Lana Del Rey is exciting fans with her two, newly released singles which come from her upcoming album “Ultraviolence”.
Del Rey performed at the KIMYE pre-wedding party on Friday, May 23. Kanye arranged this as a surprise treat for Kim, aligning with the orchestral performance of “Young and Beautiful” during his proposal. The event took place at the Palace of Versailles where guests were chauffeured in by horses to the performance of a full orchestra. Del Rey initially performed the album title track “Ultraviolence” at this event.
Following her KIMYE performance, Del Rey played “Ultraviolence” at a show in Vancouver. The vocals for this darkly poignant song are dreamy and ethereal. The song takes on a the heavy topic of a violent romance, at one part Del Rey sings, “he hit me and it felt like a kiss”.This subject matter is extremely heavy and sensitive yet Del Rey seems to flawlessly execute her artistic expression of it. The piano portion is truly haunting.
The other released track, which obviously deals with a romantic tragedy, is “Shades of Cool”. The song was released on May 26 as a promotional single.
“Shades of Cool” exhibits Del Rey’s signature mix of swanky club singer with shewolf daredevil. For this eerie single, she teamed up with Rick Nowels again, who helped her in writing “Summertime Sadness” as well as “Young and Beautiful”. The product of their united forces is once again indulgent and captivating.
Unlike her some of her less successful songs, “Shades of Cool” is focused both in its musical mechanics as well as its subject matter. Del Rey talks about her recurring “baby”, who apparently drives a Chevy Malibu and enjoys listening to Jazz while indulging in drug use.
Both singles are good indicators for her upcoming album “Ultraviolence”, which is planned for release on Jun. 17 by Interscope Records. The track list includes titles such as “Old Money”, “Pretty When you Cry”, “Sad Girl”, “Guns and Roses”, and other quintessentia Del Rey titles. The album is available for preorder on itunes.
