Ranking every song on Lana Del Rey album ‘Ultraviolence’
With every album, Lana Del Rey creates a cultural phenomenon. Each is delivered with a rich list of references, books to read and songs to hear, a new style for her fans to adopt and a new attitude to try and emulate. But never was that stronger than on Ultraviolence, her 2014 sophomore effort that expanded her universe into the total cinematic glamour she’s represented since.
For any artist, attempting to follow a powerful debut is a difficult task. The idea of the ‘tricky second album’ is built on that pressure as the expectation mounts on their shoulders for not only something new but something to exceed what came before. For Lana Del Rey, improving on a project as expansive and multi-faceted as Born To Die should have been impossible. Yet, on Ultraviolence, she proved just how enduring and ferocious of an artist she would be.
If Born To Die launched her as a literary figure, packing her lyrics with poetry and references to great novels or beatnik epics, Ultraviolence levelled all of that up. Across 14 tracks on the deluxe album, she delivered considered melodramas that tackle the topics of love, loss, sex and drugs with the flair of a true writer. She established herself as the ultimate icon of nostalgia-dripped music, colouring the world of the album with a soft-focus glamour but sharp and searing emotions.
Musically, too, Ultraviolence evolved in an unexpected way. While Born To Die mixed in flavours of hip hop, her sophomore album ventured further into rock with more electric guitars and a heavy dose of orchestration. It proved for the second time that Del Rey would always follow her own fancy and make the album she wanted to make rather than fitting herself into any boxes of expectations people might draw up for her.
But not all tracks are made equal. Even on an album as iconic and beloved as Ultraviolence, there are winners and losers. Here is every track, ranked in order of greatness.
Ultraviolence ranked in order of greatness:
14. ‘The Other Woman’
Lana Del Rey has never shied away from a cover. On Born To Die, her take on ‘Blue Velvet’ was a luxuriously classic rendition highlighting the old-fashioned beauty of her voice. Similarly here, this interpretation of ‘The Other Woman’ sees her return to the vintage lounge her soul lives in for a beautifully emotive sing-through that ends with a soaring high note.
It’s stunning, but it’s not a Lana Del Rey original. Ultraviolence is full of some lyrical-best moments for the artist, so this cover simply can’t compete with her own pen and the instrumental adventures that the other tracks go on.
13. ‘Guns and Roses’
There must have been a reason why ‘Guns and Roses’ was relegated to the deluxe album only. It’s a nice enough song, as Del Rey sings over a thumping rock drum line, telling the tale of her “heavy metal love”. Like the rest of the album, it’s produced to perfection, and the choruses are a great sing-along moment with some glorious harmonies.
However, it simply lacks the sticking power of the rest of the songs. In the bigger picture of the record, it’s a forgettable piece that can’t hold a candle to the way that some of the other songs build to greater climaxes or push to more exciting musical spaces. Instead, ‘Guns and Roses’ stays on the same level for most of the track, and while that level is still great, it’s not a competitor.
12. ‘Fucked My Way Up To The Top’
‘Fucked My Way Up To The Top’ is the closest that Ultraviolence gets to Born To Die. It is a return to the character she takes on in ‘Cola’ or ‘Off To The Races’, playing this glamorous, free-wheeling figure. However, the lyrics in this new instalment feel a bit too on the nose and, if you’re not in the mood for that, a little nauseating.
“You got nothing, I got tested / And I’m passed, yes,” she sings, as perhaps the only artist to attempt to write an STI screen into a seductive song. If anything, ‘Fucked My Way Up To The Top’ has more comedic value than artistic one, but for a listener keen to slip into the fantasy, it’ll get you there.
11. ‘Black Beauty’
As another deluxe addition piece, ‘Black Beauty’ feels much the same as ‘Guns and Roses’. Lyrically, it’s a lot tighter than the other, though, gathering up a collection of images of dark nails, dyed hair and leather to describe the way her lover only seems sucked in my sadness.
But what makes ‘Black Beauty’ climb a little further up the ranks is simply Del Rey’s stunning voice performance. This is an album full of them as she seemed to break through into this glorious upper register of her voice, but ‘Black Beauty’ is a stellar display of her high notes and the breathy power of her vocals.
