Lana Del Rey - Let Me Love You Like a Woman - Single [Review]

It is definitely a great year to be a fan of American indie pop musician Lana Del Rey. She finally released her poetry anthology Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass (the audio version of which I reviewed here) not too long ago, and she has since released the first single - titled "Let Me Love You Like a Woman" - from her upcoming studio album titled Chemtrails Over the Country Club. Originally slated to be titled White Hot Forever, Lana announced the release date of Chemtrails Over the Country Club as September 5th of this year, but that has obviously come and gone, so it has clearly been delayed. I am predicting an early to mid 2021 release considering the fact that it's now November (meaning that 2020 is almost over) and we just got the first single. Much in the same vein as many of the Norman Fucking Rockwell! songs are, the song is driven primarily by piano which I really appreciate, although softly strumming acoustic guitar can also be heard underneath the piano. (It is also co-written with Jack Antonoff, as most of the NFR! tracks are.) Del Rey has stated that it's one of her favorite songs from the album and that there is something special about it. I really love the melody of the song, especially in the verses: "I come from a small town. How 'bout you?" she sings in her signature soft and velvety voice. "I only mention it 'cause I'm ready to leave LA." Del Rey is from Lake Placid, NY, a small town outside of New York City, and her move to California several years ago is something that she has been covering in both her music and her poetry for several years now. Here she seems to have grown tired of Los Angeles, ready to move on to a new chapter of her life. The song seems to first and foremost be a love song, however, imagining a heavenly forever with the love of her life (who may or may not yet exist), something that she also does on previous songs such as "Venice Bitch" and "How to disappear." "Eighty miles north or south will do. I don't care where as long as you're with me..." The only aspect of the song that I don't really care for (although it could be that I am misinterpreting it, and I would like to think that I am) is that it lyrically seems to be romanticizing a traditional and outdated view of the role of women, which is to be nurturing and motherly: "Let me love you like a woman," Lana proposes in the soft and ethereal chorus. "Let me hold you like a baby." As I said, the implication seems to be here that loving someone like a woman loves is to be like a mother to said person, and I find this notion to be kind of sexist and limiting, but it could be, as I said, that I am either misinterpreting it or that Del Rey is using this antiquated notion in a subversive manner. Either way, however, it is definitely a beautiful song, and I am looking forward to hearing more, as I am sure that more singles will be dropped before we get the album in its entirety.