“That’s him [talking] in the middle,” responds Lana


when Music Week enquires about the sound of a male voice speaking in the background of Not All Who Wander Are Lost. “We just never took that out. “Jack’s technical skill is off the charts musically, his chords are fantastic if you’re ever stuck for inspiration,” she continues. “On top of everything, he’s just genuinely hilarious which is really important. We have each other laughing a lot.”


Chemtrails’ credits make for interesting reading. Especially in the streaming era, Lana seems to epitomise the singer-songwriter approach of yesteryear, working with a cadre of close collaborators. Alongside Antonoff, Chemtrails sees her team up with the legendary Rick Nowels on the exquisite acoustic track Yosemite [see panel, right]. “Rick and I are birds of a feather in many ways,” Lana says. “He values the same craftsmanship and ’60s and ’70s singers that I do.” Elsewhere, Zella Day and Weyes Blood are recruited for the album’s parting note, a dazzling cover of Joni Mitchell’s For Free.


“I was nervous to ask them to sing on the record,” says Lana. “I could’ve picked any song, but I love the way we sing that one – it’s perfect for a trio.”


For all the comparative intimacy of this creative cast compared to most modern records, this is a choice, not a stance. Lana casts no aspersions on the proliferation of songwriters featured on many of today’s biggest tracks – MW’s last deep dive revealing that today’s chart-toppers require an average of 4.77 songwriters per hit.


“We don’t count on hits,” laughs Ben Mawson. “Whilst being a superstar, she’s not conforming to anything in terms of modern pop. She wasn’t even when she first came out. Video Games didn’t have any drums and it was a big global hit when, at the time, everything was – and still is – dominated by beats. She’s done her own sweet thing musically since the start and it connects.”


“It’s not that I don’t want to have a hit, it’s just that without meaning to, my journey has ended up playing out more like a long-term game,” Lana adds, before outlining the things that have worked for her. “Long-playing records and lots of them! [With] spoken records in-between, and lots of other little interesting projects. I think an artist can have their finger on the pulse of culture without having big hits, but it might end up being something that isn’t metabolised in the form it was meant to be until a later time. At least that’s how I feel like it is for me mostly.”


“Lana’s in the


best place she's been in since the beginning of


her career”


TOM MARCH, POLYDOR


“I’ve certainly worked with a lot of producers over my lifetime!” she enthuses. “I’m not opposed at all to having a lot of collaborators, in fact I think that’s what makes so many modern albums amazing, and my old favourite Motown albums that have so many people and band members involved. I’m only just now breaking into being open to working with more people. I’ve always had only one partner – Rick Nowels for many years, Justin Parker for many years, and now I’ve been lucky enough to work with Jack for the last few. Everybody’s different but, for me, my first 10 years of writing were more like journalling so I needed to hash things out with just one person who could put the right bottom underneath my top melodies and words.”


What’s undeniable is that – regardless of who she works with – Lana holds a totally unique place in the modern pop firmament: she is in the charts (often at the very top) but also not of them. Here it perhaps helps to remember that Norman Fucking Rockwell!’s second single, Venice Bitch, was a nine-minute plus psychedelic haze. She has, assuredly, scored hits such as Video Games (1,047,511) and Born To Die (612,930), likewise she has superstar collaborations with Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande (Don’t Call Me Angel – 301,131) and The Weeknd (Lust For Life – 217,025). Her biggest single yet, meanwhile, is Cedric Gervais’ dance remix of Summertime Sadness (1,524,549). Yet Lana’s career has largely been built on the richness of her catalogue, the power of her bodies of work.


musicweek.com


But while the BPM of her music may not match your typical playlist fare, this hasn’t stopped her from amassing just under 20,000,000 million listeners on Spotify alone. That’s a lot of music being metabolised. “People just listen on repeat,” explains Millett. “They keep going back to her catalogue.” So often people ask, ‘Who is Lana Del Rey?’, but another question worth pondering is this: ‘Who is a Lana Del Rey fan?’ “Her biggest audience is 14-to-21-year-olds,” reveals Tom March. “Lana’s still as relevant –


more relevant – to teenagers today. She’s a rite-of-passage artist. If you’re a 13-year-old coming through and you like rap, you’re going to love Eminem. If you’re a 13-year-old and you’re into bands, you’re going to love the Foo Fighters and Nirvana. And, if you’re into singer-songwriters that talk directly to you? You’re going to love Lana.” But while she has retained her Born To Die-hard fanbase from 2011, and continues to pull in younger listeners, Music Week also wonders if Norman Fucking Rockwell!’s critical acclaim highlights a growth in her mature audience, too – something perhaps best signified by her recent appearance on the cover of Mojo. “It’s right that she should be seen alongside the legendary artists that grace the cover of Mojo, be it Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell,” says March. “She’s the next wave of those legendary artists.” Polydor’s co-president is not alone in this opinion. Rick Nowels has worked with some of the greatest artists of all time, including Madonna and Stevie Nicks. He is unequivocal on Lana’s status. “I was a big part of the first five albums, from Born To Die through to Lust For Life,” he tells Music Week from his studio. “She’s a towering songwriter. She’s as good as any of the great songwriters in history. Lana could hold her own with any of them.”


“Lana’s a talent the world sees once in a century,” adds Sony Music Publishing president,


From his work on Madonna’s classic Ray Of Light album to collaborations with Stevie Nicks and Dua Lipa, Rick Nowels is one of the most revered songwriters in the music business. Over the years he’s forged a close connection with Lana Del Rey, working on each of her albums to date, including a brilliant new song on Chemtrails...


How did the track Yosemite come together? “It was written a few years ago. We’ve written many songs together and have a lot of unreleased songs that are equally as strong as the ones she’s released. Lana’s very confident in her songwriting and has a very defined writing voice. She can write a gorgeous classic song in 15 minutes, she’s that good. Melody and lyrics flow out of her. Yosemite was written very quickly, like all of our songs. I just started fingerpicking on a nylon string guitar and she started singing. Then we improvised together, worked out a few details, and the melody was done. Then Lana said, ‘Give me a few minutes’ – she wrote the most poetic, evocative lyric and the song was complete. We recorded it immediately together live, with me playing guitar and Lana singing. We added a second acoustic guitar, a bongo and a few sound effects and the record was finished.”


Presumably you’re used to working very quickly with her, then?


“Yeah. Because you’re helping her to construct her song and you have to be very musical and fast! Lana writes songs with a lot of gravitas and it’s a big responsibility to make the songs as powerful as her lyrics – this is Lana Del Rey! You’re writing songs that will be around 50 to 100 years from now. All of our songs, from Summertime Sadness, Young And Beautiful, West Coast, High By The Beach, Love and Lust For Life, were written in one burst of energy. It’s a thrill writing with Lana. And actually very relaxing. Lana’s created her own unique genre as a songwriter and recording artist. Lana’s hugely influential and, I think, any musical artist today is aware and affected by her songwriting. She’s writing a catalogue of modern classic songs.”


Music Week | 29


PHOTO: Robert Zuckerman


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