10. ‘Florida Kilos’
This is another song that seems to call back to Born To Die. It delivers a very characterful piece that feels like it could soundtrack True Romance, Natural Born Killers or any number of drug-fuelled Bonnie and Clyde romps. Del Rey is putting on her cutest baby voice and packing in all the cocaine references she can.
However, it’s the instrumentation of ‘Florida Kilos’ that captures the imagination, led by a crisp and cool guitar riff that gets stuck in your head instantly. It’s more upbeat and energetic than anything else on the record, and it ties in nicely with Del Rey’s more guitar-led sound on this record.
9. ‘Sad Girl’
‘Sad Girl’ is a great song. It’s Del Rey at her bratty, dramatic peak with a classic, Dusty Springfield-like instrumental backing her up. What’s not to love?
But, lyrically, it lives in the shadows of some other piece. The storyline of the sad girl being mistreated by the man she adores is told over and over on this album, and mostly in better, stronger forms than this. ‘Pretty When You Cry’ or ‘Shades Of Cool’ seems to live in the same story but tell it with more theatre and more feeling, leaving more of a lasting impression.
8. ‘Cruel World’
Ultraviolence’s opener is just as striking today as it was upon release. After Born To Die had been busy with different sounds and styles, the decision to strip it back and start it off with nothing but a solo electric guitar was an impactful move. The song is angsty in a way Del Rey had never been before, as it seemed to hold real and genuine anger or upset, palpably felt in her voice and the instrumentation.
However, the track is marred simply by its length. At over six minutes long, a song needs to have a lot more going on to keep and hold attention for that long. But while ‘Cruel World’ does swell to some bigger moments, it ends up feeling more like the tide coming in and out rather than a gripping climax, leaving it to fall a little flat as it rolls on.
7. ‘Old Money’
‘Old Money’ is perhaps Del Rey’s most cinematic ballad, which is really saying something, given that there are plenty. But on this album cut, she totally abandons modernity to embrace the true depths of her vintage glamour. Her voice sounds like it’s plucked right from the 1920s, and this devastating ode to love and devotion would have sat perfectly on the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.
As with all these pieces, there is nothing to critique about ‘Old Money’. It is completely and utterly in service to the artist’s vision and identity and benefits massively from that tunnel-visioned dedication to Ultraviolence’s high-drama nostalgia. However, while her softer songs are always stunning, this album’s glory lies in its more high-octane moments, where these sober feelings boil over into fireworks, so this cut lies in their dust.
6. ‘West Coast’
As the first single released from the album, ‘West Coast’ sounds exactly like that. It’s a toe being tipped into the world of the record but remains markedly more surface level than the rest of the tracks. It’s undeniably the most radio-friendly track as it’s stripped of any of Del Rey’s slightly more risqué lyricism about violence or any of her more niche or characterful references.
However, it is still in keeping with Ultraviolence’s emotional world. “I can see my baby swinging / His Parliament’s on fire and his hands are up / On the balcony and I’m singing / Ooh, baby, ooh, baby, I’m in love,” Del Rey sings. She paints a picture of pure chaos and recklessness but then positions herself within it: endlessly loyal, staring starry-eyed at her lover and ignoring the world burning around them. While it might not be as musically impactful as some of the rest of the songs, it was still a powerful opener.
5. ‘Money Power Glory’
If one track could be used as the Lana Del Rey theme song, this one has a solid case. Musically, it has all her beloved signatures: a hip-hop-inspired beat, moody verses, heavenly harmonies and an appropriate nest for her soaring vocals. Lyrically, it captures the energy early Lana exuded, returning to this sugar baby type figure that’s out for money and love but is forever caught over which comes first. It also shows her literary streak, with references to Hemmingway’s The Sun Also Rises.
Once again, it’s a perfect song. The choruses swell to such an incredible height, sweeping the listener away in Del Rey’s longings and lusts. On an album with fewer hits, this would be higher. But alas, we have to prioritise…
4. ‘Brooklyn Baby’
‘Brooklyn Baby’ is a strange addition to the album. The instrumental is stripped back to little more than an acoustic guitar, and Del Rey’s vocals feel fuss-free. From start to finish, it is similar to one of her earliest songs, as if she was hashing out the words from her own apartment in The Bronx.
