Sunday, April 21, 2013

Young and Beautiful | Lana Del Rey

Rating: ★★★★★

After over a month of patiently waiting for parts of the soundtrack to The Great Gatsby to leak, I've finally got the song that was at the top of my list: Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful."

As always, I learned the song leaked through the meltdowns on Gaga Daily, so I hurried over to Tumblr to listen to it.

The production style of "Young and Beautiful" doesn't stray away from that of Born To Die and Paradise. It screams the influence from Rick Nowels, who helped produce much of the material on both of Lana's albums. Some people may complain about the style, but the classical-orchestra-meets-modern-beats sound has really become Lana Del Rey's trademark, and it really fits her voice, so I'm not complaining. It's not like the style is overused by a lot of other artists, so let her be.

The song's production reminds me a lot of that of "Body Electric" in the way that the choruses of the song feature massive climaxes instrumentally. The verses are relatively quiet but then each time the chorus arrives, the instrumental track explodes into this loud, overpowering sound and I love it!

The lyrics of "Young and Beautiful" are perhaps some of Lana's most heartfelt, as she pleads that her lover still be attracted to after she grows old, as well into the afterlife. I only found one line of the lyrics that I don't like: "I’ve seen the world done it all / Had my cake, now." ...Your cake? Lana, how did this line make the final cut? All of the other lyrics are beautiful, as usual, but that one line is just too odd for me to handle.

This actually isn't the only version of "Young and Beautiful" that is going to be released, either. The deluxe edition of Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film The Great Gatsby will include a version of the song with the instrumental being strictly-orchestral. I assume it won't have the same wow-factor that the original version has, but it will be interesting to hear.



I can't wait to hear the full soundtrack to The Great Gatsby, especially after how impressed I was with the lead single from it. I've heard leaked snippets of some of the other songs, and I can already say that I'm impressed with many of them, including "Over The Love" by Florence + The Machine and Emeli Sandé's cover of "Crazy in Love" in a big band style.

To be honest, I think I'm more excited about the soundtrack of The Great Gatsby than I am for the actual movie, but I will be going to see it when it comes out. I guess if the movie ends up being terrible (which I doubt it will be,) at least it'll have some great music to listen to.

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