Well ladies and gentlemen, the unthinkable has happened: Lana del Rey has released the follow-up to her universally-acclaimed 2019 album, Norman Fucking Rockwell! last Friday. It was a rocky road getting to that finish line with all the delayed album releases and controversies she’s been getting herself into.
But we are finally here!
I tried to put off writing this article for the sake of Journalistic Integrity™ because I know how much my first impressions can be inaccurate when it comes to music. This boy needs time to digest the music. And after listening to the album on endless loop since it came out on Spotify, I’m now pretty confident with my overall Chemtrails Over the Country Club rankings.
If you missed it, I also did a track-by-track ranking for Norman Fucking Rockwell! last year, which was tough to do because of how much top-quality songs are in that album. Will the same ring true with its successor? Where will your favorite track from the album land? What will earn the title of best song in Chemtrails Over the Country Club?
Find out the answers to your questions below!
Is it my aversion towards songs with features or do I just really not find this a good song? I don’t really know the answer to that question, but one thing’s for sure: it is not my cup of tea and is easily the worst song in my Chemtrails Over the Country Club ranking.
Featuring Zella Day and Weyes Blood, For Free is a swooning folk rock cover of a Joni Mitchell deep cut.
It’s not really a track I would skip, but it’s not really something that I would actively look forward to listening to either. Aside from the fact that it’s not my favorite sonically, For Free concludes the whole album which has soured me on the song even more. Yes, Lana has placed covers as finales in her albums before, but this was such a bummer because it had features in it.
Don’t get me wrong: the harmonization is beautiful among the three ladies, but I feel like the album could’ve ended with a bang if Lana took the reins herself. This would’ve served better as an interlude into the latter half of the more folky side of the album.
Dance Till We Die is probably the most forgettable track in the album, and would’ve completely left my entire brain vortex if it weren’t for that bridge.
If you’re someone who has followed her work for years, it would’ve shocked the bejeezus out of you like it did to me. Lana del Rey puts on her cowgirl hat and belts out notes like we’d never heard her before; she was definitely channeling the signature sound of Joni Mitchell here!
The lyrics in Dance Till we Die continue to build on the feeling of “pre-fame longing” which seems to be an overarching theme throughout Chemtrails. They tell a story that could only be told by Lana herself as she projects her life experiences under rock-and-roll references and metaphors. For example, one of my favorite lines throughout the album is in this track: “Clementine’s not just a fruit / It’s my daughter’s chosen name” which is… fictional, right?
‘Cause she’s not a mother… RIGHT?!
I promise I’m not just listing out album track order backwards! But the fact of the matter is, the last three songs in this album are also the weakest ones. It actually seems to be a common theme throughout Lana del Rey’s discography for the second half of the album to be less interesting. Just look at Ultraviolence, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, and Lust for Life.
Although uncredited as a singer on the track, Breaking Up Slowly actually features Nikki Lane for the majority of the song… even more than Lana herself! So from that alone, you’d understand why I placed it low in my Chemtrails Over the Country Club ranking.
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While I don’t mind features — I actually loved most of them in Lust for Life — this just had too little Lana in it for my liking. Nikki’s deep voice worked well with Lana’s higher notes, especially in the chorus. It actually felt like a track straight from a musical with the rhyme-y words and how the two songstresses played off together. I pictured this whole scenario in my mind where Nikki was a mother comforting her daughter, Lana, whose heart had just been broken for the first time.
In my opinion, there’s a big jump in quality from Breaking Up Slowly to Wild at Heart in this ranking. I could confidently say that I thoroughly enjoy all the tracks in Chemtrails from here on out.
Wild at Heart is the fifth track in the album, and serves as a pseudo-“checkpoint” for the album. This is where the songs with folk-rock and country influence start to flow, and then Breaking Up Slowly ups the ante even more later on.
I like this particular song because of its sing-along chorus and might be the best one in articulating Lana del Rey’s feelings about her fame. Lyrically, it’s a spiritual sequel to her 2012 song, Ride. If that song was about the difficulties of finding fame and the dangers of the open road, Wild at Heart is about embracing the danger to deal with her newfound popularity.
