‘Dark But Just A Game’: The Lana Del Rey song inspired by a Madonna party
In 2021, Lana Del Rey continued her collaborative relationship with Jack Antonoff on her seventh studio album, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, with whom she first joined forces with on Norman Fucking Rockwell. The LP features a stronger country and folk influence than Del Rey’s previous records, solidified by a track featuring country singer Nikki Lane.
Typically, the singer focuses on heartbreak, disillusionment and nostalgia, demonstrating her natural story-telling abilities. Moving through lush strings, moody beats, piano ballads, and jazz-inspired instrumentation, Del Rey explores the breadth of her emotions through a wide-ranging musical palette. Del Rey stated the album was inspired by her “stunning girlfriends” and “beautiful siblings”, a theme that continued onto Blue Banisters, also released in 2021.
However, Del Rey dedicates time on the album to exploring her thoughts on fame – something she has reckoned with throughout her career. On her 2015 album Honeymoon, Del Rey discussed her disillusionment with fame at length. She criticised the invasive nature of the media in ‘High By The Beach’, which she released with an accompanying music video featuring her gunning down the paparazzi. Furthermore, in ‘God Knows I Tried’, she sings: “I’ve got nothing much to live for, Ever since I found my fame.”
Despite the passing of many years, Del Rey’s opinions have stayed the same. On Chemtrails Over the Country Club‘s ‘Dark But Just A Game’, the singer rejects fame (“Don’t even want what’s mine, Much less the fame”), believing that it destroys people. She asserts: “The bеst ones lost their minds, So I’m not gonna change, I’ll stay the same.”
Despite cultivating a successful persona in the infancy of her singing career, finding fame as Lana Del Rey, the singer, real name Elizabeth Grant, has since dropped her highly cultivated image in favour of a more natural and authentic style. On the track mentioned above, she tells listeners that she refuses to let fame change her, fiercely remaining true to herself.
The line “the best ones lost their minds” is a reference to Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl, which opens with: “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness”. Additionally, the track alludes to late musical icons. Del Rey has frequently cited her love for musicians such as Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston, who all passed away prematurely due to substance abuse and mental health troubled. Moreover, these musicians all faced significant media scrutiny before their tragic death, which Del Rey is highly critical of.
During an interview with MOJO, Del Rey explained the meaning behind ‘Dark But Just A Game’, revealing it was inspired by a party hosted by Madonna and Guy Oseary. She said: “Something happened, kind of like a situation – never meet your idols. And I just thought, ‘I think it’s interesting that the best musicians end up in such terrible places.’ I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to try my best not to change because I love who I am.’ I said, ‘Jack, it’s dark.’ And he said, ‘Well, its dark – but just a game.'”
Listen to Del Rey lament the fame game on ‘Dark But Just A Game’ below.
