual blow to the face. You can decide for yourself what you want to take from it.

“Shades of Cool” is up next and is all about Lana being a burning desire, if you will, to a middle aged man.  Through listening as well as watching the video released, it seems as though she is a figment of his imagination and personal desires. Lana tries fixing this man but later comes to the realization that his heart is unbreakable. The video is gorgeous, like all other videos she makes. Take a look below:

Del Rey wishes she was born in an earlier generation and depicts this in “Brooklyn Baby.” Singing about being with her boyfriend that no one approves of, her jazz collection and flowers in her hair, this song has themes of alternative rock and it was easily ingrained into my mind. I love the entirety of it from the lyrics, melody, tempo, it all gets an A in my book. 

I want to insert here how much more respect I have for singers who write their own material based on life’s impressionable events; Exactly what Lana does, and it’s really fucking cool to be able to get a glimpse inside what made her the type of person she is, a badass bitch who doesn’t really care what people have to say. 

Next up is reggae drum-filled rhythm, “West Coast” that’s all about West Coast living. Singing about rock and roll, fast paced lifestyles, groupies, drinking and day dreaming. This was the first single off of Ultraviolence and definitely got Lana fans excited about the new style of music she was going to be putting out. 

“Sad Girl” tells the story of being a mistress, something Lana openly admitted to being in the past in a recent interview. On this track, Lana is feeling heartbroken from all the “bonnies on the side” that the man is having affairs with. 

Lana is ditched yet again by her boyfriend for drugs in “Pretty When You Cry” and is getting tired of it. On Born To Die, she was willing to wait around for certain men in more than one of the tracks but on Ultraviolence she is showing she figured out she’s better than to wait around for a man with a drug addiction that he loves more than her. She sings about all the beautiful times she had with her boyfriend that she hold close while he’s missing in action with white powder residue on his nose. 

In “Money Power Glory” we get a glimpse into the pissed off at life Lana who just simply doesn’t give a fuck anymore. These are emotions possibly triggered from all the uproar and backlash she gets for every move she makes. Recent interviews reveal she’s tired of everything. She doesn’t find much enjoyment in anything and she even went as far as saying she wishes she were dead already. She finds glamor in dying young, which we could have figured out on her debut album. Money Power Glory Lana is all about success, dope and diamonds, all while not giving a shit about anyone, including herself.

In “Fucked My Way Up To The Top”, that’s exactly what happens. Not much else to tell. At one point she says mimicking her is a bore, which she’s said in interviews. So did Lana fuck her way up to the top? She says she writes about real moments in her life. We all know how much she loves to use metaphors and have multiple meanings behind her words so we are free to interpret this however we choose.

“Old Money” reminds me of “Videogames” from Born To Die and is easily the most beautifully written song on the record. I fell in love with the lyrics before I even listening to the audio. I feel while some might take this song as her being back to old ways, saying she will drop everything and run to some man, this might actually be talking about if family ever needs her, she will run to them. Could just be my own connection to the song but that’s what it seems like to me, from the lyrics alone. It’s breathtakingly beautiful and played on repeat in my house.

“The Other Woman” spins the tale about how ‘the other woman’ is always left alone. The man always goes back to his wife and family and while he uses the other woman, she will always be just a fuck toy (excuse my language) to him. She won’t ever be loved or needed, just wanted. And that’s hard pill to swallow. This is a cover of Nina Simone’s original song from 1959. Lana revealed in an interview in June that her most recent tattoo is Nina's name on her collarbone so she can carry her inspiration with her while on the road.

In “Black Beauty” she sings of someone who has beauty all around them but just can’t see or accept it. He likes the dark, the sad and the beaten things in life. That’s what beauty is to him. So Lana becomes dark. This is kind of a cool background song for her. Is this what led her to come off as such a sad woman? She is known for being the sad singer, the dark horse. What man led her to turn from old ways and truly become a Black Beauty?

"Guns and Roses" starts out with Lana comparing her lover to heavy metal and throughout the song she is remembering a love gone wrong that she perhaps wishes she would have stayed in and not went her own way. Seems as if both parties had dreams they wanted to follow that led them down different paths but the man has now sort of become the one that got away. 

Easily the most upbeat song on the album, "Florida Kilos" begs the audience to "come on down to Florida" glamorizing drugs, tattoos and fast living. Seems to be a bit of a theme throughout the record's entirety.  

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You don’t hear the sounds that pour from each song on here anymore. I feel our generation has changed music so much and it’s all complete garbage. Lana stands alone with her old school, jazzy, bluesy, enchanting melodies that will not soon be forgotten. I sincerely hope Lana Del Rey is able to find more glamor in living life instead of wanting to die because this woman has a lot of talent that could sustain fans for years and years to come.

Let's do a quick throwback to "Video games" from the Born To Die album, as an end note:

Heaven is a place on earth with you~

XO

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