Lana Del Rey’s meteoric rise in the 5 short weeks that 2012 has been kind enough to give us so far has been nothing short of phenomenal. She’s already been tipped by many publications as a one to watch for this year, even my fellow colleague here at Prince Baron Paul Darlington has been singing her praises.
So I clearly must be missing something, as for the second time Lana Del Rey has released a single which I have just found ridiculously dull. Just like ‘Video Games’ before it, it’s not that the song is bad it’s just so very…nice. But not in a good way. It’s nice in a way that you would say when you’re indifferent to something and you can’t really think of anything better to describe it. Maybe that reflects more on me, but I’m not hyped as the greatest thing since sliced bread, so I guess we’re even.
Lyrically the song is fine, with a chorus which is particularly good at painting the image of doomed lovers in the rain. But a song cannot be made by lyrics alone, it needs good instrumentation in this genre we call pop, and in some ways it hits home. The music is beautiful to listen to, you cannot fault that, but Miss Rey’s hushed-delivery over the top just sounds boring and thus drags the song down with it. Whereas her contemporaries such as Adele and Florence Welch can evoke emotion through their voices, Lana Del Rey just seems to go for the same delivery each time, like she doesn’t quite care. Maybe it’s just me.
Sorry internet (and Mr. Darlington), I just don’t get Lana Del Rey so far.
2/5
Here’s the video, see what you think
Written by Mike Glover for Prince Baron Records
