(by Cordelia Leigh)
One of the most productive artists throughout lockdown, Lana Del Rey is set to release Blue Bannisters on 22 October, her second album of 2021. She’s already teased us with four singles, the most recent being ‘Arcadia’.
The piano chords that accompany the listener into the song blend beautifully with her whispery singing voice. The chorus is supported by soft orchestration that creates a dramatic ambience, setting the stage for the ever-famous sad girl persona that Lana is famous for. But it is the lyrics that prove Lana has come far from her Summertime Sadness days.
Arcadia means many things. In Greece, it is a mountainous region in central Peloponnese. In medicine, it means an absence of the heart. But to Lana, it is the city of Los Angeles, her adopted home as she sings, “My body is a map of L.A”.
While it may seem that she is talking about an ex-lover, as she has done in the past, this song is truly addressed to her critics, who “built me [her] up three hundred feet tall just to tear me down”. She finishes the song with a warning that it is in fact America who needs a miracle to change for the better, and that she’s not the sad, vulnerable girl she used to be – she’s thankful for all “the hate that they gave”.
Image: jaguar mena via flickr