Lana Del Rey’s ‘Ultraviolence’: 8 Things We Know So Far

Carl Williott | April 14, 2014 12:01 pm

Even with her tour underway, one of two Coachella sets done and “West Coast” out, Lana Del Rey has somehow managed to keep the details of Ultraviolence under wraps. It’s no small feat for a major pop star these days — especially one who’s as prone to leaks as Lana is. A big reveal can’t be too far off, but to hold fans over until she drops another vague bombshell on Twitter or Instagram, we’ve combed through all the scraps of information that have been floating around for the past year or so and compiled a handy list of the eight things we know about Ultraviolence so far.

Head below for an idea of what we can expect from LDR’s highly anticipated new album.

1. It’s dark Lana deploys sadness as a capital-V Vibe better than almost anyone in pop, yet she always couches it with a certain dreamy quality — but perhaps that dreamy sheen will be stripped away on Ultraviolence. Unless this is a case of Katy Perry ditching the darkness at the last minute, Ultraviolence is shaping up to be a morose affair, as Lana revealed during a Twitter Q&A in January, “It’s so wrong and exquisite… It is absolutely gorgeous — darker then the first — so dark it’s almost unlistenable and wrong.”

“West Coast” certainly evoked a smokier, seedier vibe than her elegantly wasted persona of Born To Die/Paradise, but “dark” and “unlistenable” is all relative in the pop world. Yeezus this is not.

Speaking of…

2. It’s spiritual Last February, she said for this album she “moved on to a more spiritual place lyrically.” We’re not sure how she can get any more spiritual than singing “Jesus is my bestest friend” and depicting Eve in Tropico, but apparently all that biblical fare didn’t sate Lana’s divine hunger.

3. It will be out very soon This is yet another bit of news from the pouty lips of Lana herself. In February while signing autographs for fans, she replied to one who asked about the album’s release, saying “It’s coming out soon, May 1.” Luckily, the reveal was caught on camera, but there’s been a suspicious silence from her camp following that reveal. To be honest, we wouldn’t be surprised if Ultraviolence turned out to be that top secret Beyonce-style iTunes release that everyone’s been whispering about.

4. The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach headed production After Lana tweeted, “Me and Dan Auerbach are excited to present you Ultraviolence,” Revolt TV confirmed that the winner of 2013’s Producer Of The Year Grammy was behind the boards for Lana’s project. In addition, the official press release for “West Coast” names Auerbach as the song’s producer.

This also means that…

5. It was recorded in Nashville Or some of it, at least. Auerbach is based out of Nashville, and Del Rey was spotted there at the beginning of the year, which adds another layer to this being a new era separate from the gloomy L.A. glamour on her two prior releases. Again, the “West Coast” presser confirmed that that song was recorded in Nashville.

6. “Meet Me In The Pale Moonlight” is definitely not on it After the disco-tinged track hit the Web, Lana was quick to clarify that the song was four years old, and that she wrote it for someone else.

7. Leaks may have caused her to tweak the tracklist  “Black Beauty” was the first song Lana mentioned for her new album, and a demo of it leaked soon after. Then another song leaked. And another. And on and on, until LDR had to address the leaks, saying that some of the songs were indeed intended for the new LP.

“I do feel discouraged, yeah. I don’t really know what to put on the record. But I guess I could just put them on and see what happens,” she told Radio.com, adding that she even slowed down her work on the record “’cause my life is like completely invaded.” So the fate of “Black Beauty” is still unknown.

8. Cigarettes are a motif Lana sings about burning Parliaments in “West Coast,” the album’s billboards show her lighting up a cig and she even smoked a butt during her Coachella set. Probably something about the inherently cool appeal of nihilism. Or maybe she just has a habit.

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