Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails over the Country Club - Single [Review]

American singer/songwriter is set to release her new studio album Chemtrails over the Country Club on March 19 this year, only a little more than a month away, and the title track is the second single to be released from the album following "Let Me Love You Like a Woman" (which I reviewed here). I don't hate "Let Me Love You Like a Woman" but also consider it to be fairly weak especially in comparison to the masterpiece that is Norman Fucking Rockwell! (reviewed here), and although I definitely prefer "Chemtrails over the Country Club" to "Let Me Love You Like a Woman," it still doesn't come close to capturing the way that NFR! makes me feel. It's rather simplistic in its production, although the melody is interesting in how it gently wavers like ocean waves, especially in the chorus: "I'm on the run with you, my sweet love," Lana coos. "There's nothing wrong contemplating God under the chemtrails over the country club." Lana is initially accompanied by very light and gentle piano, drowned out by Lana's loud but also somewhat distant vocals, while more instrumentals gradually join in as the song progresses. What is most interesting about this track is that it takes a somewhat unexpected turn near the end, with the last forty-five seconds or so leaving Lana's vocals out of the equation and sticking to merely a marching rhythm carried out by snare drum and cymbals. The music video is even more unexpected, as its initial imagery of summer paradise is jarringly interrupted by horror-esque images of fire, fangs, and blood. All of this suggests to me that there might be something somewhat sinister lurking underneath the song's seemingly happy lyrics. Throughout the song, Lana references bliss in listed activities such as swimming, drag racing, meeting for coffee, and so forth, but, as Genius points out, chemtrails are a popular discussion amongst conspiracy theorists who believe them to be emissions of harmful chemicals being dispersed by the government. It is therefore possible that the song is touching upon blissful ignorance, using said conspiracy theory as a metaphor. All in all, it's not a bad song by any means, but neither this nor the preceding single leave me thinking that Chemtrails over the Country Club is going to be Lana's magnum opus, and I hope that the album offers other numbers to which I connect more deeply than I have these two.