Every Song On Lana Del Rey’s ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’, Ranked
Lana Del Rey's new album is her most poignant and personal yet - but it isn't without its missteps.
Almost two years after what many consider to be Lana Del Rey’s magnum opus, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, she’s delivered her seventh album Chemtrails Over The Country Club. It was never going to be an easy task. Its predecessor, after all, was named one of the best albums of the last decade by Pitchfork, NME, Rolling Stone, and more.
The rollout of the follow-up hasn’t been without its hiccups as Del Rey has found herself once again at the centre of criticism. Last year, she announced the album alongside an ill-conceived statement, lashing out at those who have critiqued her for “glamorising abuse” in her music. In the same post, she pointed out the success Beyoncé, Doja Cat, Cardi B and more have had with risque songs, asking whether she can now make, “whatever I want.”
Her intent in using the example of mostly women of colour was questioned, forcing Del Rey to defend herself further. When she released the cover of the album, she jumped ahead of the criticism by stating that the women on the front represent a diverse range of backgrounds.
It’s perhaps unsurprising that this paranoia carries over into Chemtrails. It’s an album inspired by the sparse American midwest and the notion of escapism. She’s either leaving relationships behind or forming them on the road. Fame is not for her, she’s a renegade now. It’s an album that’s both restless and hopeful, inspired by the idea that she was perhaps born to run, not to die.
In terms of songwriting, it’s some of her most direct and poignant yet. She’s inspired by the great American songwriters from Joni Mitchell to Bob Dylan and energised by this inescapable feeling of motion. We’re on the run with Del Rey, whipping through America with flashes of nostalgia and new horizons. While Norman Fucking Rockwell! contemplated the state of modern America through her own lense, Chemtrails is more personal, delving deep into no-mans land in order to find freedom.
As is the case with any Del Rey album, there’s plenty to unpack so we’ve ranked each song from worst-to-best, digging deep into the sounds and thoughts that make up Chemtrails Over The Country Club.
#11. ‘Not All Who Wander Are Lost’
Lodged in the middle of the album, ‘Not All Wander Are Lost’ lays out the album’s central themes plainly. She’s road-tripping and in her thoughts in Lincoln, Nebraska. “The thing about being on the road/Is there’s too much time to think,” she sings, as she questions the strength of her relationship with her partner. There’s a lyrical complacency, however, to this track that doesn’t dig quite as deep as the album’s more pensive moments.
The grammar nuts are going to take issue with this song too. “It wasn’t quite what I meaned/If you know what I mean,” she sings in one of the most disturbing uses of poetic license since Ariana Grande sang, “Now that I’ve become who I really are,” on ‘Break Free’.
#10. ‘Let Me Love You Like A Woman’
Last year, Del Rey finally launched the Chemtrails with ‘Let Me Love You Like A Woman’. Following up one of the most acclaimed albums of last decade was never going to be easy — and it wasn’t. Compared to Norman Fucking Rockwell!’s winding melodies and sweeping bridges, ‘LMLYLAW’ is simple and spacious.
It sounds like a standard, as if it were designed to be sung by anybody no matter the voice or genre. Bare-boned and lingering, it’s a sweet love song without teeth.
#9. ‘For Free’ (Feat. Zella Day & Weyes Blood)
Throughout her career, Del Rey has attached covers to her album as a way of anchoring them to a theme or style. ‘For Free’, a cover of Joni Mitchell’s Ladies Of The Canyon classic, is a fitting closer.
Chemtrails shows an appreciation not only for the narrative-driven songwriting of the song but the story behind it. Mitchell wrote it about a New York sidewalk musician playing joyfully for free and in many ways, Del Rey yearns to be that musician throughout the record.
“I didn’t even get famous ‘til I was, like, 27 and until then, I sang for less than free. And I loved it,” she told Mojo recently. By gathering Zella Day and Weyes Blood, two close friends of her, she attempts to recapture that feeling of playing music for pure joy. And she achieves it. It’s a beautiful cover full of vigour. Hope is a dangerous thing for a girl like Del Rey to have but she may just have found it here.
#8. ‘Dance Til We Die’
‘Dance Til We Die’ foreshadows ‘For Free’ with Del Rey singing, “I’m covering Joni”. It also namechecks Joan Baez and references Bob Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, making it clear what’s soundtracked her great American road trip.
Nostalgia is at the heart of everything Del Rey makes. The early part of her career was influenced by the glamour of vintage Hollywood but now she seems to be most inspired by free-spirited singer/songwriters. “Troubled by my circumstance/Burdеned by the weight of famе,” she sings as she escapes on the road and into music.
Del Rey is looking for a way out — a new life of oblivion — but then there’s a shift. The song takes a sudden sonic detour and Del Rey ignites. She sounds more inspired than ever as the music lifts and she roars amongst horns and gutsy guitars. Inspired by a night out dancing with Baez, she’s both invigorated and settled. For an album that is full of movement, this song brings with it an odd sense of calm.
#7. ‘Breaking Up Slowly’
Her biggest experiment with country music yet, ‘Breaking Up Slowly’ is a steely, smoky song that captures the twisted romance of Ultraviolence. She’s joined by Nikki Lane who ushers in the song singing, “I don’t wanna end up like Tammy Wynette” — the country queen of breakup anthems. It’s rare to hear Del Rey this direct. “It’s hard to be lonely, baby, breaking up is hard to do,” she sings, calling it quits with a stern determination.