Musically, it’s like a lab scientist mixed all the chemicals from several Norman Fucking Rockwell! songs and came out with this track. It directly samples How to Disappear in the chorus, which some have called lazy but I think genius. Wild at Heart also sounds like The Greatest and Mariners Apartment Complex in various parts.
A fan favorite, Tulsa Jesus Freak is the song in Chemtrails which feels most like classic Born to Die Lana. The lyrics namedrop Jesus Christ Himself as she has previously done in Paradise, and the tempo in which she sings is reminiscent of her earlier trap-pop days like we’ve heard her before in Off to the Races. She also does the cutesy Lolita voice quite a bit.
Care I say, it actually feels a lot more like Summer Bummer from Lust for Life. Don’t hate me.
It instantly grabs your attention with its repetition of the “white hot forever” lyric and purposeful use of autotune.
I think this is the only song that you could legit dance to in the entire album. And in that way, it feels out of place. I’m just saying if Tulsa Jesus Freak was released as a single before the album dropped, it would’ve thrown many people off. Thankfully, it is preceded by the more experimental titular track in the album which helps reduce that feeling that it’s amiss.
While I think it’s a stellar addition to Chemtrails, I’m personally not looking for songs that remind me of the “old Lana” anymore, hence its low ranking.
A lot of fans were underwhelmed when this was first released as a promotional single, with most of the criticism stemming from its minimalistic production. But little would they know, it wouldn’t even be the most “minimalist” song in the album!
If you’re wondering why Let Me Love You Like a Woman is this high in my Chemtrails Over the Country Club ranking, I honestly think it’s my “familiarity bias” kicking in.
I never really disliked it like other fans, except for a short period of time where I got tired of listening to it over and over again back in November. It felt like a natural progression from where we had left off in NFR, especially when you consider that we had a dominance of piano-heavy tracks in that album as well. I guess my biggest criticism would be how the lyrics feel like an unfinished poem from her spoken word project, although it does have many memorable one-liners which almost make up for the lack of lyrical depth.
The instruments build throughout the song and never completely “go off” which may have disappointed listeners. But I think it was always the intention for Let Me Love You Like a Woman to end in a soft whimper as opposed to an explosive bang, as I had realized when I listened to it in the context of the album.
I am shielding myself from the hate I might potentially get from placing this as “only #5” in this Chemtrails Over the Country Club ranking. But look, I actually think this song is a bop… not as much as others though.
Dark But Just a Game is probably the most experimental track in the album with its unusual structure. It may be jarring for some first-time listeners, but once you start to get the hang of the changes in tempo and beats, you’ll be able to find the magic in the track. Lana del Rey also flexes her vocal mastery as she switches up her singing style numerous times.
When I was listening to this album for the first time, I was watching a Youtube video of nighttime driving in Seoul for the vibes. And let’s just say Dark But Just a Game is the perfect song to listen to when you’re on a long drive under the night skies.
Not All Who Wander are Lost is the perfect track to follow Dark But Just a Game if we’re still on that hypothetical road trip. I bet a lot of people my age are able to appreciate this song for its theme of spontaneous, pointless & long-winded exploration.
From its lyrics about “wearin’ the same clothes for three damn days”, to having too much time to think about “seasons of old” on the road, you’ll feel like getting into a backpacking trip with someone special when you listen to this.
Not All Who Wander are Lost is able to set the mood for the more stripped-down second half of the album, with a chorus that’s meant to be sung with whoever’s holding the guitar around the campfire. It’s not a special and spectacular song by any means, but it’s able to bring back a lot of good memories of pre-COVID-19 days when we were a lot more free to go anywhere we want to.
If you had asked me to put out my Chemtrails Over the Country Club ranking after my initial listen, Yosemite would’ve been in my bottom tier. Much like the entire album, you have to listen to this song a couple of times to truly understand it.
