In the world of secular music there are plenty of characters. The general audience needs someone or something to identify with on some level. Sometimes it’s the everyman, like Bob Seger. Singing songs about working in the factory, nostalgic over teenage relationships, and just generally looking like any 9 to 5 middle class dude. Then there is characters like The Beatles. Four lovable, witty cuddle boys with mop top hair dos, and boyish charm. Of course there are many examples of far more extreme characters like say David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust persona, or KISS. Regardless of how common or extreme these characters may be, they are there for the purpose of selling their product. In reality, when Seger was singing “Turn The Page” he was probably a multi-millionaire, The Beatles smoking joints backstage, and KISS going over their taxes. When you strip these stars down, they are just normal folks, not much different than the audience themselves. In modern times, these characters like Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and arguably, Kanye West, the line gets blurred. We are lead to believe that these stars aren’t portraying a character but actually who they are. Gaga really is in fact, that weird, Miley that over the top, and Kanye that arrogant. It can easily be said that these performers utilize these roles to a far greater degree, maybe even a bit too much. Most use their character as a diversion to make up for the lack of talent or authenticity. Lana Del Rey could very well be one of these characters.
When Del Rey came on the scene, I wasn’t impressed. There were far worse pop stars with more annoying gimmicks but to me, that didn’t make the mysterious, loner persona any more or less interesting than the likes of Ke$ha or Katy Perry, it was just a different approach to the same model. I thought her music and public image was pretentious and insipid as if she was basically the hipster’s pop star. Overly processed, vapid pop music, heavy on style and little in way of substance. A weak voice under multi-layers of reverb and compression, whimpering eye-roll inducing, juvenile lyrics that sound more tongue in cheek than her marketing team suggests. I did however give her a chance and listened through both of her albums but I found nothing that made her overly bad or great. Lana Del Rey is just meh to me.
Honeymoon is Del Rey’s third album, and being that she is already a well established artist, she has found herself in a very compromising situation: Is she an artist or is she a character? Character wise, she is the delicate, tormented artist who’s cry-face is just as pretty as her performance face. Alluring, smokey vocalist, crooning dreary songs of broken hearts and nonchalant depression with a cool devil-may-care attitude. It didn’t do much in way of setting her apart of other characters in the pop world in the past few years, but at least her schlock carried over into her music instead of being fueled by shocking outfits or controversial behavior. With that said, what does that mean for her musical output? For better or worse, it’s one of the same. Tone wise, there isn’t much difference between her first two records. Her debut Born To Die was bit more edgy and rough, and the follow up Ultraviolence was a bit more polished with hip-hop influence, but both albums were in the same area code, if not the same city block. Honeymoon is her third album, and in this day and age of quick edit popularity, she is middle way through her career. This is make or break here. Time to decide if she is a legitimate artist or a character that will eventually fade away.
Sadly I think this album has made the decision for her. Honeymoon delivers exactly what Born To Die and Ultraviolence does: songs about California, bad boys, and broken hearts, but on this go around, Del Rey has traded the choppy Hip-Hop inspired beats for lush string arrangements, but that’s really about it. The orchestration works extremely well with her sultry, reverb drenched vocal style and at about two songs in, I found myself asking “Why hasn’t Lana Del Rey been approached about doing a James Bond theme?” then by the time the third song starts, I realize the answer to that question is in her lack of excitement. Del Rey may not be a powerful singer, but over the course of three albums, she has completely nailed her signature style and stayed consistent to a fault. She may know what works for her but at this point in her career, that may do more harm than good.
With last year’s Ultraviolence, Del Rey fined tuned her craft as the go to brooding pop starlet and flirted with more mainstream appeal but never exactly selling out to it. On Honeymoon she doesn’t reach any further into the pop world, but stays so close to her comfort zone that it kind of gets dull and sleepy. Most of these songs lumber along at the same pace, key, and tone and never gets too far from what she does best. She sulks, smokes, and coos. I listen, yawn, and look at my watch. On a positive side, I really enjoy the jazz flavors and film score influence on the album. Each song is beautifully produced with layers of atmosphere and mood. The digitized drums -a staple of ALL mainstream pop these days- tends to ruin the vibe more often than not, but this is a pop album after all, not a score for a David Lynch movie, (although I’m sure Angelo Badalamenti would be proud of the thick, twangy spy guitar licks, sprinkled throughout).
Another downfall of Honeymoon is the run time. With fourteen tracks, it’s a bit on the beefy side, and with each song wearing out it’s welcome with the runtime, the whole thing comes off a little self-indulgent. There is no need for a song like “Freak” to be five minutes long. If a pop tune can’t say what it wants to say in three minutes, it’s not a pop tune. The biggest issue I have with the album is the lack of fun. Now don’t get me wrong, I full on understand the doom and gloom sulking thing is Del Rey’s wheel house, but not having any plot twists or curve balls, really brings the whole album down. My favorite track on the record “High By The Beach” is as close to up tempo as the entire record gets and with it’s five minute runtime, it never gets the chance to be the only legitimate pop single the record has to offer.
All in all, Honeymoon is not a bad album by any means, it delivers on all of the standard accounts of her previous releases, and there is nothing here that ruins her consistency. She stays true to herself throughout the entire album and never steps too far out of the boundaries. The production is slick and modern with just enough retro flair to solidify her retro persona. By and large the whole thing is just kind of safe. Honeymoon’s songs are very pretentious and self-indulgent, light on hooks, and after a while it feels like you are hearing the same song over and over. If you liked Del Rey’s previous albums, this one is definitely in your wheel house, but for me personally, the whole thing is just underwhelming. I kept waiting for something to happen, a song so good that it made all the gloomy drivel worth it, or a song so bad that it sinks the whole record in one swift motion. I was waiting for a moment and it didn’t happen. Just monotonous song after monotonous song. At such a pivotal point in her career, it’s obvious Lana Del Rey has chosen the easy way out with her character instead of artistry. The excitement and temptation has become stale and predictable. She is no longer the cool, mysterious, loner on the pop scene, glorifying depression and melancholy. Now she is merely the pretentious rich girl who pretends to pass out during social gatherings for attention. With such a middle of the road album, it’s almost expected that her next one will break that mold in hopes of staying relevant. Even that in itself is predictable. This is the fate she has chosen though, and perhaps even she can’t tell the difference between artistry and character? The proverbial honeymoon of established popularity is over and all the listener is left with is a bland tapestry of predictable pillow talk.
Rating: 2.5/5