Listen: Lana Del Rey hears sirens in title track from ‘Ultraviolence’
Among the highlights of Lana Del Rey’s generally disappointing concert Friday night at the Shrine Expo Hall was the singer’s performance of her new song “Ultraviolence.”
The title track from the feverishly anticipated album she’s set to release June 17, “Ultraviolence” (which appeared Wednesday on YouTube) sets words about hearing sirens and being “blessed with beauty and rage” over a typically woozy arrangement full of shivering strings and deserted-saloon piano.
It also borrows the refrain from the Crystals’ infamous early-’60s girl-group tune “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)” — a move sure to generate fresh controversy in the wake of Del Rey’s telling the Fader that “the issue of feminism is just not an interesting concept.”
“Ultraviolence” is the third song Del Rey has released from “Ultraviolence,” following “West Coast” and “Shades of Cool.”
What does it all mean? Perhaps the album will make it clear. (Also perhaps not.)
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