Glancing at the clouds is overrated, we now look at Lana Del Rey’s ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club,’ her seventh studio album.
Produced by Jack Antonoff and featuring collaborations with artists like Zella Day and Nikki Lane, Lana has shifted to her country side. Yet still keeping her signature cinematic sound, pureness and vintage lyricism, she shares new vocal abilities and fresh artistry. Lana manages to open up about her struggles with the dark side of fame, relationships and her nostalgia for the old days as a 19-year old Lizzy Grant.
It is typical for Lana to use the word ‘white’ in her lyricism and she does that again in ‘White Dress.’ The colour white is associated with purity, and white garments are worn to convey spiritual cleanness. Of course, as little as a smudge of dirt or dye can easily ruin it. Wearing a white dress in the accompanying music video, she sings in a predominantly soprano voice, sharing a rare voice crack. This track shows her vulnerability and innocence, taking us back to the times she performed as Lizzy Grant and listen to early 2000s rock music.
She initially desired fame, but now looks back with nostalgia, wondering if she would have been better off without it. She previously worked as a waitress in Long Island and depicts her simple, pre-Los Angeles life in this track. On first listen, you can almost feel the wind blowing through your hair, whilst drinking a cocktail by the beach at sunset.
In her titular track ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club,’ she starts off quietly but ends the song with a loud bang. Almost as a crescendo, she goes from clean and pure to loud and dizzy. In the beginning of the music video, she is shown driving a beautiful vintage car, but ends up burning it with her werewolf friends.
Lana Del Rey has always said that she loved conspiracies and Hollywood mysteries, alluding to one with her lengthy, mystical percussive outro. Both lyrically and melodically there are a lot of parallels with Lana’s previous works, making reference as though she is responding to her old self. This is clear through audio samples in the instrumentals, performing a call and response to her past self. The line “You’re in the wind, I’m in the water” might sound very vague and metaphorical, but what if I told you that Lana is a Cancer and her boyfriend is an Aquarius?
‘Tulsa Jesus Freak‘ features something that has weirdly never been heard before in Lana’s releases: autotune. She has integrated it in her own unique way however, adding additional colour to her sound. The original track title was apparently ‘White Hot Forever,’ but there might have been one too many references to the colour white in the album for that one.
This is my favourite track on the album as it feels very new and innovative for Lana’s artistry. She sings about her deeply religious man who has drinking problems and can barely come to bed, but she doesn’t mind. As some fans may already know, Lana did have previous issues with alcohol, going to boarding school aged 14 because of her drinking.
Even though the artwork for the first promotional single ‘Let Me Love You Like A Woman‘ looks like something made in the 2010s someone’s grandma, Lana shows her humbleness and tries to stay true to herself and her past. She makes various metaphorical references to drugs, depicting MDMA as the so-called “pink champagne.” The lyrics illustrate that she isn’t afraid to reference her past, as her previous experiences built her into the artist she is today.
Later on in the album, she sings about freedom and the nature of being wild and free, as though she was a hippie born in the 1960s. Her talent for lyricism is so gifted and rich, making reference to her favourite pieces of art and inspirations. These include poems, movies, books and jazz musicians, so look out for those Easter eggs.
‘Dark But Just A Game‘ is probably the grooviest track on the album. It manages to be mysterious with a Beatles edge and Netflix soundtrack level of sexiness. This track could definitely slot into the tracklist for previous releases like Born to Die or replace the intro for Money Heist. It’s fascinating to see how she still manages to keep her signature ‘Lana Del Rey sound,’ whilst still having a diverse range in her little own corner of music. This album feels very welcoming and heartwarming, especially in ‘Not All Who Wander Are Lost.’ For anyone who has a strong desire to travel, she says that wandering is a good way to have some peace of mind.
Nikki Lane might get mistaken for Miley Cyrus in ‘Breaking Up Slowly,’ but that is certainly a compliment. This collaboration is so powerful, and the heartfelt country chorus and energy will be stuck in your head for days on end.
After collapsing in the bridge of ‘Dance Till We Die,’ Lana concludes the album with a cover. Featuring Zella Day and Weyes Blood, the final track is her version of Joni Mitchell’s ‘For Free.’ She references Joni in the penultimate track, repeating that she has been covering Mitchell’s music. Hopefully, we will see this crossover more than once in her discography, but damn, Lana does love to close an album with the word ‘free.’
