Song is taken from upcoming Ultraviolence alubm
Alexandra Pollard

09:02 26th May 2014

More about:

Lana Del Rey has shared the latest song - 'Shades Of Cool' - to be taken from her Ultraviolence album. Listen to it below.

The upcoming album has so far produced one single, 'West Coast', which was only officially released in the UK yesterday (25 May). In the early hours of this morning UK time, Del Rey quietly uploaded 'Shades Of Cool' to her official VEVO account.

The new song is a typically downbeat number, containing a swooping falsetto chorus, which becomes almost choral over minimalist violins before messy electric guitars undercut it with a jagged precision.

Listen to 'Shades Of Cool' below

The track was produced by Rick Nowels, the Grammy-award winning songwriter and producer who co-wrote 'Summertime Sadness' and 'Young and Beautiful' with Del Rey.

The singer is yet to announce whether 'Shades Of Cool' is to be released as an official single, or whether it's just a teaser for the new album, which is released on 16 June. Either way, it's a triumph.

Below: 7 reasons why Lana Del Rey is the perfect pop star

  • She is brilliant with her fans: Del Rey doesn't do much in the way of press, and interviews are rare. The star does, however, spend a huge amount of time engaging with fans, both online and in real life. Although she may have got the specifics wrong, she told fans the release dates of her Tropico movie and Ultraviolence album before anyone else, and held a special screening for fans in Hollywood in late 2013.

  • She knows exactly who she is as an artist: She has her style and image NAILED. When debut album Born To Die dropped, Lana Del Rey was already a fully formed pop artist, whose blend of hip-hop influences blended perfectly in both her image and sound. While other stars struggle to reinvent, shock and impress, Del Rey has kept it classy and iconic from day one. Why would she need to reinvent, she's got it sorted.

  • Her references are elegant, cool and intelligent: Ultraviolence is named after a reference in Anthony Burgess's iconic A Clockwork Orange. It certainly instill more of a sense of drama than, for instance, Prism or Artpop might suggest.

  • She keeps it classy and cool when it comes to her collaborators: Upping her game on second album Ultraviolence, Lana Del Rey has drafted in some big names for the record. But did she jump on the bandwagon with the biggest names in music production? Not a chance. The star worked with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach on her new album, which took the project in an exciting new direction.

  • Even when she gets it a bit wrong, it is still brilliant: Lana Del Rey released a short film at the end of 2013 called Tropico. It was a bit boring and was little more than a pretentious collection of music videos from her special edition Born To Die album. However, despite being made almost exclusively for her fans, it was a beautifully shot, forgivably pretentious project that showed many flashes of absolute brilliance across its 27minute running time.

  • She's developed her sound perfectly: Ultraviolence is unmistakably Lana Del Rey from the very first few seconds. And yet, it is by no means a carbon copy of Born To Die. Del Rey has taken her music in a darker, rockier, woozier direction, but she's retained the fundamental sound that made people first sit up and pay attention.

  • Her music is bloody marvelous: We might as well kick this off with the most important reason of all. If you don't get a shiver down your spine when you hear 'Ride', 'Young & Beautiful' or 'Shades Of Cool'. you simply do not have a heart (or are a jellyfish).

More about:


Photo: Artwork