When Ultraviolence dropped in 2014, it was both a bold evolution and a deepening of Lana Del Rey’s artistic universe. This second studio album—following her breakthrough with Born to Die in 2012—arrived with a distinctly darker edge, cementing her signature aesthetic of tragic glamour and fractured romance. Whereas Born to Die introduced audiences to her persona of the melancholic, vintage-obsessed anti-heroine, Ultraviolence took this identity to even more shadowed, gritty depths.
In many ways, Ultraviolence felt like a sonic rebellion against mainstream pop of the early 2010s, marked by its almost unpolished authenticity. With Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys as the primary producer, the album veered away from the slick, hip-hop-infused beats of Born to Die and leaned heavily into lush, cinematic rock textures with influences from psychedelic rock and California’s 1970s Laurel Canyon sound. Del Rey was no longer simply narrating tragic stories; she was living within them, using raw, echoing guitars and dark, almost languid instrumentation to craft a world that felt more visceral, aching, and dangerously seductive.
Sonic Exploration
Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence embodies a sonic aesthetic that feels like driving down a dusty California highway with no clear destination, both liberated and laden with longing. Dan Auerbach’s production choices shape this feeling from start to finish, trading pop polish for a textured, atmospheric grit. The production on Ultraviolence is anything but crisp; it leans into a kind of lo-fi gloss that blurs the lines between dreamy, hazy nostalgia and visceral melancholy.
By leaning into a warm, analog sound, Auerbach and Del Rey bring a hypnotic quality to the album, making each track feel like a faded memory that’s been resurrected and amplified. The slightly reverb-soaked vocals and echoing guitars are ghostly, as if playing from a dusty jukebox, amplifying the themes of love, loss, and longing that pulse through the album.
Musical Arrangements
In terms of musical arrangements, Ultraviolence is rich with depth and restraint, allowing for both subtlety and drama in equal measure. The album favors live instrumentation, with guitars front and center, taking on a 1970s-style blues-rock sensibility. Take the album’s opening track, “Cruel World,” for instance. Its sprawling, nearly seven-minute duration is built on a thick wash of guitar riffs and rolling bass lines, giving Del Rey’s vocals the space to swell and contract like waves. Auerbach’s influence is felt throughout with his preference for raw, expressive arrangements; rather than hiding imperfections, he amplifies them, creating a soundscape that feels almost tactile in its roughness.
Del Rey’s vocal approach here is stripped-back yet full of expression. Instead of striving for technical precision, she lets her voice break, sigh, and dip into sultry lows, adding to the album’s intoxicating, undone quality. On “West Coast,” she experiments with tempo shifts, moving between slow-burning verses and a faster, punchier chorus, underscoring the tension between longing and release. The arrangements are deliberately cinematic, with a sense of orchestral drama achieved through layering rather than dense instrumentation. Horns, strings, and a distant echo of percussion occasionally filter through, enhancing the album’s noirish mood without crowding its sparseness.
Genre Elements
Genre-wise, Ultraviolence is rooted in a mix of psychedelic rock, blues, and baroque pop, diverging sharply from the hip-hop and trip-hop undertones of Born to Die. It flirts with classic rock influences, with nods to artists like The Velvet Underground and Nancy Sinatra—both staples of Del Rey’s musical canon. Tracks like “Shades of Cool” and “Pretty When You Cry” exemplify this blend, melding 1960s pop melancholy with gritty guitar riffs and hazy, almost narcotic tempos. There’s also a marked touch of “desert noir” or “California noir,” genres that evoke the loneliness and allure of the West Coast landscape.
Lyrical Analysis
The lyrics on Ultraviolence embody Lana Del Rey’s trademark storytelling, weaving a world where beauty and despair walk hand in hand. The album’s themes delve into the seductive pull of self-destructive love, the ache of nostalgia, and the allure of broken glamour. At the core of Ultraviolence is a narrative of obsession, surrender, and the conflicting desires for freedom and devotion. Songs like “Cruel World” and “Shades of Cool” explore Del Rey’s fascination with toxic romance, where love is as much a source of pain as it is passion.
In “Sad Girl,” she plays the role of the “other woman,” capturing the complexities of desire and betrayal with lines like “Being a mistress on the side, it might not appeal to fools like you.” This recurrent theme of unattainable, often dangerous love is nuanced by Del Rey’s use of religious iconography, particularly in the title track “Ultraviolence,” where she references the figure of a doomed Madonna worshipping at the altar of love and violence.
Lyrical Depth
Lyrically, Ultraviolence is rich in poetic depth, blending abstract metaphors with narrative clarity. Del Rey often writes in a cinematic style, as if her words are snapshots of a film noir or vintage drama, lending her lyrics a sense of lived-in authenticity. Rather than presenting straightforward narratives, she wraps her stories in ambiguity and lyrical flourish. For instance, in “West Coast,” she teases between love and escape, singing, “Down on the West Coast, they got their icons / Their silver starlets, their Queens of Saigons.”
This type of evocative imagery hints at a deeper, almost existential discontent, inviting listeners to read between the lines. Another track, “Brooklyn Baby,” toys with irony and self-reflection, presenting Del Rey’s persona as both a critique and a celebration of her self-mythology, adding layers to her complex characters.
The poetic nature of the album creates an emotionally charged atmosphere that resonates deeply. The lyrics are more than just words; they’re emotional fragments, each phrase dripping with longing and vulnerability. Songs like “Pretty When You Cry” and “F****d My Way Up to the Top” confront heartbreak, shame, and self-revelation head-on, but they do so with a sense of melancholy rather than self-pity. These songs evoke empathy as they invite the listener to sit within the gray spaces of human emotion, exploring the delicate line between strength and surrender. In “Old Money,” Del Rey revisits themes of nostalgia and lost youth, using images like “Blue hydrangea, cold cash divine” to capture the feeling of a life bathed in faded elegance.
