Santa Del Claus has come early, kids.
When she’s not BFF-ing all over the place with her new pal Courtney Love, Saint Lana Del Rey also enjoys being the Queen of Soundtracks.
She’s done it with The Great Gatsby (“Young & Beautiful”) and again with Maleficent (“Once Upon A Dream”), and now, she’s given us not one, but two new original songs for Tim Burton‘s upcoming film due out on Christmas, Big Eyes.
And, unlike the gritty “West Coast” guitar sounds of Ultraviolence, both of Lana’s contributions to the upcoming film feel like a return to the haunting, cinematic form of Lana’s debut.
“Big Eyes” is dark and jazzy, full of smoky, seductive horns, strings and lingering piano melodies — and a whole lot of suspicion. “I saw you creeping ’round the garden, what are you hiding?/I beg your pardon, don’t tell me nothing/I used to think that I could trust you/I was your woman, you were my knight and shining companion,” she sadly croons in her usual haunting fashion. Oh, our beloved sad girl.
Opening with an orchestral flourish, the Rick Nowels co-penned “I Can Fly” immediately feels like something straight off of Born To Die, or even a distant relative of Paradise‘s epic, “Ride.” While Lana can occasionally sound quite tortured, it’s nice to hear our beloved Brooklyn Baby spreading her wings with a kind of emancipation anthem. And oh, that sweeping melody: “I….can flyyyyyy!”
The lyrics too are something special. This line, especially: “I had a dream that I was fine. I wasn’t crazy…I was divine.” It’s almost like an optimistic follow-up to the “I’m tired of feeling like I’m fucking crazy” from “Ride.” Really, really gorgeous.
Thank you Lana for this much-needed dose of summertime sadness for our holiday season.