Lana Del Rey has been having a rough time of it lately. Recent comments by the singer of the last year or so comparing her victimized pop songs to the empowered work of female artists who were predominantly women of color led to a deserved backlash of epic proportions, and then Del Rey doubled down on tone deaf commentary when it was time to announce the cover art for her forthcoming album, Chemtrails Over The Country Club.
She’s still readying that album for release next month, but as NME points out, in a recent print issue of Mojo magazine, Lana said she’s already recorded an entire album of country covers. Additionally, she pointed out an Americana tone in some of her older music, one that is carrying through into what she’s writing now, a collection of “other folk songs.”
“I went back and listened to “Ride” and “Video Games” and thought, you know they’re kind of country,” she said. “Maybe the way “Video Games” got remastered, they’re pop — but there’s something Americana about it for sure. So let’s see how these things come out. I’m not going to have pedal steel guitar on every single thing, but it is easy for me to write.”
Maybe these folk and country leanings are connected to the album White Hot Forever she teased the day that Norman F*cking Rockwell was released? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see, but a Lana country record seems like a good step toward getting past her recent downturn.