It seems that with every new album, Lana Del Rey’s feminine, old Hollywood style meets a modern New York City persona which evolves and focuses on a particular aspect of her artistic and musical abilities. Her new album, “Honeymoon” is unique in that you see a glimpse of Del Rey in her purest state; with soft songs filled with vulnerability and incredible poetry.
You also see her evolve from her male-dependent theme and begin to explore a more modern style- with songs like “High by the Beach” and “Music to Watch Boys to,” which are more upbeat and frivolous than her usual style.
The album shows Del Rey’s contrasting emotions and battles-proving to all who say that her music has little variation and only depicts sadness that she is capable of everything, while still maintaining her “gangster Nancy Sinatra” persona. Del Rey shows you elation, love, goofiness, indifference, rage and sadness in this album.
Although you see more variety from her, Del Rey really embraces her melodramatic femme fatale lyrics and goes full force with them in songs such as “Honeymoon,” “Religion,” “God Knows I Tried,” “Terrence Loves You,” and “The Blackest Day.”
Her use of different types of music juxtaposed with her incredibly “sad” and classic Lana makes for an incredibly powerful and defiant album-where Del Rey seems to be telling those who have misunderstood her as an artist that she can make all types of music and she chooses to be the way she is-unapologetically.
Her recitation of “Burnt Norton” by T.S. Eliot as an interlude is a beautiful way to bring you back to her classic style. The poem, which is a discussion of how time is an abstract idea that only really exists in the present, is an interesting way to take you from the extremely modern Art Deco to the timeless Religion.
Del Rey’s album definitely shows elements you’ve never seem from her before, but it also takes you back to the more pop-like style that she hasn’t used since taking on the name of Lana Del Rey. “Music To Watch Boys to” and “Freak” are reminiscent of “Kill,Kill” and “Lolita,” taking us back to the original Lizzy Grant persona.
At the same time, Del Rey strays from what we usually see her do, which is creating music that mostly only appeals to teenage girls, and she creates two obvious radio singles. “High By the Beach,” and “Music To Watch Boys To” are not nearly as artistically crafted as the rest of the album, but they do appeal to more people because of their upbeat music and catchy lyrics. For many of her fans, this switch to more pop-based music was quite a disappointment.
Overall, Del Rey’s “evolution in Honeymoon” was a graceful one, and although she changed her typical style, she stayed true to what she embodies and maintained her persona.