The thing that stuck out to me at first was how she sang “seasons may change / but we won’t… change“. It turned me off because it felt like she was forcing the lyrics in that meter. She would then do the same thing with “winter to spring / spring back to… fall” in the following line. I cringed at those moments because I knew Lana could write something better than that.
But with more listens, I eventually appreciated the quirkiness of those lines. Those wouldn’t be the strangest “forced lyrics” she would have in this album after all.
Then Yosemite transcends into this feel-good love anthem that cements Lana del Rey’s transition “out of the black”. The song was made even better when I learned that she had put off releasing this track in Lust for Life three years ago because it was too happy, and she wasn’t there yet.
Well, happy Lana has arrived and I am here for it.
Unlike Let Me Love You Like a Woman, I’m confident that my high ranking of this track isn’t because I was familiar with it even before the album had dropped. This one takes you to a summery, “detached” old-rich place with its intricate storytelling and soft instrumentals. It also has a spectacular music video that served us visuals and that glorious twist, which personally helped me get into the song even more.
Chemtrails Over the Country Club feels experimental because it doesn’t sound like the other tracks in this album or her previous works. Jack Antonoff’s production is able to build this song to a good chaotic climax where Lana del Rey swoons about sun and moon signs, and then ends with a well-deserved prolonged percussion outro.
Lana is also at her best lyrical game here; I was actually disappointed with the quality of lyrics of the other tracks because I was expecting something as masterful as what she had displayed here.
What a glorious opening track! I was so nervous before taking my first listen of the album because I knew she wouldn’t be able to top NFR, but what if it would turn out to be a horrible album?
With literally the first note of White Dress, all my doubts were erased.
And after running through the whole album, I knew that it would be take the #1 spot in my Chemtrails Over the Country Club ranking… it wasn’t even close! It was that good. Even after multiple listens, the novelty hasn’t worn off for me.
Can you believe that Lana and Jack only recorded one version of this song? They were able to do that in one take. Despite the imperfections like the sound of Lana’s vape and her breathy vocals — which had been placed there on purpose — I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As a whole, Chemtrails isn’t particularly relatable because the lyrics are either about fame, or they’re too specific to Lana’s experiences. The latter rings true for White Dress, but it’s able to capture the ubiquitous feeling of nostalgia that everyone longs for — from a simpler time when we were nineteen. Reminiscing those times makes us want to go back even if our lives were less glamorous.
I got goosebumps the first time I heard Lana del Rey go for those freakin’ high notes again and again because we haven’t heard her do that before. It would send a precedent for the entire album where we experience her upper register like never before. Honestly, I didn’t understand what she was saying most of the time, but I was living for it.
And listening to those parts still excite me every time I put on the song…. especially the downatthemeninmusicBUSiness conference part. Especially that.
Overall, Chemtrails Over the Country Club is an outstanding album in its own right. I feel like everyone who didn’t like the album just had their expectations too high, or isn’t a fan of the direction Lana del Rey took with this album. But if you feel that way, I don’t blame you. The folk rock genre is such a far cry from her cinematic trip-hop Tumblrcore era… or even her foray into blues in Honeymoon six years ago.
Chemtrails suffers from a weaker last leg which oftentimes feels like someone had just sneakily recorded Lana jamming along for fun with her friends. And aside from the opening track, nothing feels like a particularly explosive moment — like the production in Cinnamon Girl, or the entirety of Venice Bitch — because of the softer sound she was aiming for.
Although there were many shocking moments when it came to Lana’s vocals. She explored all the colors of her voice with how she embraced her upper register a couple of times, and all the
With everything being so stripped-down, most of the tracks need time and multiple listens to grow in your heart and locked in your brain. Once you do that, Chemtrails becomes a modern easy-listening classic.
Do you agree with how my Chemtrails Over the Country Club ranking turned out? Leave your thoughts in the comments below! And if you missed it, you can view our track-by-track ranking for Norman Fucking Rockwell! here.
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