Lana Del Rey reveals added complexity in new album

Grammy-nominated musician Lana Del Rey has been slowly revealing singles off of her new album, Honeymoon, leaving fans eagerly anticipating its release. Her previous albums, Born to Die and Ultraviolence, have received international success and have marketed Del Rey’s dreamy, soft, melancholic sound to a wider audience. Based on what has been unveiled so far, Honeymoon shouldn’t disappoint fans who have been waiting two years for a new album.

Her persona is very much like her music — artistic, enigmatic and unreal. Though many artists have been known to connect their personal lives to their music, often sharing details of their lives to fans, Del Rey is more mysterious in the way she chooses to reveal herself.  No one knows what she is really like. She could be the girl who ditches class to smoke alone by herself. She could be the quiet girl in your class who secretly writes beautiful poetry. She could be the party girl who goes out every night. Strictly private about personal matters, Del Rey is always leaving everything to the imagination of her fans, making her even more intriguing.

In “Honeymoon Sampler,” a hazy, Polaroid-looking video with snippets and names of a few tracks on the album, Del Rey executes her infamous hipster style to perfection. She is first seen wearing a large red sun hat in the back of a truck, later in a long white, flowy dress holding a gun. Shots of the ocean with long-haired girls swimming and dancing in it, then touching Del Rey while she closes her eyes, all contribute to the abstract taste of the video.

Though Honeymoon is intended to sound more similar to Born to Die rather than Ultraviolence, there are certain elements of both in the singles she has currently previewed and released. Born to Die served as an introduction to her slow, sad and romantic pop style in which she sings about the American Dream fulfilled while Ultraviolence, though similar in gloom, leans more towards the dramatic and violent, emphasizing the death of the American Dream with a taste of the blues. The songs already released in Honeymoon are “Honeymoon,” “High by the Beach,” “Terrence Loves You” and snippets of “Music to Watch Boys To.” In these singles, Del Rey proves that though her sound is evolving, she is staying true to her dark and somber style.

Del Rey’s new songs represent extensions from her previous ones. The lyrics present a sense of maturity — “High by the Beach” paints a picture of solitude. With “The truth is I never bought into your bullsh-t / When you would pay tribute to me cause I know that / All I wanted to do was get high by the beach / Get high baby, baby, bye bye,” it’s evident that Del Rey has graduated from her perpetual need to be with a man in the past to a profound snapshot of loneliness. Additionally, the title track of the album, “Honeymoon,” includes references to areas in Los Angeles. Del Rey offers a more optimistic outlook with lyrics like, “We could cruise to the blues / Wilshire Boulevard if we choose / Or whatever you wanna do / We make the rules.” This track proves that Del Rey has started to break free from the stoic and somber image she once portrayed.

Honeymoon is set to be released on Sept. 18.