She?s Not What She Seems

Last week, Del Rey?s proper debut album, Born to Die, leaked online; it arrives in stores this week. I like the album better with each listen?the more time I spend in its company, the more I feel as though I?m approaching it on something like its own terms. The mood on ?Video Games? is one of elegant confusion. On paper, the song resembles an over-the moon love letter, with lines like ?Heaven is a place on earth with you,? and ?It?s all for you, everything I do? ?but that?s not the way it sounds. Strings, central to the album?s arrangements, swell sweetly, but the song?s dominant motif is a muted, desultory piano figure that suggests Cat Power at her broodiest. Del Rey?s delivery is somber and vaguely recriminatory, as though her boundless affections aren?t being sufficiently reciprocated by their object. The video is a m?lange of tones, too, alternating found footage of couples cavorting carefree with paparazzi video of Paz de la Huerta stumbling drunkenly. Del Rey herself appears in shots that seem both intimate (they?re naturally lit and haphazardly framed) and distant (her posture is stiff, her affect dead-eyed, her retro-Hollywood make-up laid on thick).

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=fef0dfbabf8e249c5745b116408c77bb

jim thome fun fun fun fest fun fun fun fest move your money robert schuller guy fawkes day stevie williams