Once again, Lana manages to retain her typical style while still doing something new with that said typical style. Considering all of the major/commercial releases, I think of Born to Die as the pop album, Paradise as the noir/film soundtrack album, Ultraviolence as the psychedelic/rock album, and Honeymoon as the blues/jazz album. I remember reading quite some time ago that Honeymoon would be a return to Born to Die's sound, but that is definitely not the case. Of the previous three major/commercial releases, Honeymoon is probably closest in sound to Ultraviolence, as they are the two most downbeat albums thus far. Even then, though, as I said, Lana still delivers something new. Abandoning the electric guitars and psychedelic sounds found on Ultraviolence tracks such as "Cruel World" and "West Coast," she primarily opts instead for strings, piano, saxophone, etc. Highlights on the album include "God Knows I Tried," "High by the Beach" (the lead single), "Freak," and "Salvatore," but so many songs on this album are so phenomenal melodically and lyrically, so much so that it is really difficult to choose a favorite (but I think that I have conquered that difficulty and have chosen "Freak"). I think that my only complaint regarding the album (aside from its terrible cover art - I mean, is it meant to be a Starline Tours ad?) is its title. I don't feel that Honeymoon fits the album's overall content. I remember hearing rumors that the album would be called Music to Watch Boys To (which is the title of the album's second track), and I would have been a lot happier with that, as I feel that that would have been more appropriate.
Honeymoon opens with its title track "Honeymoon," which was technically the first song released from the album, as it was uploaded to Lana's YouTube channel during the summer. The song, to me, sounds a lot like a film noir song, a song featured as the lead song from a very old movie. It opens with soaring orchestral strings wailing the song's main melody, with Lana opening the album with lyrics that manage to be both self-confident and self-depreciating: "We both know that it's not fashionable to love me, but you don't go 'cause truly, there's nobody for you but me." The song's noir sound reminds me of Paradise, but its lyrics, which seem to be about acknowledging and accepting her lover's shortcomings (which could potentially even be voluntary and violent, as evidenced in the lyrics "We both know the history of violence that surrounds you..."), remind me of Ultraviolence (from songs like "Shades of Cool" and "Sad Girl"). I really enjoy this song, but the bridge near the end featuring the lyrics "There are violets in your eyes..." is a bit off-putting to me because the melody seems to come out of nowhere, not matching with the rest of the song. Underneath this bridge is militaristic marching drums (reminding me of "Young and Beautiful"), which does add an interesting touch to the song. When the song's chorus picks back up for the final time, it is backed by a newly added haunting piano accompaniment being played high-pitched, simulating a bird tweeting.
The second track is "Music to Watch Boys To," which, as I mentioned before, is the song that I had, at one point, thought to be the title track. The vocals are very echoey, with Lana immediately kicking the track off a cappella with "I like you a lot..." When the first verse starts, I am immediately reminded of "Sad Girl," as the melodies of the first lines ("Pink flamingoes always fascinated me" from "Music to Watch Boys To" and "Being a mistress on the side, it might not appeal to fools like you" from "Sad Girl") are nearly identical. The song's chorus is the echoey intro. I love this song, but it was mixed a bit oddly (although I am sure that it was done intentionally), as Lana's vocals are drastically louder than the song's accompaniment. My belief is that it was done intentionally to give the song a sense of being a cappella, even though it is not. It is no secret to anyone who is even vaguely familiar with Lana's personal life that she hasn't had much luck with men, and lyrically, "Music to Watch Boys To" seems to acknowledge that, seeming to be about how her music commemorates the men who walk in and out of her life. It really represents not only the album in general but also Lana's music in general, which is one reason why I really think that Music to Watch Boys To would have been a much better title for the album than Honeymoon. I already mentioned the fact that I don't like the album cover and explained why, but another reason why I don't like it is because it does not fit the album title.
