In all honesty, one of the greatest moments of 2019 came when I sat down to listen to Lana Del Rey’s Grammy-nominated album “Norman Fucking Rockwell.” As a longtime fan, I have always been excited whenever she has new music out. This one, in particular, spoke to me because it felt like the album where everything clicked. Whereas I can say that every album before had a few misses, this one was flawless. She had finally become the artist that I knew her capable of being, pushing boundaries with songs like “Venice Bitch” and finding the sweet spot of nostalgia with “Cinnamon Girl.”
Then I heard “The Greatest” and lost my mind.
Whereas I’ve always felt a personal connection to her music, it felt strange to hear her mention Long Beach. It’s almost like the tourism board wrote to her to come out here and stay. Given that she also references my hometown on “Bartender,” and I began to find this deeper bond with her. As someone obsessed with Southern California in media, having Lana Del Rey on our side is a godsend. I didn’t bandwagon this. I never expected her to so openly love Long Beach and yet here she was, filming music videos downtown at the harbor. Why I haven’t been this excited to hear Long Beach referenced in pop culture since Breaking Bad’s “Dead Freight” episode.
Do I love “Norman Fucking Rockwell” because of these details? Sure. It speaks to my sensibility very well. With that said, I just think it captures her at her most creative, most lively, and accomplished. Given that she’s admitted that her next project was ready to go during interviews from the month that album dropped, you got a sense that she was hitting some kind of stride.
The crazy thing is that her new poetry collection, “Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass,” isn’t the only major release that she has planned for 2020. She has a traditional album, currently titled “Chemtrails over the Country Club,” scheduled for September.
But this only helps to prove my point. She is in a bit of a creative streak that makes me excited for every new project. While the hard copy of “Violet” doesn’t come out until next month, the audiobook is officially here. What should be noted is that as a collection of poetry, it’s not designed like her other albums. Even lyrically it’s more playful with structure and finds her talking over Jack Antonoff-composed backing tracks. It’s at times disconcerting to hear Lana Del Rey this way. But given that she’s flirted with poetry in the past, it makes sense that she throws so much passion into this.
In all respect, this is my initial impression of the poetry. Without the prose in front of me, I’m unable to give it a totally fair shake. I can only speak to how the words hit my ears, making me understand the intent by which this collection was designed. This is more of a survey than any bigger dive, which may be revisited in the future when I’ve had time to sit with it.
As a collection, this feels like a study of Lana Del Rey’s life predominantly living out on the west coast over the past few years. The poem that struck me the most was “The Land of 1,000 Fires,” which is one of the most California poems in the entire collection. As much as she romanticizes beach culture, she has an underlying theme of the world in disarray, wanting to return nature to something more balanced and peaceful.
I personally don’t doubt her. I don’t know if “1,000 Fires” is an exaggeration, but it may not be by much. For a west coast state that borders the ocean, it’s incredible to note how bad things can get in the Fall. We have a fire season, and the past few years have been some of the worst in history. As I write this, we’re currently dealing with the Apple fire. There’s so much uncertainty and fear every year as the news projects video of people escaping firey pits of hell that eats up their house and homes. For the land of perceived paradise, it’s bizarre how much can go horribly wrong.
This is a theme that carries through to the end when in “Paradise Is Very Fragile” she explores similar themes from the eastern coast equivalent: Florida. As she addresses hurricanes and various other problems, you can get the underlying sense of concern in Lana Del Rey’s writing that makes you appreciate what she’s going for. She isn’t just obsessed with sitting by the beach. She wants us all to come down and take in the beauty of the world. Even then, her urgency and desire for change drive these narratives, and it creates this underlying urgency that is provocative.
Of course, everything kicks off with “LA Who Am I to Love You?” The opener, and arguably best of the batch, feels like an origin story for everything that follows. It talks about her move from New York, residing in San Francisco for a while before settling on Los Angeles. It’s the most structured, having repetitive use of the chorus, questioning recent passages on the value of living in the city. Los Angeles is humanized as if a living being, and it’s a romance that her recent music has grappled with. Given that she’s about to talk about forest fires and Mayor Garcetti’s home being over-secured, she paints a vast picture that is the most vivid portrait of California at the moment that I’ve heard.
It’s one so full of contradiction. Why should anyone love Los Angeles with so much going on in the world? What makes the city better than any other place in the world? While the remaining poems aren’t necessarily Southern California-based, there’s the atmosphere that makes you feel the sand between your toes, listening to the waves hit the shore as she goes about this meditative journey through her prose. She claims that some of them came in the form of a stream of consciousness while others meticulously crafted. Both equate to a wondrous tapestry, though it’s clear that the ones with more effort are likely to be some of her more defining work.
When she talks about those that she loves, is she talking about LA still? It’s hard to say. In between poems about beach houses and forest fires, she finds ways to appreciate growing older and becoming a more confident woman. While her sad girl persona isn’t fully removed yet, it does feel refreshing to feel like she’s at peace with life. She’s able to use her details now in ways that are more active, outgoing, and inviting others into her personal life. Is it all an act? It’s difficult to say. However, it does build into her contemporary mythos.
Another standout is “SportCruiser,” which finds Lana Del Rey in one of her goofier mentalities. At its core, the story is about her comparing her life to those of people who travel. She starts by commenting on aviation, becoming entranced by the planes that fly through the sky. As she transitions to an aquatic adventure, her observations become more reflective of what it takes to be a boat captain. It’s a story of sorts and captures something perfectly nonsensical. The sense of adventure informs both the traveler and the writer, and yet their gifts to the world are different. As a centerpiece on the album, it feels like her poetry will only grow more ambitious, provided another collection ever comes out.
I won’t go into how she references Long Beach multiple times, such as on “Past the Bushes Cypress Thriving.” To me, it’s all part of her bigger romanticizing of Southern California. So many of these poems exist in beautiful, exquisite detail, like “Salamander,” that feels reminiscent of her songs. Her poetry has a spiritual vibe to them, reflecting on her place in the world. The details are probably much more clever than I give them credit for, though I love that every line has an urgency, telling stories that range from the mundane to the lush.
What “Violet” ultimately tells me is that the modern era of Lana Del Rey that began to take shape with “Honeymoon” is starting to reach a comfortable awareness. She has found a style that speaks to her beach noir. It’s her willingness to be nostalgic at one time and hopeful for the future in the next. While I think that this collection isn’t always the most engaging, I do love that it finds an outlet for her to expand her style and make you see her in totally new ways. I could see her releasing books every few years, adding her own whimsical take on a California in flux. I definitely feel like Lana Del Rey has been paying attention to some of the details she fills into these pages.
I’m still hoping that the next album turns out to be another masterpiece. Considering that “Violet” was itself delayed, I am ready to believe that there may be a snafu that pushes it back a bit. With that said, it’s still great to have new Lana Del Rey in our lives. To know that she continues to make west coast art that pops with deeper meaning makes me excited for whatever’s next from her.
I don’t love this collection, but that may just be that its one that will make more sense when I have the words in front of me, able to dissect every line. At the end of the day, that’s what’s most important, not her voice being spoken through a distorted microphone. Even then, when it has such highs as “LA Who Am I To Love You?” I am sure that the minor details will only blossom into something greater in the days and weeks to come. As a former literary arts student, this collection is a great start for a unique voice. I can’t wait to read more from her, hopefully soon.
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