Lana Del Rey - Lust For Life

Over the course of three major label albums, Lana Del Rey has made a name for herself as pop’s most adept unwrapper of darkness. Adopting the hazy, barbiturate-spiked drawl of a bored megastar from a glamorous era bygone, singing of seedy dalliances, substance abuse, death, toxicity and the persistent tug of destructive love, she became an artist with a clear, distinct niche; but perhaps one that limited possibilities when it came to finding room for expansion. ‘High By The Beach’ - which appeared on her 2015 album ‘Honeymoon,’ and stood out as a misfit moment of brilliance - was perhaps the first indication of where things might go next. Hedonistic and escapist, it came with a knowing “lights, camera, acción” lyrical throwback to her debut album, along with a ludicrously over-the-top video where Lana Del Rey nonchalantly disposes of a paparazzi, with the help of an anti-tank missile. It seemed to run rings around her detractors, too, playing with the common (and slightly reductive) perception that Lana Del Rey is nothing but doom and gloom.

Enter, then, ‘Lust For Life’. By title alone, it’s humorously upbeat and at odds with Lana Del Rey’s reputation; the zest-filled antithesis to mjaor label debut ‘Born to Die’. Grinning away on the album cover, her hair spotted with daisies, she appears the very picture of contentedness, and frequently ‘Lust For Life’ is an album that bursts with undiluted hopefulness for the first time in Lana’s career. “Finally, I’m crossing the threshold,” she says straight-up on ‘Get Free,’ “from the ordinary world to the reveal of my heart”. It’s a mantra that’s representative of ‘Lust For Life’ as a whole; as well as being Lana Del Rey’s most complex sonic exploration to date - seeping with surreal turns of production - it’s a record that is prepared to be truly vulnerable, and is all the more impactful for it.