Lana Del Rey premiered the title track to her soon-to-be-released fifth studio record Lust for Life today. The song features The Weeknd and Del Rey singing about a love unbounded by earthly restraints or worries. In addition to premiering the track on BBC Radio 1, Del Rey took advantage of her huge YouTube following by accompanying the official audio release with an airy, extended shot of The Weeknd and her sitting atop the Hollywood sign, dangling their feet and lost in each other’s eyes.
Del Rey and The Weeknd are big fans of each other. They first worked together on The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness, where Del Rey made an appearance on the track “Prisoners” (also a thematic rumination on Hollywood). The two continued their musical courtship on The Weeknd’s recently-released Starboy, Del Rey making a brief, but sultry, appearance on the outro for “Party Monster” and the poetic “Stargirl Interlude”.
Del Rey is unapologetic about her obsession with The Weeknd. She told Courtney Love during a interview, “Maybe that’s kind of weird to have a feature on the title track, but I really love that song and we had said for a while that we were gonna do something; I did stuff on his last two records.”
The light-hearted, easy-breezy lyrics to “Lust for Life” continues Del Rey’s dramatic departure from her signature melancholy sound. The first single “Love” featured Del Rey expressing her envy over those who are still in the carefree prime of their youth. And perhaps “Lust for Life” is her attempt to return to that long-gone, rose-colored period of her life.
When asked about what fans could expect the upcoming album to sound like, Del Rey told BBC Radio 2, “It’s just a little more socially aware.” She elaborated with, “I felt like (talking) to the younger side of the audience I have.” And judging from her album cover art (Del Rey performing a painfully gummy smile for the camera), Lust for Life seems poised to capture all the beauty — and awkwardness — of youth.
Credits
Text André-Naquian Wheeler