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Lana Del Rey · S3 E3
West Coast
The tempo-switching lead single that divided fans and announced a new era
April 14, 2014, and the lead single from Ultraviolence drops. Thirty seconds in, the tempo switches mid-verse, the production drops into a psychedelic crawl, and the Lana Del Rey everyone thought they knew is gone.
"Mariners Apartment Complex" (Lana Del Rey, 2018). Another lead single that announces a new direction, another shift in confidence. West Coast and this song share the same DNA: the moment Lana tells the world what's coming next, and dares them to follow.
The Lead Single Nobody Expected
"West Coast" is the most disorienting lead single a major pop artist released in 2014. The song shifts between a breezy California verse and a heavy, slowed-down chorus, essentially becoming two different songs stitched together. It confused radio programmers, divided fans, and immediately signaled that Ultraviolence would sound nothing like Born to Die.
Sources
Pitchfork
NME
Billboard
TAP TO REVEAL: Why does West Coast sound like two songs in one?
Mariners Apartment Complex, Lana Del Rey (2018)
The first single from Norman Fucking Rockwell! announces a quieter kind of confidence. Jack Antonoff builds the track around a simple piano figure and Lana's voice, with guitars that enter slowly and never overpower. Listen for how the chorus melody climbs steadily upward, creating a feeling of rising above something without ever shouting about it. Where West Coast hits you with a tempo change, this song lifts you without you noticing.
Sources
Pitchfork
Rolling Stone
West Coast: The Single
Brooklyn Baby, Lana Del Rey
From Ultraviolence (2014). "My boyfriend's in a band, he plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed." This is the most self-aware song Lana has ever written, a wink at every critic who called her pretentious. She describes herself the way her haters describe her, and then sings it so beautifully that the joke becomes the point.
Brooklyn Baby, Lana Del Rey (2014)
"I think I'm too cool to know ya." The lyrics lean into every stereotype about Lana Del Rey: the vintage obsession, the pretension, the too-cool detachment. But she writes it with so much charm that you can't tell if she's making fun of herself or owning it. Probably both.
In what month and year was the Ultraviolence album released?
West Coast has split the fanbase down the middle and the album isn't even out yet. Next: Ultraviolence drops at #1, and Lana Del Rey finally gets the one thing Born to Die couldn't buy her: respect.
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