If you’re into soulful and dramatic descants, Indie/alt. pop singer Lana Del Rey’s newly released album Honeymoon is what you’ve been looking for. While her last albums, Born to Die and Ultraviolence, dabbled in a modern pop feel, this playlist is the original Lana, full of sexy, raw, emotional ballads and angelic vocals without any background sound effects and auto tune frill.
With her iconic winged eyeliner and retro Hollywood waves, she is the modern day equivalent of Marilyn Monroe or Amy Winehouse. Del Rey retreats within herself for this album, but that’s not a bad thing. The eerie percussions suggest nostalgic reminiscence for teenage listeners, and offers a vintage music option for sentimental youths wishing they could live in the 60s.
The album opens up with the title track “Honeymoon,” which sets a mature mood for the following 12 songs. Sleepy, slow lyrics make it sound like Del Rey is in a trance. The songs are all similar in tune and audio, which may be boring for some listeners, since the album lacks dance melodies or sappy, bubbly pop lyrics.
Instead, the songs have a slow, gloomy feel, as if Del Rey is crooning over a tragedy. Songs like “Freak,” “Religion,” and “Music To Watch Boys To” are the most melancholy of the bunch because of their haunting, groggy procession. The album carries a sensual mood because of Del Rey’s pure unedited voice serenading throughout and the racy lyrics about her past love encounters.
“High By the Beach,” is probably the only song on the album that could fit right into Born to Die, the most hip work of her musical career, because it has a catchy, synchronized beat and melody.
Despite her age, Del Rey seems to understand the sorrows and heartbreak of living and falling in love, but she offers more emotional depth than any other singer in the industry today. Aren’t honeymoons supposed to be one of the best times of a person’s life? Apparently, not Lana Del Rey’s honeymoon. From heartbreak and painful self-refuge and withdrawal, Del Ray has produced possibly her best collection of songs and sounds so far in her career as a genre-defying artist.