When Lana Del Rey sings “Being a mistress on the side / It might not appeal to fools like you / We been around on the side / Wanna be somethin’ you would do” on “Sad Girl” and “Guns and summer time / Chica, cherry, cola, lime / Prison isn’t nothin’ to me / If you’ll be by my side” on “Florida Kilos,” it’s not immediately obvious what she’s saying, but the lyrics are pretty clear once spelled out.
Listening to lyrics such as these off Del Rey’s newest album, Ultraviolence, her voice — that doesn’t enunciate 98 per cent of the time — shows how she continues to appeal to critics and fans with recycled material in a sultry voice, over slightly different melodies. Her third studio album provides the charm needed to win listeners over, but it’s nothing we haven’t heard (or could barely hear) from her before.
Ultraviolence is hypnotic. Songs such as “Brooklyn Baby,” “Money Power Glory,” and the title track are sung in a passive voice, asking you to subconsciously tap a finger or start bobbing your head. It’s probably how she does it, actually: sneaks into your ears with that subtly sexy voice, accompanied by rhythmic snares and guitars. Yeah, you’re swaying, but you don’t know what the heck to.
That’s what’s problematic about the album. Without paying attention to lyrics, or knowing which song is on exactly, you can’t differentiate when the album is on its next track. It essentially all sounds the same. As moments are repeated throughout the album, you can pick out sections that you could’ve sworn you’d heard before during a previous song.
It’s not just melodies that are cut-and-pasted, but images as well. The image of an innocent girl falling apart appears in multiple forms, and the words “little,” “red,” “party,” and “dress” have been arranged into her past albums. Her repetitiveness shows the limits of her creativity. We get it, Lana, you’re a sad girl in a cute little dress. Can we see another party trick now?
Yet, the album has been positively reviewed with comments such as Del Rey is growing more into her voice. And that’s probably the only thing we can unanimously agree on. Despite how boring and hauntingly monotonous her voice is, the girl’s got a set of golden, old Hollywood pipes on her. It’s a shame she may be getting too comfortable in this persona, instead of trying out new forms of singing and songwriting.
I like to think the album is a success because it’s consistent with Del Rey’s work, which is why I can’t stop listening to it and trying to decipher what she’s saying. But I was expecting more from her — perhaps for her to dabble in different genres, or to hear a different vocal style.
Then again, it’s only her third album so there’s not much to differentiate from. Ultraviolence has me torn, hoping to uncover another “Summertime Sadness” on the album. Maybe Lana just won’t be my summertime jam this year.