#6. ‘Wild At Heart’
“Until we meet again, I’ll be out there somewhere, Running with the wolves,” Del Rey wrote in her final Instagram post before Chemtrails’ release. She wants us to understand that she’s truly a free spirit now which is something she’s been chasing all her career.
On the Norman Fucking Rockwell! tour, she chose obscure venues plotted across the country and then used the pandemic as an excuse to live out her fantasy of exploring America’s midwest. “I found my heart and I was super happy there,” she told producer Jack Antonoff in a conversation for Interview.
‘Wild At Heart’ captures the motion of her trip inland. “I left Calabasas, escaped all the ashes,” she sings, inciting the same imagery that she does on Norman Fucking Rockwell!’s ‘Bartender’ as she drives off into the sunset in a truck. In her music, Del Rey is always trying to escape fame and its consequences. Here, she momentarily finds that peace amongst a flurry of sweeping guitars and leaping keys.
#5. ‘Yosemite’
‘Yosemite’ has been in existence since 2007. She teased it for Lust For Life but cut it from the main tracklist because it was “too happy”. It finds an appropriate home on Chemtrails, an album that is about “an idealistic return to nature” which is what she was striving for on Lust For Life, but never quite got there.
Del Rey recorded the original in just one take and while it’s likely lived many lives over four years, its emotion is just as pure here. “You make me feel like I’m invincible,” she sings, adding “no more candle in the wind.”
Del Rey has always strived to assert her endurance in this industry. Her early career was marred by labels of hype and trends but she’s lasted the distance, although there’s still a paranoia that plagues her. The best thing anyone can do for Del Rey is make her feel “invincible.”
#4. ‘Tulsa Jesus Freak’
In August of last year, Del Rey posted a video of her vaping and singing to a new song. That song appears on the record as ‘Tulsa Jesus Freak’. Tapping into the mystical sonics of Lust For Life, it’s the album’s most textured track and one that buoys the front half of the record.
For what might be the first time ever, her voice is lightly auto-tuned, assisting it in winding wistfully around its dark beats. Lyrically, it harks back to the twisted love of Ultraviolence.
Alcohol, religion and sex are at the heart of it with Del Rey singing, “Keep that bottle at your hand, my man/Find your way back to my bed again/Sing me like a Bible hymn.” It’s so dark and tormented that it almost doesn’t fit thematically on Chemtrails but she brings it back with the “white-hot forever” lyric. In the space of the midwest, Del Rey feels immortal.
#3. ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’
On the title track of the album, Del Rey is running with the wolves. She’s an artist of extremes and it’s all out on display here. Despite the fact she’s leaving her life in California behind momentarily, she’s still plagued by her own thoughts and troubles. Religion, conspiracy theories, wealth and mental health all pass through her mind as she waltzes over a string-laden instrumental.
Del Rey’s early music was intense. Her songs encapsulated unfiltered, magnified emotions but over time she’s developed a more nuanced response to how she’s feeling. ‘Chemtrails’ acknowledges that there are multitudes to her personality while also embracing how extreme her responses can be. “I’m not unhinged or unhappy, I’m just wild,” she concludes, working out something she’s been questioning throughout her career.
On Norman Fucking Rockwell!’s closer ‘Hope Is A Dangerous Thing’ she sang, “Don’t ask if I’m happy/You know that I’m not/But at best you can see I’m not sad.” Now, she’s not unhappy. Progress.
#2. ‘White Dress’
How do you top an opener that began with the line, “God damn man child, you fucked me so good that I almost said I love you”?
‘White Dress’ isn’t nearly as lyrically shocking as ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell’ but her vocal performance may be her most daring ever. The meandering, off-kilter chorus is jarring at first as Del Rey’s voice breaks and wanders. She packs in more syllables than she should, denying us a hook that’s recognisable. And yet, you keep coming back. There’s something inescapable about the charm of ‘White Dress’. It’s utterly mesmerising.
Lyrically, Del Rey yearns for innocence and simplicity. “When I was a waitress/Wearing a tight dress/Like look how I do this/Look how I got this,” she sings continuing that it, “made me feel like a God”. She is one of the most influential and successful artists of our time and yet she felt like a God when she was a waitress.
She explained it to Mojo: “How I kind of grew up was to be a man amongst men and a grain of sand on the beach and I preferred to stay in the middle of the boat in that way.” Her struggles with fame and the criticism that comes with it is well-documented. Being a waitress brings anonymity — a chance to be “a grain of sand on a beach,” as she puts it.
#1. ‘Dark But Just A Game’
Chemtrails frequently wrestles with the price of fame but ‘Dark But Just A Game’ details that better than any other. Explained by Del Rey to be about a disappointing encounter with an idol, it sees her defiantly declare, “I’m not gonna change,” while also winking at the circus that is the music industry. She minimises the whole idea of fame and celebrity down to simply being, “a game,” adding, “play it like a symphony.” It is what it is for Del Rey as long as she’s able to maintain her sense of self.
Throughout Chemtrails, she searches for her innocence in nostalgia and escapism. Fame casts a shadow the entire time but here she’s bolstered by self-confidence. It’s some of the most illuminating songwriting of her career. She’s finally able to rise above and find some sort of comfort, standing tall over a rollicking Jack Antonoff instrumental that embraces all her grandeur while remaining startlingly personal.
Sam Murphy is a music writer and Co-Editor of The Interns. He also co-hosts the popular podcast Flopstars. Follow him on Twitter.