“Lights, camera, acción…I’ll do it on my own. Don’t need your money to get me what I want.”
Remember the coquettish Lana Del Rey who once sat in our laps and purred into our ears: “Um, do you think you’ll buy me lots of diamonds?”
Our Lolita is all grown up now, and she doesn’t need your bank account this time around, thank you very much.
Lana Del Rey isn’t usually a name synonymous with “empowerment,” but the Ultraviolence Queen clearly feeling herself and asserting her independence on “High By The Beach,” an entirely unbothered, #unapologetic, weed-filled summer breeze in song, and the second offering from her upcoming record, Honeymoon.
“All I wanna do is get high by the beach, get high by the beach, get high / All I wanna do is get by the beach, get by, baby baby, get by…”
Musically, things are getting more interesting for LDR: While title track “Honeymoon” felt like a somber afternoon snooze, “High” is a return to the catchy choruses and hip-hop infused roots of her earliest work on Born To Die, bringing the tripping, trap-lite beats of “Dark Paradise” and “Off To The Races” to mind — and revitalizing the sound that awarded her the (albeit unwanted) nickname of “gangsta Nancy Sinatra” in the first place.
Also, “Lights, camera, acción” is a constant theme in Lana’s work, leading all the way back to Lizzy Grant’s “Put Me In A Movie.”
“The truth is I never bought into your bullshit when you would pay tribute to me…”
While Lana lazes on the sand in a plume of smoke, she’s lyrically throwing up a middle finger at her former flame: “You could be a bad motherfucker…but that don’t make you a man.” Oof. So sorry ’bout it, bad baby. Rihanna, we’ve officially found your new #420-friendly, shady, phucks-free BFF!
Also, speaking of: “I don’t want to do this anymore…” A subtle shout-out to “Unfaithful,” perhaps? Lana Del Rih! (Imagine that collaboration.)
The Honeymoon era is certainly proving to be Lana’s most unpredictable voyage yet — I mean, have you seen this most puzzlingly off-brand promotional photo with that gun straight out of a SyFy original? — but she’s setting sail whether you’re on board or not.
“High By The Beach” will be released on August 10.
