Lana Del Rey shows progression on captivating new single
ALthough it is not even that long ago when Lana Del Rey launched her Paradise EP in november 2012, it seems like quite a lot of people are hungry for new music by her. Del Rey even treated us to two soundtrack songs in between the album releases. In 2013 she released the stunning ‘Young & Beautiful’ for the movie The Great Gatsby and earlier this year she made the Sleeping Beauty classic ‘Once Upon A Dream‘ completely her own for the to be released Maleficent movie. The release of the new album Ultraviolence is getting closer and on monday it was time to release the first single ‘West Coast’. Needless to say, the song is amazing and shows progression, but at the same time stays true to everything that makes Lana Del Rey such an interesting artist and songwriter.
After the premiere on the British radio station BBC, the singer put the track on YouTube as well as iTunes. It seems like her popularity in the US is growing every day, as the song managed to climb to the second spot in the iTunes charts within 24 hours after its release. ‘West Coast’ starts out as a midtempo track, based on drums and guitars. A lot of Del Rey’s previous music has hip hop beats at the basis of the song, while on ‘West Coast’, it is a full band that carries the tune. The verses build up beautifully into a captivating pre-chorus where Del Rey shows off the higher register of her vocals. Before the chorus starts, we get to hear an unusual, but definitely interesting tempo change. The exciting, sensual and sexy chorus is somewhat slower than the rest of the track and the beaufitul melody in combination with Del Rey’s soft and distinctive vocals easily makes for another Del Rey classic to be.
It is interesting to see how the song still breathes the romantic, sexy and slightly edgy atmosphere Lana is known for, but at the same time sounds quite different to her previous material. The song is produced by Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys and his influence is hearable in the fact that the song leans more towards alternative rock than the hip hop influences we saw before. It is worth mentioning that his production is incredibly layered. For example the high synths that come in during the final chorus are a brilliant detail that makes the track even more special. This slight change of direction fits Del Rey perfectly and she might even gain some new fans because of it. Luckily, the change is not that dramatic as the song still feels undeniably Lana, so I can not imagine her fans being disappointed with this. Please bring on Ultraviolence sooner than later!