Music, Style & Culture

Lana Del Rey - National Anthem

As a pop song, capable of breaking into the charts, it’s a potential no.1 hit.

Lana Del Rey releases her first full-length, 'Born To Die', on January 30th. The album itself will either be treated by musical commentators - who have thus far lambasted her - as a surprising triumph or an affirmation of just how manufactured and false her sound really is. A few dissenting voices have already perked up in response to the latest track to emerge from the debut: 'National Anthem'.

It’s an up-tempo offering of melancholic pop that's already receiving several comparisons to everyone's favourite girl-band guilty pleasure, All Saints (see: the hushed vocals that enter occasionally in background). Its mantra of "money is the anthem of success, so put on your mascara and your party dress" is a refreshing dose of reality for those who think Jessie J's 'Price Tag' is 'real' and 'meaningful'. Money is important, kids.

As a pop song, capable of breaking into the charts - and this is the context we should be putting Del Rey in, not some fixation on faux-lips and faux-ambitions - it’s a potential no.1 hit. Like her extravagent tattoos-and-tigers music video, her arty press shots and bold statements on Twitter, it’s an assured effort. Boastful, even. Del Rey is no longer the withdrawn, almost apologetic figure gracing Jools Holland’s stage for the first time. She’s confident that ‘Born To Die’ will turn heads, and this track backs her up.