Venice Bitch

"Venice Bitch"
Single by Lana Del Rey
from the album Norman Fucking Rockwell
Released September 18, 2018 (2018-09-18)
Format Digital download
Recorded 2018
Genre Psychedelic pop
Length 9:42
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Jack Antonoff
  • Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey singles chronology
"Mariners Apartment Complex"
(2018)		 "Venice Bitch"
(2018)
Music video
"Venice Bitch" on YouTube

"Venice Bitch" is a song by American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey. It was released on September 18, 2018, through Polydor and Interscope Records, as the second single from her upcoming sixth studio album, Norman Fucking Rockwell (2019). The song was written and produced by Del Rey and Jack Antonoff.[1]

Release

On September 17, Del Rey shared a preview of the track accompanied by a vintage-inspired visual on Instagram, and announced that the song would be premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show.[2]

Composition

"Venice Bitch" is a psychedelic pop song which runs at nine minutes and thirty-six seconds long, making it Del Rey's longest track to date.[3][4][5] Rolling Stone said the song "starts as an tender ballad, with Del Rey unspooling her unique mix of young love and contemporary Americana over an acoustic guitar and subtle strings: "Ice cream, ice queen/ I dream in jeans and leather/ Livestream, I'm sweet for you/ Oh god miss you on my lips/ It's me your little Venice bitch." Halfway through, though, "Venice Bitch" transforms into an airy psych-pop jam that coasts to a cerebral, polychrome end."[3] Time noted that "the track has plenty of surprises in store, from distortion interludes to muted synth lines of varying insistence to eerie electric guitar plucks."[6] Stereogum compared the lyrics to those on Born to Die, but with a "far less pop-oriented" production than that of her previous work.[7] Greil Marcus made comparisons to various songs from the 1960s, including the Beach Boys' "Surfer Girl" and "In My Room", Randy Newman's "Lucinda", and Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover".[8]

Critical reception

"Venice Bitch" received acclaim from music critics upon its release. Pitchfork featured the song as their "Best New Track", with critic Sam Sodomsky saying it was one of Del Rey's most gripping songs and unlike anything she had written before, and that Del Rey "has never allowed herself to sink so completely into an atmosphere, burrowing deep into the song's dark blue, moody grooves."[5] Similarly, Under the Radar named it the best song of the week with Christopher Roberts calling it Del Rey's most interesting song and that "there was no denying its hypnotic quality."[9] Stereogum also featured the track in their "5 Best Songs of the Week" article, writing, "It doesn't matter how experimental and weird and straight-up long this song gets, she's going to make it stick."[7]

In his "Real Life Rock Top Ten" monthly column for Rolling Stone, Greil Marcus opined that the song "might be the most expansive California beach record ever made, and not just for its length," continuing: "It opens like a love letter, prosaic, direct; then a little more than two minutes in it begins to swirl, and you could be listening to an affair that began years ago or has yet to start. As the song goes on it turns into a series of reveries, suspended by the gorgeously sustained sound of liquid guitar feedback: it's the feeling of a series of clouds passing. Turn your head, look up again, and the last one you saw, the one that looked like a face, is already gone."[8] In Rolling Stone's official review, Will Hermes said the song "is a woozily epic love song invoking Norman Rockwell, fading summers, getting high, and "Crimson and Clover". He concluded that "it's the most experimental music she's ever made, and finally fades out after nine and a half minutes. And still it feels too short."[10]

Noisey's Lauren O'Neill praised the song as "a shining encapsulation of who [Del Rey] is", further stating that the track "feels like a complete distillation of everything we've come to love about Del Rey. Its lyrics are firmly rooted in the American imagery she's beloved for ("I dream in jeans and leather"), and the song's hook – "Oh God, miss you on my lips / It's me, your little Venice Bitch" – seems nostalgic somehow, like she's not the sweet girl in the swimsuit anymore, but certainly was once. The feels like an encapsulation of all of the romance we associate with her, and has a distinct sense of the passage of time, capturing her where she is now."[11]

Music video

The music video for "Venice Bitch" was directed by Del Rey's sister, Chuck Grant. The vintage-inspired visual features "grainy footage, big moods, endless highways," according to Paper.[12] Will Hermes of Rolling Stone noted that the video is "a collage of vintage Super 8-style freeway footage, faded, flashed, fogged, looped and sped up, intercut with weathered images of Lana hanging on her smartphone, or goofing around in a pickup bed with some hoodrat friends, trailed by what looks like a police car." He concluded that the video "magnified" the overall "hypnotic" effect of the song.[10]

Charts

Chart (2018) Peak
position
France (SNEP)[13] 98
New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ)[14] 32
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[15] 80
UK Download (Official Charts Company)[16] 76
US Alternative Digital Songs (Billboard)[17] 10

References

  1. ↑ "Venice Bitch / Lana Del Rey". Tidal. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  2. ↑ Bowenbank, Starr (September 17, 2018). "Lana Del Rey Previews New Song 'Venice Bitch,' Out Tuesday". Billboard. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  3. 1 2 Blistein, Jon (September 18, 2018). "Hear Lana Del Rey's Sprawling New Psych-Pop Song, 'Venice Bitch'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  4. ↑ Hosken, Patrick (September 18, 2018). "Lana Del Rey's 'venice Bitch' Is a Shredding Psychedelic Journey Through the Soul". MTV. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Sodomsky, Sam (September 18, 2018). ""Venice Bitch" by Lana Del Rey Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  6. ↑ Bruner, Raisa (September 21, 2018). "5 Songs You Need to Listen to This Week". Time. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  7. 1 2 "The 5 Best Songs of the Week". Stereogum. September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  8. 1 2 Marcus, Greil (September 21, 2018). "Real Life Rock Top 10". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  9. ↑ Roberts, Christopher (September 22, 2018). "12 Best Songs of the Week: Lana Del Rey, Frontperson, Helena Deland, Villagers, and More". Under the Radar. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  10. 1 2 Hermes, Will (September 25, 2018). "Song You Need to Know: Lana Del Rey, 'Venice Bitch'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  11. ↑ O'Neill, Lauren (September 21, 2018). "Lana Del Rey's New Songs Are a Shining Encapsulation of Who She Is". Noisey. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  12. ↑ Gillespie, Katherine (September 18, 2018). "Lana's New Album Is Called 'Norman Fucking Rockwell'". Paper. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Lana Del Rey – Venice B" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  14. ↑ "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. October 1, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Official Singles Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Alternative Digital Song Sales : Sep 29, 2018". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2018. (subscription required)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.