Originally published in print November 2020.
The past few months have seen several high profile artists toying with genre, and creating music that is more akin to poetry or storytelling compared to conventional pop lyrics. Taylor Swift’s Folklore received widespread critical acclaim for its expressive and accomplished lyrics which marked a radical departure from her previous orientation towards top 40 hits. Lana Del Rey also published her much anticipated Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass (VBBOTG), her first poetry collection in late September. While Del Rey is famous for her haunting, expressive song lyrics, with her most recent album, Normal Fucking Rockwell! (NFR!) arguably being her strongest yet lyrically, this poetry collection unfortunately disappoints.
Video Games, released in 2011, sparked Del Rey’s career as she began to make famous for her aesthetic which she characterised as “Lolita lost in the hood,” and “the gangster Nancy Sinatra.” The commercial success of Born to Die, and later Ultraviolence, created a cult following around the honey-voiced, old Hollywood image of Del Rey. ‘Cola’, ‘Lolita’, ‘Off to the Races’ and ‘Million Dollar Man’
cemented this image, and while these songs identified Del Rey as a pioneering voice of alt pop and indicated evident talent, they often felt repetitive and somewhat inauthentic. Up until the much anticipated Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Del Rey’s lyrics were so derivative that it was essentially possible to make a Lana Song Generator with the words ‘cigarettes’, ‘California’, ‘cocaine’, and a tale of tragic romance with a man twice your age thrown in for good measure.
Lust for Life, Del Rey’s fourth studio album, seemed to break out of this rut, featuring an increased lyrical celebration of agency in her collaboration with The Weeknd. The fusion of old school and new influences in her flirtation with hip-hop production melded much more successfully than in previous clunky attempts in Born to Die. Although a difficult album to coalesce, given the collaborative songs featuring an eclectic mix of artists including Stevie Nicks, Sean Lennon and A$AP Rocky, Del Rey struck a skilful balance. ‘Tomorrow Never Came’, with Sean Ono Lennon managed to walk the line between classicism and modernity with the subtle Beatles-like chord progression mixed with delicate percussion, interspersed with mystical instrumentation and Del Rey’s elusive X factor.
That being said, it was the much-anticipated Norman Fucking Rockwell! that was the true hallmark of del Rey’s evolution as a lyricist, as it was her most poetically accomplished work so far. The titular song, which denounces her love interest as a “goddamn man child” rather than the typical bad boy or knight in shining armour she previously rhapsodised about, demonstrates del Rey presenting herself in a more empowered role than in her previous work. The Grammy-nominated album features some knock out tracks, most notably ‘Mariner’s Apartment Complex’ and ‘Hope Is a Dangerous Thing’ as the lyrics and organic instrumentation truly put Del Rey’s stereotypical image as a one dimensional artist to bed. The strong, impassioned vocals of ‘Fuck It, I love You’ mark a significant departure from the often vapid, breathy croons of her earlier work, as does the wry nihilism and tinkling piano of ‘Happiness is a Butterfly’. The extended psychedelic rock adventure of ‘Venice Bitch’ is impressive as it doesn’t grow tiresome, with the synthesised strings and lulling chorus carrying the listener through all nine beautiful minutes.
While Del Rey’s poetry collection Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is visually stunning with her own photography, and thick, yellowed typewritten manuscript pages, the poetry is very much of the bitty Instagram caption-esque genre, desperately trying to flex a degree of intellectual prowess the author doesn’t seem to have; an example being an entire page being dedicated to lines like “The universe exists / because we are aware of it.” However, the collection contains glimpses of Del Rey’s widely loved trademarks. A penchant for old Americana shines through strongly in her allusions to Whitman and Plath, similar to the dark and brooding longing of ‘California’, or coy nod to Mama Cass in ‘Fuck it, I love you’.
NFR! ultimately demonstrated a striking lyrical maturation and a new-found ability to balance nostalgia with modernity. While Mariner’s Apartment Complex promised great things to come, instructing us to take the outstretched hand Lana offers on the NFR! album cover, “catch a wave, and just take in the sweetness,” VBBOTG was a step backwards for her, damaging her reputation as an outstanding lyricist. NFR! managed to merge genuinely emotional lyrics without spilling over into sentimentality or cliche, and was brimming with wit and complexity as it lamented failed romance in a crumbling America where “Kanye West is blonde and gone.” VBBOTG unfortunately failed to follow suit. The collection leans heavily on Del Rey’s keen ability to evoke moving and vivid images in a few words, and while it has echoes of tragedy and nostalgia for a country that no longer exists, its inability to stand on its own two feet, divorced from del Rey’s existing fame, means it is enough to please only the most die hard of fans.