That’s exactly the beauty of it. Half of the lyrics exist as statements as the singer is simply telling the listener about herself, her likes, her hobbies, and her life. It should lack impact or be odd or forgettable. But there is something about ‘Brooklyn Baby’ that is so incredibly charming that it’s kept its claws in fans as a favourite track for a decade now. It is a moment of pure Lizzie Grant, parting the veiling curtain for a second to give the girl at Lana Del Rey’s core an outing. It’s a theme tune for her and, in turn, for girls everywhere to sing along, “Yeah, my boyfriend’s pretty cool, but he’s not as cool as me.”
3. ‘Ultraviolence’
As the title track of the album, ‘Ultraviolence’ is definitive. From the intro to the very end, it’s a musical journey that takes you through the themes and sounds of the record with simple piano, electric guitar and choir-like harmonies that could come from the heavens. It’s a perfect mix of classical and rock, nostalgia and new, glamour and grit – just like the rest of the record.
Lyrically, too, the piece is epic. Borrowing its title from A Clockwork Orange, Del Rey presents her own high-glamour, cinematic take on pure violence and carnage. It delves into the same cast-aside morals as Anthony Burgess’ book but looks at it through a distinctly feminine lens. As she sings, “he hit me, and it felt like a kiss,” she harks back not only to The Crystals’ controversial track but a long lineage of ‘submissive’ art, complexly devotional female characters and slightly problematic stories that are still beloved thanks to their sheer beauty and twisted adoration.
If Del Rey had already been playing with this voice on Born To Die, with tracks like ‘Dark Paradise’, ‘Off To The Races’ or ‘Gods & Monsters’, she embraces it fully here, welcoming the listener into her world of dark glamour.
2. ‘Pretty When You Cry’
‘Pretty When You Cry’ is the gold standard of songcraft. It starts slow, almost painfully raw, with Del Rey’s emotively fragile voice leading the way. But then, as the electric guitar strums out some rich bluesy chords and the drums kick in, it begins to build, perfectly in tune with the emotions. As sadness, devotion, and anger meet, the instrumentation somehow translates all that, too, without becoming too much. No, it all waits a while. Swelling up, then sinking down like sniffling sobs until finally, it all boils over.
When the climax of the track finally hits, it’s like dishes being smashed against a wall. It sounds exactly like the pained argument of a mistreated woman in love, simply begging for better and even scared that her anger might only hurt her, as you can hear the bottled-up feelings bubbling under the surface. By the time the guitar solo comes ripping in, paired with some of Del Rey’s finest high notes, the song is a whole emotional journey without needing much more than her voice and the right chords. It’s all too often overlooked for the more high-production tracks on the record, but ‘Pretty When You Cry’ is a crowning jewel.
1. ‘Shades Of Cool’
Attempting to pick the best out of an album full of them is no easy feat. But with each repeat of ‘Shades Of Cool’, the answer is evident. Lana Del Rey has simply never sounded better, never committed more to herself and never expanded her cinematic world to such a glorious scale as she does right here.
There is nothing modern about ‘Shades Of Cool’. In her vocal performance, Del Rey fully surrenders to the vintage edge of her voice, singing like an old Hollywood starlet with heavenly high notes and characterful babydoll spoken word moments that are all in service to the song. Paired with a western twanged guitar and orchestration that dances in the background before elevating the heavenly choruses to a whole new level.
It would be stunning with just that, but then, as the track enters its last third, it breaks apart into a moment even bigger and better. The guitar roars to life, bringing in the kind of rock grit that is in play with the polished glamour throughout the album. With heavier drums, Del Rey’s crooning and a change-up in melody, the middle-eight section is the only evidence anyone could ever need that the artist should be entrusted with a Bond theme.
It’s adventurous, epic, and heavenly. It completely destroys any and all confines of pop or any genre to instead simply be a Lana Del Rey song, engaging fully with her style and sound and taking it to the furthest degree of beauty and musical power.
