Lana Del Rey is back at it again with her second album of 2021. Shortly after deactivating her Instagram, Del Rey dropped her newest album “Blue Banisters.” The original release date of the album was July 4th, and after multiple extensions she finally released her album. She first released singles off the album, including Blue Banisters, Text Book, and Wildflower Wildfire as a trio and then Arcadia alone. After teasing her different versions of a god awful PicsArt cover, she finally released an actual cover starring her two German shepherds, named Tex and Mex.

I am an avid Lana fan, so admittedly it is hard to top my absolute favorite Lana album, Ultraviolence. However, after a couple listen throughs, Blue Banisters did grow on me. After my first listen, I was not particularly impressed. I will acknowledge that I am a hard critic for albums after my initial viewing. I really wanted Del Rey to explore some new sounds/styles because she has a very specific stylized approach to her songs. However, for the most part she stuck with her mellow sad girl sound, which never fails to disappoint. I love the album in how each song blends together, and it definitely has the perfect ambiance for a rainy drive. The lyrics of the album include symbols of LA, and yearning for something different. Del Rey metaphorically paints a sheen of sadness and blue over her album, with the color being mentioned multiple times. She also references a fatherlike love interest in her songs. I think it is interesting that over the years Lana has kept the same idealized “bad boy” love interest in her songs, despite her love life constantly changing. For the most part, Lana kept with her signature manufactured melancholy and genuine glamour for her lyricism. For the production of the album, she used more of an acoustic style than she had before. Save for the beat on the Interlude, she mostly featured piano and acoustic guitar as backing for her vocals. I enjoyed this simple production, as it created a calming sound to the album and a cohesive melody.

Now, on to Dealer. This song was no doubt the show stopper of the album. With vocals from Miles Kane, the song was cut from Chemtrails Over the Country Club and also from a forgotten collaboration album between Del Rey and The Last Shadow Puppets before ending up on Blue Banisters. The song sticks out from the others in the album due to Lana’s vocals on the song. The heart wrenching chorus of “I don’t wanna live/I don’t wanna give you nothing” is sung as a cathartic emotional release. Lana mentioned wanting to release the song because the way she “screams” her heart out, and it was something her fans have not heard her do before. Though the song has bounced around from album to album, I am certainly glad that it made it onto Blue Banisters. If you were to only listen to one song from the album, I would definitely recommend this one. 

All in all, Blue Banisters has not received adequate recognition for how good it is. An underrated gem from Lana’s discography if you will. I highly recommend giving the album a listen through if you have the time. I particularly enjoy listening to it when I am driving to school in the morning, due to it’s smooth and cohesive sound.