Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

By now, Del Rey's persona and esthetic are well established: a femme fatale who revels in moody numbers about bad boys. It’s been a successful formula where the 32-year-old singer’s blank stare reflected her music’s ennui. So what are we to make of Del Rey’s smiling face on her latest album? Has she found contentment? While the New York City native is still mired in toxic relationships, her concerns now about have more to do with the state of the planet. “When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing” finds her asking “Is it the end of America?” and “God Bless America—And All the Beautiful Women In It” is an ode to feminism. Best of all, there’s something close to joyful abandon on the Beatlesqu...

The enigmatic chanteuse once described herself as the “gangsta Nancy Sinatra.” On her latest release, Lana Del Rey embraces the tragic siren of 1950s and ’60s pop, mixing cinematic influences to create an ethereal soundtrack that is deliciously retro. It can get a little spooky. On the narcotically slow title track, Del Rey sings, “we both know the history of violence that surrounds you.” It’s clear that she’s resigned herself to the magnetic attraction of “Mr. Born to Lose.” On the sultry “Freak,” she urges her lover to “come to California and be a freak like me.” And she sounds every bit the tortured lover on the windswept “High By the Beach” when she sings, “I can’t survive, if this is al...

Del Rey channeled sad beauty queens and mystery on her darkly cinematic Born to Die. Here, the modern-day torch siren evokes twisted valley girls and atmospheric jazz on songs like the hypnotic “West Coast” and the eerie “Shades of Cool,” in which she delights that her cool prince “calls for me, and not for you.”