Video will appear as you scroll through the story
Lana Del Rey · S6 E2
Venice Bitch
Nine minutes, no chorus, and the greatest Lana Del Rey song ever made
September 2018. Lana Del Rey plays her managers a new single. It's nine minutes and thirty-six seconds long, has no chorus, and is called "Venice Bitch." They ask if she's kidding.
"Let It Happen" (Tame Impala, 2015). Kevin Parker's seven-minute psychedelic epic is the closest thing in modern rock to what Lana does on "Venice Bitch": a song that builds, dissolves, and refuses to end until it's ready. This is the sound world that NFR! lives in.
“It was funny when I played for my managers. They were like 'it's 10 minutes long, are you kidding me. It's called Venice Bitch, why do you do this to us?' And I was like 'no, end of summer some people just wanna drive around for 10 minutes and get lost in electric guitar.'”
— Lana Del Rey, Beats 1/Zane Lowe interview, September 2018
The Longest Song She's Ever Made
"Venice Bitch" doesn't build to a chorus. It doesn't even pretend to follow pop structure. The first half is a soft folk song about love at the beach, and then the second half dissolves into a psychedelic guitar solo that stretches until the song decides it's done. At nine minutes and thirty-six seconds, it's the longest track Lana has ever released.
Sources
Pitchfork
The Guardian
Under the Radar
Let It Happen, Tame Impala (2015)
Kevin Parker recorded "Let It Happen" alone in his home studio, layering guitars, synths, and drums until the song felt like an environment rather than a performance. It runs past seven minutes, shifts textures completely in its middle section, and trusts the listener to stay for all of it. Listen for how the production breaks down into a stuttering, glitching loop before rebuilding itself from scratch. This is the template for what Lana and Antonoff do on "Venice Bitch": give the listener permission to lose track of time.
Sources
Pitchfork
Rolling Stone
TAP TO REVEAL: What did Pitchfork do when they reviewed 'Venice Bitch'?
Venice Beach, Los Angeles
The boardwalk, the skate park, the strip of sand and sunset where Lana wrote the song that shares its name.
Venice Bitch: The Details
Cinnamon Girl, Lana Del Rey
From Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019). If "Venice Bitch" is the album's wildest experiment, "Cinnamon Girl" is its most accessible moment: a warm, hazy love song with a melody that sticks on first listen. Antonoff's production wraps around Lana's voice like a blanket, proving that the same partnership that made a ten-minute epic can also make a perfect three-minute pop song.
Cinnamon Girl, Lana Del Rey (2019)
"There's things I wanna say to you, but I'll just let you live" she sings, and the restraint in the lyrics mirrors the restraint in the production. After the sprawl of "Venice Bitch," this song proves Lana can say everything in three minutes when she wants to.
How many tracks does Norman Fucking Rockwell! contain?
Two singles in and the critics are already calling this her best work. But the album isn't out yet, and when it finally drops in August 2019, it does something none of her records have done before: it makes every single year-end list. Next: Norman Fucking Rockwell! arrives, and the vindication is total.
0 XP earned this session