“Don’t worry, baby…”
The last time we heard from our Queen of Coney Island, she was dreaming away her life and lighting up by the sea on 2015’s starry-eyed Honeymoon.
Things are much different, in a variety of ways, in 2017.
Intentional or otherwise, Lana Del Rey‘s first offering from her forthcoming follow-up due out later this year is a reassuring, romantic ode to persistence — and perhaps her most mesmerizing lead escape since Paradise‘s “Ride.”
As opposed to coquettishly cooing sweet nothings to her bad baby or confessing to devious doings with mystery men on the side, our most lovely jazz singer instead turns the focus on us — or really, the youth, supplying some much-needed encouragement across a cinematic, very Born To Die-era soundscape.
Lana worked on the track with her longtime collaborator Rick Nowels and pop producer Benny Blanco, as well as Born To Die collaborator Emile Haynie, whose recognizable production is so, so welcome again.
“Look at you kids with your vintage music / Coming through satellites while cruising / You’re part of the past, but now, you’re the future / Signals crossing can get confusing / It’s enough just to make you feel crazy, crazy, crazy sometimes…”
“Love” is as dreamy as only Lana Del Rey can deliver, playing like one of her many magical soundtrack moments and/or us-against-the-world anthems crafted for long highway cruises.
It may be projection, but the timing of “Love” hardly feels accidental in a world of noise and conflict, which has become all but unavoidably crazy-making: it’s a love letter to the new generation to keep going. (Just ride, if you will.)
“You get ready, you get all dressed up to go nowhere in particular / Back to work or the coffee shop / Doesn’t matter ’cause it’s enough to be young and in love.”
Lana isn’t the most outspoken when it comes to her own politics, although she spent the election season urging her followers to pay attention. “It’s important,” she captioned one video of a presidential debate back in September. That message also comes through in this music.
“Look at you kids, you know, you’re the coolest / The world is yours and you can’t refuse it / Seen so much you could get the blues, but that don’t mean that you should abuse it,” she encourages. “Don’t worry, baby…”
By the end, Lana flips the song on herself: “It’s enough just to make me go crazy, crazy, crazy…” You see? You’re not alone in feeling this way.
Perhaps one of the Lana Del Rey-iest lyrics of the whole song comes at the very end: “Doesn’t matter if I’m not enough / For the future or the things to come / ‘Cause I’m young and in love.” Gulp.
“I made my first four albums for me, but this one is for my fans and about where I hope we are all headed,” Lana explains in a press release.
And that’s the ride-or-die girl we know and love: we might have no idea where the fuck we’re going or if we’ll be able to handle the road ahead, but one thing’s for damn sure: we’re going down together.
“Love” was released on February 18. (iTunes)