She repeats ‘Mariners Apartment Complex’’s assertion that she “ ain’t no candle in the wind” on the quiet fingerpicked folk of ‘Yosemite’ and ‘Tulsa Jesus Freak’, while ‘Wild At Heart’ brings back the character of Joe, who previously appeared on ‘NFR!’’s ‘How To Disappear’ and her spoken-word poem ‘Never To Heaven’.Īs well as paying tribute to herself, on ‘Chemtrails…’ Del Rey carves out space for her heroes and current favourites.
On the title track, she sings, “ You’re in the wind, I’m in the water”, harking back to ‘Brooklyn Baby’’s “ I think we’re the wind and sea”. There are plenty of Easter eggs littered throughout the record, connecting it to past releases.
Incorporating elements of hip-hop into her timeless pop is nothing new for Lana – she’s been doing it since her ‘Born To Die’ era – but it’s exciting to hear her invention and refusal to be restricted. Del Rey’s voice is fed through Auto-Tune and vocal processors, aping the production of the mumble rappers she declared her love for on her last album cycle. On first listen – and especially after the more organic sounds of ‘NFR!’ – ‘Tulsa Jesus Freak’ might come as a shock. Yet with ‘Chemtrails…’ Del Rey follows it with ease, riding that record’s creative high but looking further back into her past to tie her whole story together in one place. The LA-based musician’s last album, 2019’s ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell!’, saw her hit a career-high with a record that instantly cemented its place as an all-time great. Later, she shares a lesson she learned from watching those who came before her: “ We keep changing all the time / The best ones lost their minds / So I’m not gonna change I’ll stay the same.” Rather than whinges about the privilege of being rich and successful, these are sharp observations on buying into your own celebrity and the impact of society’s thirst to know everything about our idols.
“ The cameras have flashes / They cause the car crashes,” she sighs, with an important distinction to make lest anyone get things twisted: “ But I’m not a star.” ‘Dark But Just A Game’, which shifts from brooding trip-hop atmospherics to brighter folk licks, was inspired by a party at Madonna’s manager’s house and finds Del Rey explaining she doesn’t “ even want what’s mine / Much less the fame”. Del Rey even manages to make the most mundane of chores and activities sound magical: “ Washing my hair, doing the laundry/ Late night TV, I want you only”.Ĭonversely, on the romantic waltz of ‘Wild At Heart’, she’s in the here-and-now, evoking a scene of being chased by the paps, fingers on the shutter. It’s gorgeous and idyllic, distilling a scene of quintessential Americana into its most poetic form. The sublime, dreamy float of the title track is similarly nostalgic, calling back to a time where “ there’s nothing wrong, contemplating God / Under the chemtrails over the country club”. Perhaps it’s a case of the grass always being greener – pre-fame Lana surely wouldn’t have imagined achieving all she has and wanting to be back bussing tables – but she closes the song rationalising her desire to go back: “ Because it made me fee… like a god/ It kind of makes me feel like maybe I was better off.”
“ I felt free because I was only 19,” she sings of days and nights spent waitressing and listening to jazz, Kings Of Leon and “ White Stripes when they were white hot”. On opening track ‘White Dress’, she explores her longing for a time when she was yet to find success she delivers it in a rasped whisper so urgent it sounds like she’s trying to transport herself back there. Compared to other acts of her stature, paparazzi shots and tabloid headlines sensationalising her life are few and, as she told NME in 2019, she leads a life as regular as yours or mine, hosting game nights with her girlfriends and hanging out with her siblings.įame and Del Rey’s disregard for it is a recurring theme on her seventh album ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’. Throughout a decade as one of music’s top artists, Del Rey has kept a relatively low profile. Lana Del Rey had arrived, and she’s barely stopped spearheading the conversation since. The track immediately captured people’s imaginations, with its vintage Hollywood sheen, poetic lyrics and its creator’s elegantly downcast drawl. Chemtrails Over The Country Club is a song interpreted by Lana Del Rey, released on the album Chemtrails Over The Country Club in 2021.Almost 10 years ago, a beautiful song called ‘Video Games’ emerged online, introducing a mysterious new artist to the wider world.