Song of the Day #5,372: ‘Change’ – Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey’s big smile on the cover art of 2017’s Lust For Life is the first indication that this collection will differ from her previous work. Would the melancholy queen actually sound happy for a change?

I don’t know if I’d go that far, but this is a brighter and more optimistic record than its predecessors. Sonically, it reaches back to the hip-hop influences of Born to Die and comes the closest to a traditional pop album that Del Rey is likely going to get. She even has features on five tracks.

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Song of the Day #4,257: ‘Beautiful People Beautiful Problems’ – Lana Del Rey w/ Stevie Nicks

This is the third Leap Day since I started my Song of the Day blog back in 2008. That was a leap year as well, but I started posting songs in July so February had already passed.

My previous two Leap Day posts surprisingly contain no mention of the date. In 2012, I featured The Shins’ ‘Saint Simon’ during a week of unrelated songs (I did a lot fewer theme weeks in the blog’s early days).

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Song of the Day #3,426: ‘In My Feelings’ – Lana Del Rey

Back in March, when Lana Del Rey released the first single from her new album Lust For Life, I made this statement: “One thing I love about Del Rey is how little she seems to care about bending her sound toward the fads of the day. You won’t find a rap break in any of her songs.”

Six songs into Lust For Life, she made me eat those words, as rapper A$AP Rocky shows up to deliver a verse on the track ‘Summer Bummer.’ He sticks around for the next song, ‘Groupie Love,’ as well.

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