Lust For Life | Lana Del Ray

Lust for Life, the highly anticipated album from Lana Del Rey, released this summer on July 21. The album cover portrays Del Rey in front of a beat-up truck from the 1950s or 60s; dressed in a virginal, white lace dress with flowers adorning her hair, Del Rey has a satisfied smile spread across her face.

This album, like much of her other music, creates a fantasy world saturated with the haze of cigarette smoke and exhaust from vintage cars.

“Look at your kids with your vintage music, comin’ through satellites while cruisin’, you’re part of the past, but now you’re the future,” Del Rey sings on the opening of the soft instrumental track, “Love.” Del Rey seems to have left her own troubled past behind and is speeding into the future while leaving some words of wisdom for the next generation.

The track “Coachella—Woodstock In My Mind” is a strong departure from Del Rey’s usual style. The song came to the singer after she attended Coachella music festival and heard the news of the North Korea missile tests. It is refreshing to see artists and to see women like Del Rey try and make a statement with their musical influence.

Rather than her lovesick and heartbroken ballads from earlier years, there is a burgeoning sense of maturity, contentment, and passion that lingers in each track of Lust for Life, an album that addresses topics dealing with politics and societal issues.