*ੈ✩‧₊˚୨୧
In June of 2014, Lana del Rey released an album of the name
Ultraviolence. This album is one of her third albums which one of her many
inspirations came from a passage from Vladmir Nabokov’s
Lolita novel. According to Songfacts.com
the website quotes that “It could be that Burgess (an author from
A Clockwork Orange) could have been influenced by a passage from Nabokov’s novel where the
narrator examines the word ‘violence’ several times.” But, according to Lana, the album finds Lana
exploring the feeling of love and pain at the same time.
“Watch what you say to me,
careful who your talking to,
I’m on fire, baby,
I’m on fire.”୨୧
According to Lana, she says that this makes her feel vicariously
important and powerful because of the high status of her man. In
“National Anthem” there were several similar notions of this saying. The fire indicates
a self-destructive imagery meaning shes literally “burning” in his fire, or presence.
But, where did the albums name get its origin from?
The Ultraviolence title appeared way before recording, though she got some of her
inspiration from the novel said previously, Lana quoted that “I think the album was called
‘Ultraviolence’ before I even had the songs recorded.” She says to Radio.com. In the first week of
its release, it sold 182,000 copies giving Lana her first #1 on Billboard 200 Chart.
An emotional connection of sadness and aggression gave Lana another idea
on the album because she “liked the sound of the word ‘ultra’ and the word
‘violence’ together.” Lana says that “I like that two words can live
in one.”
Here is the Tracklist on Ultraviolence ୨୧
- “Cruel World”
- “Ultraviolence”
- “Shades of Cool”
- “Brooklyn Baby”
- “West Coast”
- “Sad girl”
- “Pretty When You Cry”
- “Money Glory Power”
- “Old Money”
- “The Other Woman”
- “Black Beauty”
- “Guns and Roses”
- “Florida Kilos”
- “Is This Happiness”
- “Flipside”
In my opinion, I personally think that “Ultraviolence, Sad Girl,
Flordia Kilos, and The Other Woman” are the best songs because
they have a meaning behind all of them. For example, “The Other Woman”
which was a cover, strictly covers an example of being the other woman
in a relationship. Even Lana herself loves the song, which she shared her top spotifiy songs
to her fans on her birthday. The song being a cover from the iconic Nina Simone
gifted Lana the idea of tattooing her name above her previous tattoo quoting Billie Holiday, her other favorite singer.
·˚ ༘ ꒱
- In the album, the raw emotion and anger she exudes contrasts wildly to the ‘damsel-in-distress’ persona of Born To Die
- Her blind romanticism, unsubstantiated hope, and insensitivity to obvious red flags harkens back to her 2012 classic and gives her listeners a taste of the past. ୨୧