The third track on Honeymoon is "Terrence Loves You," which Lana has actually said is her favorite song on the album because "it's jazzy." The song opens with a low, bassy guitar that is reminiscent of Ultraviolence, but overall, I agree with Lana, not necessarily with it being my favorite song on the album but about it being jazzy. The song has been described by Rolling Stone as "hypnotic," which I definitely think is fitting. The chorus of the song, which painfully laments that "I lost myself when I lost you...," is backed by a light saxophone that perfectly complements Lana's painful wistfulness. The song also features a nod to David Bowie's 1969 song "Space Oddity" in its lyric: "Ground control to Major Tom." I like the clever pun in the chorus, as well: "...I still got jazz when I've got the blues." The word "blues" obviously has two meanings here. I am not sure who Terrence is supposed to be. I've even tried doing research on the matter but have found nothing. There is a prominent jazz musician named Terence Blanchard, but I don't think that the song title is in reference to him because it isn't spelled the same way. The album is also lousy with references to old(er) songs of Lana's, and it is possible that "Terrence Loves You" features one, too. In the bridge of the song, she sings, "I put the radio on...," which could be a reference to her unreleased song "Put the Radio On," in which she also sings about listening to radio in relation to her relationship.
Moving on to the fourth track, "God Knows I Tried" is the song on the album that probably sounds the most like Ultraviolence, bringing to mind songs like "Pretty When You Cry." This beautiful song, which, at times, seems almost like a gospel-style song, is an example of a song that proves Honeymoon to be Lana's rawest, most confessional album yet, and she has apparently even said that "God Knows I Tried" is a song that is incredibly close to her heart. It is one of several songs on the album that seems to be a sort of response to all of the negative criticism that Lana has endured over the last few years ever since she achieved fame, such as the idea that she is artificial and inauthentic, that she's trying to emulate an era that is not her own. Ultraviolence tackled this issue on its track "Brooklyn Baby," on which she sings that "they judge me like a picture book by the colors, like they forgot to read." Here, Lana sings that "I feel free when I see no one, and nobody knows my name" and that "I've got nothing much to live for ever since I found my fame." Here, Lana is tackling the idea that fame is not the glory that it's cracked up to be, that it has its darkness and its loneliness. It, of course, carries with it the fact that you're always being scrutinized and judged by the public eye, whether that be the media or just listeners. The song is almost like a response to the "haters," saying that despite what you all seem to think of her, she is a human being who has really struggled.
The aforementioned discussion of my analysis of "God Knows I Tried" is why I like the fact that that song and the album's lead single "High by the Beach" are paired next to each other. There are different ways of interpreting "High by the Beach." One is that it's strictly about a relationship with a man of whom Lana has simply had enough. She is blowing him off, saying that she doesn't need him anymore to be happy (a huge point of development from previous albums with songs like "Dark Paradise," "Without You," "Sad Girl," etc.). I believe that to be a legitimate and intended meaning of the song, but I also think that there is another intended meaning. I think that this song is also meant to be another response to negative criticism from the public. Lyrics such as "Don't need your money... to get me what I want" and "The truth is I never bought into your bullshit when you would pay tribute to me..." indicate this. The music video also supports this idea, as it has nothing to do with a relationship but instead shows a helicopter hovering around Lana's home until she finally decides that she has had enough and shoots the helicopter out of the sky, causing it to be explode. The metaphor is fairly obvious; her home represents her private life, and the helicopter represents the media constantly trying to get a piece of her. Music videos don't always directly correspond with the meaning of their songs, but I think that this one does. Musically, the song is quite different than anything else on the album. Beginning with what sounds like an organ, it ends up being the most upbeat song on the album and has been described as having a sort of hip-hop feel to it. It is one of my favorites and is another one that features a reference to an old song; the line "Lights, camera, acción" is directly from "Put Me in a Movie."
The sixth track on the album is called "Freak" and is probably my favorite song from the album. I love Lana's hypnotic (yes, I am reusing that word) humming and the dark, haunting, almost industrial instrumental underneath. This is another confessional song for Lana, as she sings, "Baby, if you want to leave, come to California; be a freak like me, too. Screw your anonymity; loving me is all you need to feel like I do." It seems like she is addressing a potential lover, saying that she sacrificed her privacy and her anonymity for the sake of fame, and now, she is seen as a freak. I adore the melody of this song and features yet another parallel to an unreleased song. In Lana's unreleased song "Angels Forever, Forever Angels," she sings, "Is the sun in your eyes, easy rider?" In "Freak," she sings, "Sun reflecting in your eyes, like an easy rider," an obviously deliberate parallel. The song moves directly into "Art Deco" with no pause; it's gapless. I am embarrassed to admit that I actually didn't know what "art deco" meant and had to look it up. In case you don't, either, it's an artistic movement that spanned from about the 1920s to the 1940s. Think of the design from the new The Great Gatsby film. Lana has, in the past, shown a love and admiration for past eras such as the 20s and the 60s/70s, so it makes a lot of sense that she would evoke this imagery. The song is asking its intended audience why they are always wanting more when they already have so much. Rumor has it that it's about Azealia Banks, which is supported by lyrics like "Got things that've yet to be seen like your rapper's delight." The song is very low and whispery, and even though I do really like it, I think that it might be a bit overrated, since a lot of people are saying that it's their favorite song from the album.
