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Music Review: Lana Del Rey Releases New Album ‘Honeymoon’

She’s back, my friends. Lana Del Rey has released her new album to the world, and it’s stunning. This isn’t Del Rey’s first time releasing an album, or even the second. I’m sure by now the world is used to her rare presence on social media, let alone any type of promotion besides her Facebook page, and an occasional Instagram post. As of late, Lana seems to post more often, but even with the newly present interactions, I feel as though Honeymoon will garner the numbers it deserves. Currently, Honeymoon is playing through my speakers, and I am weeping slowly to “God Knows I’ve Tried.” There is a certain personal relation to this album that lacks in Del Rey’s other albums. Ultraviolence still, in my opinion, hails as Del Rey’s strongest to date, but Honeymoon has settled itself right alongside it.

It’s safe to say that Lana has stayed true to the foundation of what got her famous, but the heavy presence of RnB that accompanied Born To Die, and Born To Die: The Paradise Edition has been stripped down. The closest we get to that era of Lana is during “High By The Beach,” which is one of the strongest and catchier tracks on the album. The track has a repetitive chorus with a heavy beat, which accompanies the lyrics: “All I wanna do is get high by the beach / Get high by the beach / Get high / All I wanna do is get by / By the beach / Get by baby, baby, bye, bye.” Not to say that the influence has disappeared completely, but it’s not as prevalent with the undertones as the electronic is on this album.

The production of the album is spot on, and no song leads the album in a direction the listener is unfamiliar with. Del Rey knows her voice and what it can do, while simultaneously allowing progression in both the lyrics and vocal strength. It’s an ongoing joke to the internet community, and we all watched that SNL performance at least once, but Lana’s soulful voice is as hypnotizing as it’s always been. Whether or not you watch Lana live, her voice through a speaker or vinyl is similar to the feeling of the thick waves of ocean air at night running through your fingers.

Honeymoon has its spotlight tracks: “High By The Beach,” “Religion,” “Music To Watch Boys To” and my personal favorite, “God Knows I’ve Tried.”

A beautiful showcase of Lana’s signature lower register blended beautifully with her soprano is the track “The Blackest Day,” with the haunting lyrics: “’Cause there’s nothing for us to talk about / The future and those things / Cause there’s nothing for me to think about / Now that he’s gone / I can’t feel nothing.”

Album track “Freak” alludes to a hot and humid day in California. The balmy touch of a sweaty hand against another, and the sweet smell of the ocean as it brushes through the palm trees and across the burning sidewalks. It weaves a picture of Hollywood personas in it’s famous description word: Freaks. Something quite enjoyable about Del Rey’s music is the way that it paints pictures so vivid and real that it transcends from music into art.

The Kieron Menzies and Rick Nowels produced album has every right to currently be claiming the number one spot on the iTunes chart. The album currently sits in the top spot, but lack of promotion and performances will either break or make it. The way that Lana herself is unpredictable, we’ll wait and see the outcome once the week is out.

If worse comes to worse, Del Rey will experience low sales on a devastatingly good album, and if God knows she’s tried, Lana’ll have a high sale for the week.

Honeymoon captures the neon signs of the west, and the desperation of the love that captures the world at large, all wrapped up in a stunning bow that fills us with more angst than joy.

The good kind of angst, though. Del Rey is always the queen of the ache in your chest, where your pure white pearls rest against it.

8.5/10

Honeymoon is under exclusive license to Polydor Ltd (UK)

You can download and purchase Honeymoon now.

Brooke Pawling Stennett

Brooke Pawling Stennett is a college student pursuing a degree in Multimedia Journalism and Creative Non-Fiction in the old Windy City. She tends to lean toward the obsessive side of the tracks when it comes to books and music. She's an avid concert attendee (or at least she tries to!) and rambler. She'd like to travel the world and write about it, but in the only ways she knows how: sarcastically and full of internet jargon. Her opinions are her best ones, especially if they involve boy-bands and Netflix. . .even though she doesn't even have her own account. You can tweet her at @br_stennett and tell her how ridiculous (and totally great!) her opinions are.