Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
Lana Del Rey is a strange artist to talk about, she is a singer who released her debut album 'Born to die' in 2012 and right from the beginning her work has gained a huge fan base but that debut album received very mixed reviews from critics. But what do I think of her? Honestly I haven't always been a massive fan, but it was only when I started exploring her albums I really started enjoying her music! However, that doesn't mean I don't have some problems with her albums. I will elaborate on the problems I have with her music as I review her 2014 full length follow up to 'Born to die', 'Ultraviolence'! Let's take a look.
On first listen, I didn't know what to think of this album, I like Lana's vocals, but I thought the instrumentation was a mixed bag and I wasn't particularly fond of the writing, But as I've re-listened to the album, I have started to enjoy it more. I still have problems with the album, but I also have alot of positive things to say about it.
So what is good about 'Ultraviolence'? Well as I mentioned earlier, I really like Lana's vocals, she has a very elegant voice that definitely works well on songs like the title track 'Ultraviolence' and 'Old money' which was in my opinion the best song on the album. However, I can tell that she has the type of voice that wouldn't appeal to everyone. If you don't enjoy down beat, lower tempo music, I'm not sure you'll enjoy this album.
I may like the vocals on this album, but I'm not sure about the instrumentation. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed alot of the instrumentation on this album, for example, the album opener 'Cruel World' uses guitars well and 'West coast' is a very good indie rock song and the drums and guitar definitely help the songs groove. However some of the instrumentation is lacking in substance like on 'Brooklyn Baby' where the guitars feel wasted and aren't as prominent as they should be especially on the chorus where they're shoved to the back of the mix.
And now we have to talk about the most frustrating element of the album, lyrics and themes. Some critics have complained about the fact that Lana appears to glamorise her bad behaviour and an overwhelming focus on drugs throughout the album on songs like 'Cruel World' and 'Shades of cool'. And honestly if you read into the lyrics, it could have a negative effect on your enjoyment of the album. I'm not talking about every song on the album, songs like 'Old money' and 'west coast' aren't bad lyrically which is probably the reason they're my Favourite songs on the album. I'm talking about songs like 'Sad girl' where she boasts about being a mistress on the side or 'Ultraviolence' where she says her partner hit her and it felt like a kiss. Some of these lyrics are enough to make any casual listener feel quite uncomfortable. There are also songs on the album like 'sad girl' and 'Brooklyn Baby' which run way too long and constantly repeat lines to fill up space. And then there's 'Money power glory' where she says she's going to take a man for all he's got and the fact that the whole song has an underlined theme of entitlement.
While the lyrics are quite underwhelming on this record, there are other elements on this album I really liked. 'Pretty when you cry' may have been a bit too long but the vocals and the instrumentation work really well together and despite the fact that 'Ultraviolence' featured some questionable lyrics, it still has one of the best choruses on the album.
In conclusion, for the most part, I liked 'Ultraviolence', the vocals are really good on most of the tracks and most of the instrumentation works on the album, However outside of songs like west coast and Old money, alot of the songs have problems in the lyrics department which are really hard to ignore.
Best songs: Old money, West coast, Cruel World, Ultraviolence, pretty when you cry
Worst songs: Sad girl, The other Woman, Money power glory
6.5/10
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