There really isn't a whole lot to say about the eighth track, as it is a short interlude featuring the T.S. Eliot poem "Burnt Norton" over some ambient music. The poem seems to bring in the question of time, stating that what actually happened in the past and what could have happened in the past are similar in that neither exists. The past can never be again, and all we have is the present. The ninth track is a slow bluesy rock song called "Religion," and its meaning is pretty straightforward; it is about a relationship with someone to whom you are devoted like one would be devoted to a religion or a god. This is emphasized in lyrics such as "when I'm down on my knees, you're how I pray" (it is, of course, entirely possible that there is some intended sexual innuendo there, but I can't say for sure because I don't know). The tenth track from the album, "Salvatore," is one of my favorite tracks from the album. Like "High by the Beach," "Salvatore" is quite different from anything else on the album and different, for that matter, from anything she has ever done. The chorus is, melodically, one of the most powerful choruses on the album. She channels a little bit of Italian, and I know that "Ciao, amore" means "Goodbye, love." The song sounds very European and reminds me of a slower "Americano" by Lady Gaga, only with an Italian influence rather than a Spanish one. The song references Lana's unreleased song "Backfire," as both songs mention the character (or possibly real person in Lana's life; I don't know for sure) Salvatore.
The eleventh track from Honeymoon is "The Darkest Day," and while I really love this beautiful bluesy song (which is probably the song that sounds the most like Born to Die), it is a bit difficult to listen to because of how close to home that it hits for me. Like "Music to Watch Boys To," the vocals are very echoey, and on the chorus, Lana wails that "ever since my baby went away, it's been the blackest day." I say that it hits home for me because it describes the grieving process after a devastating breakup, and loss like that is something that I understand all too well. Some of the lyrics remind me of the lyrics "Don't they know it's the end of the world? It ended when you said goodbye." This is, of course, from Skeeter Davis's 1962 song "End of the World," which we know Lana is familiar with because she covered it. The twelfth track is titled "24" and is probably my least favorite song from the album. The song is also bluesy and refers to the fact that even though mathematically, days are short (only twenty-four hours), hours feel long when half of them are spent being lied to by your lover and the other half are spent plotting how to take anger out on said lover. The song also refers to her lover's violent tendencies with lyrics such as "You hit that street and my crooked lust. You count to three while they're all dying." In some ways, the song makes a callback to the opening track "Honeymoon," which also talks of a man with violent tendencies. Could the two songs be about the same man?
"Swan Song" sounds like it could fit on Paradise, perhaps as the closing track. The song, which, like Paradise's "Ride," sounds like a slow Americana rock song, invokes a fantasy of ditching the glamorous life of a celebrity and escaping somewhere where she can be free with her lover. A swan song is someone's final act before death or retirement, and Lana consequently sings that "I will never sing again." One can only hope that the song is only a song and is not meant to be taken so literally and so personally. Otherwise, ever since Lana went away, it will have been the blackest day! Much like the standard edition of Ultraviolence closes with a Nina Simone cover (of "The Other Woman"), Honeymoon (which disappointingly has no deluxe version) also closes with a Nina Simone cover, this time of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," a song that has been covered countless times by different artists. Even though the track is cited as a Nina Simone cover (probably because she was the first to record it in 1964), Lana's version is much more similar to The Animals' cover version, which came out in 1965, as it sounds a bit like a psychedelic rock song from the sixties. Most likely, most everyone has heard this song from one artist and/or another, so I don't really feel the need to analyze the song too deeply, especially since the title basically speaks for itself. I really like the song, though, so I am glad that Lana covered it, especially since her vocals are really great on it and also since it fits the theme of songs like "God Knows I Tried." Overall, I immensely love and enjoy Honeymoon. Most of its production is crisp and unlike most anything else that you hear in 2015. Is it my favorite Lana Del Rey album so far? It's hard to choose one, but that honor probably goes to Ultraviolence. It's a really strong, solid album, though.
