Godney is the Queen of Pop. Madonna is the Queen of Everything. Legendtina is the Queen of Lotuses. And Lana Del Slay? Why, she’s the Queen of Disaster.
As we already know by now, Lady Lana — who just cracked the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time since “Video Games” (finally!) with “Young & Beautiful,” her haunting theme song for The Great Gatsby — is prone to her fair share of Lana Del Leaks. Seriously, there’ve got to be over a hundred demos floating around at this point.
Just this weekend, yet another unused track has hit the net. It’s perfect. Who’s surprised?
“Queen of Disaster” is a song from Lana’s 2011 Born To Die sessions with Chris Braide, who also helped to craft the jazzy “Million Dollar Man” off of Born To Die, as well as Sia‘s “Kill & Run” from the Gatsby soundtrack.
The swinging, sunny ’60’s-tinged track sees Lana stepping out from the moody, smoke-filled jazz lounge and onto the stage of American Bandstand: “I’m spinning like a ballerina, feeling gangsta every time I see ya/You’re the king, and baby, I’m the queen of disaster,” she sweetly swoons with breathless delight, dancing around twinkling bells, peppy drums and soaring strings on the Motown-inspired number. There’s even some tambourine action!
She’s having lots of fun vocally, too: “Ladies and gentleman, for the very first time…!” she eagerly announces midway through, for no apparent reason whatsoever. Later on, in the song’s last few seconds, she unleashes an almighty yelp that drowns out the speakers and brings the song to a crashing close. Why? Well, Lana wouldn’t be the Queen of Disaster without keeping you on your toes, obviously.
The song also ticks all the right boxes from the Lana Del Reference Book: Party girls, dizzying love affairs, tattoos, gangstas, golden grills, and of course, her beloved bad boy. It’s completely charming and, apart from being much more uptempo than the bulk of Born To Die, is just as fantastic as anything off of her masterpiece of a debut.
Like “National Anthem,” “Diet Mountain Dew” and “Off To The Races,” a love-stoned Lana leads to all sorts of sun-soaked loveliness. Now then, who’s ready to head up to the Hamptons with me and Lana?
