Lana Del Rey
Lust for Life
(Interscope Records)

Lana Del Rey’s highly anticipated Lust for Life starts off strong with two back-to-back singles. First is the gently swaying and summery “Love.” It’s lush and pretty.

Here, Lana Del Rey admires the beauty of being in love, youth, and how they can both make the mundane seem all right. The first chorus proclaims all of this clearly. “You get ready, you get all dressed up/ To go nowhere in particular/ Back to work or the coffee shop/ Doesn’t matter ’cause it’s enough/ To be young and in love.”

“Lust for Life” (featuring The Weeknd) follows in the same vein, a classically structured pop duet with a simple beat reminiscent of The Shangri Las or The Ronettes, but also with a modern touch.

“13 Beaches” hearkens back to Born to Die with its distant voices in the background setting a cinematic atmosphere. Simple and dramatic piano parts provide the backdrop for poetic lyrics in this ode to hopelessness

“Cherry” brings us further down the deep, dark spiral of Del Rey’s signature dramatic gorgeousness. For more classic Lana

“White Mustang” follows seamlessly. It sounds like your typical love song at first, but quickly unfolds revealing a serenade to the eponymous automobile over a stuttering hip-hop beat. Weird haunting whistles punctuate the final section of this song, and then we’re led into the stand out “Summer Bummer” (featuring A$AP Rocky and Playboi Carti). It’s slow, dramatic, hip-hop, with rap verses that actually fit. You’re likely to put this one on repeat.

The album boasts a couple more big name features with Sean Ono Lennon on “Tomorrow Never Came” and Stevie Nicks on “Beautiful People Beautiful Problems.” The latter is the more memorable of the two, but both features work well and have some particularly haunting harmonies.

Del Rey even flirts with the slightly political and apocalyptic. In “When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing” she sings “We just want the fucking truth/ Is it the end of an era?/ Is it the end of America?” The way this track works with the one right before it, “God Bless America – and All the Beautiful People In It” shows off the album’s cohesiveness.

Despite being cohesive, Lust for Life is varied, ranging from slow girl group-ish tracks to dramatic hip-hop tinged tracks. It’s the perfect mid-to-end of summer soundtrack.