Lana Del Rey’s fourth full-length album is a masterpiece. “Honeymoon,” as it is aptly titled, is the crowning jewel in the artist’s discography. From the album’s eponymous opening track, it is clear that Del Rey has perfected her artistry with this latest work.
Throughout the album, Del Rey successfully merges the pop- and hip hop-influenced sounds of her earlier music, such as “Born to Die” and “National Anthem,” with the live instrumentation and theatrics of her more recent songs “Brooklyn Baby” and “Ultraviolence.”
“Honeymoon” is the true lovechild of contemporary jazz and hip-hop — the title track showcases Del Rey’s more mature, powerful vocals much more in the vein of “Young and Beautiful,” rather than “Summertime Sadness.”
Del Rey’s voice effortlessly soars over simple piano, saxophone and string instrumentation in “Terrence Loves You,” one of the album’s best offerings. From this song, the lyric “I still got jazz / When I’ve got those blues,” seems to be the motto for the album as a whole, as the artist walks the line between the two genres.
“High By the Beach” — one of the album’s highlights — serves as an example of this kind of genre-mixing. With heavy hip-hop influences, it resembles a trap song — definitely a track that makes you want to dance on the beach. The playful chorus — “All I want to do is get high by the beach / Get high by the beach, get high” — brings in the cheeky sass from her earlier works, but is elevated by the beautifully sophisticated musical arrangement.
The album sounds as though it should be set to a classic film noir. Del Rey’s sweeping vocals and bold musical orchestration juxtaposed alongside moments of fun playfulness create the perfect middle ground for the artist and make the album epic at times. Del Rey sings with a sense of longing like no other and paints California as a truly magical land on tracks like “Freak.”
Lana Del Rey has truly found her place with this latest effort — if her ability to remain a consistent presence in the industry was ever in question, those doubts will be eliminated upon first listen. “Honeymoon” takes five out of five stars.
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