Track Review: “High by the Beach” – Lana Del Rey

As we all eagerly await the blissful fourth album from the sultry perfection that is Lana Del Rey, her second track from the album has been released today. If you did not already assume so, it was amazing. Teasing us with nautical photoshoots for the single, Lana has continued to build my excitement for Honeymoon.

Lana’s newest album will be dropping this September, but we can all get high by the beach on our honeymoons until then. In typical Lana fashion, she takes to this track with an ethereal voice that transcends perfection. With lyrics of a tainted man who is hard to love, “High by the Beach” has a soothingly rhythmic chorus. What I love about Lana is her ability to craft such an alluringly seductive song on a superficial level, but, often times, these beautiful, delicate songs are comprised of dark, macabre, mysterious, and deadly lyrics, dripping in self-loathing.

You could be a bad motherfucker

But that don’t make you a man

Now you’re just another one of my problems

Because you got out of hand

To me, this track is quintessential Lana. The sound, the lyrics, the perfection. It all brings me back to the immense joy I had when I first discovered the wayward soul that is Lana Del Rey. I have not come across one song, even her unreleased body of work, that has not transported me to a state of blissful rapture when listening to it. “High by the Beach” is no exception to this rule. It is a gorgeous song with a lively melody, paired with the esoteric, obscure, and enigmatic vocals that accentuate the fact that Lana Del Rey is such an immensely talented artist and singer-songwriter.

The sound of “High by the Beach” is a fun and more upbeat melody than that of her album Ultraviolence, and it seems that this track is reminiscent of her Born to Die days, which, I believe, is the closest to perfection an album has come to in a while. Every track was heartfelt, fun, and infectious, and I believe that Honeymoon is on the same track that Born to Die was.

In my opinion, Lana Del Rey has already solidified her album Honeymoon as one of the best albums that will drop this year with her tracks “Honeymoon” and “High by the Beach.” Am I optimistically jumping the gun? Or am I confident that the talented artist has an entire album the likes of her two singles? Definitely the latter. With  Ultraviolence released in June 2014, I am simply astounded that Lana is capable of creating such excellent music and albums in such close proximity of one another. Why am I surprised, though? Again and again, Lana has proven that she is an amazing artist and one of the baddest bitches in the music business.