Emotional Impact
The emotional impact of the lyrics lies in their raw honesty and introspective nature. Del Rey doesn’t shy away from exploring vulnerability and imperfection, making her reflections on love and loss feel universal and cathartic. Her words are wistful, evoking sadness and contemplation, and yet there’s a certain resilience embedded in the way she bares her soul.
With Ultraviolence, Del Rey builds an intimate connection with the listener, using her lyrics to evoke a landscape of flawed beauty and emotional depth that feels timeless, tragic, and hypnotic. In doing so, she not only solidifies her place as a distinct voice in pop music but also as a poet of her own myth, forever drawn to the irresistible allure of love’s dark side.
Cohesion and Flow
Ultraviolence achieves a powerful cohesion through its careful track progression and unwavering commitment to its themes. The album is structured to feel like a descent into the depths of heartbreak and yearning, with each song adding a new layer to the emotional landscape. Opening with “Cruel World,” a track that sets a tone of gritty rebellion, Del Rey immediately establishes a sense of aimless freedom and disillusionment, as if inviting listeners to step into her turbulent world.
From there, each song flows organically into the next, creating a kind of hypnotic trance. The album’s sequencing—especially with songs like “Shades of Cool” following “Cruel World”—delivers a steady build-up of tension and release, capturing the push and pull of love and loss that Del Rey explores so deeply.
Throughout the album, Del Rey crafts a narrative progression that feels less like a linear story and more like a thematic spiral, with each track intensifying the mood. The middle of the album, from “West Coast” to “Pretty When You Cry,” delves into darker, more introspective moments, slowing down the pace and enveloping the listener in melancholy. Songs like “Sad Girl” and “Money Power Glory” introduce hints of irony and self-awareness, expanding on the album’s themes of disillusionment and exploring different facets of Del Rey’s character.
The final tracks, “Old Money” and “The Other Woman,” offer a haunting sense of resolution—or lack thereof—that leaves listeners in a kind of contemplative suspension. “The Other Woman” especially serves as a fitting conclusion, echoing the timeless sadness of doomed romance and leaving the album on a note of unresolved yearning.
Thematic Consistency
Thematically, Ultraviolence maintains an impressive consistency from start to finish. Every song, even with its unique sonic nuances, feels tied to the album’s core ideas of love, power, vulnerability, and the inevitable ache of romantic idealism. There are no jarring shifts in tone or style; rather, each track builds on the last, reinforcing the album’s vision. The themes of tragic love and nostalgia are so intertwined with Del Rey’s persona that each song feels like another facet of the same story, told from slightly different angles. Despite the variations in tempo or instrumentation across tracks, Del Rey keeps the emotional intensity unwavering, ensuring that the album feels like a singular, immersive journey.
The production style also contributes significantly to the album’s cohesion, with each track wrapped in that hazy, analog warmth that amplifies the themes of faded beauty and longing. The lo-fi, cinematic quality that Dan Auerbach brings to the album unifies the songs in a way that feels timeless yet personal, making each track feel like part of a carefully curated whole rather than individual pieces. In its entirety, Ultraviolence achieves a rare balance of thematic and sonic coherence, capturing an era and emotion that flows seamlessly, leaving listeners with a lingering sense of bittersweet reflection. It is a cohesive and deeply immersive work, one that reaffirms Del Rey’s ability to craft an album as a complete artistic vision.
Standout Tracks and Moments
Several tracks on Ultraviolence rise to the surface as defining moments, showcasing Lana Del Rey’s emotional depth and artistic vision.
Ultraviolence
Perhaps one of the album’s most powerful tracks is the title song, “Ultraviolence.” This haunting ballad combines Del Rey’s soft, ethereal vocals with gritty lyrics about a relationship as intoxicating as it is destructive. The line “He hit me and it felt like a kiss” has drawn both intrigue and controversy, capturing the duality of beauty and pain that Del Rey explores so boldly. Her almost whispered delivery adds to the unsettling allure, making “Ultraviolence” a song that lingers long after it ends.
West Coast
“West Coast” is another standout, largely due to its bold, unconventional structure. The song’s tempo shifts dramatically between the verses and chorus, mirroring the volatility of the emotions Del Rey describes. The verses carry a languid, sultry rhythm, while the chorus unexpectedly quickens, bringing an urgent intensity to the refrain. This push-pull dynamic feels like a musical manifestation of the conflicting emotions of desire and detachment. The song’s gritty guitar riffs, reminiscent of California surf rock, add a rawness that sets “West Coast” apart from other tracks on the album and highlights Del Rey’s knack for bending genre to fit her unique soundscape.
Shades of Cool
“Shades of Cool” stands out as one of the most emotionally potent tracks on the album, taking Del Rey’s love of cinematic melancholy to new heights. The song begins with a dreamy, almost hypnotic quality, Del Rey’s voice rising and falling over a bluesy guitar line. However, it’s in the bridge that “Shades of Cool” reaches its peak, with Auerbach’s reverb-laden guitar solo creating a dramatic, heart-stopping moment. The solo feels like an eruption of raw emotion, giving voice to the anguish and futility woven throughout the lyrics. This moment encapsulates the album’s signature style—delicate yet intense, drawing listeners into the depths of Del Rey’s world.
Old Money
Another track that deserves special mention is “Old Money.” Unlike much of the album, “Old Money” takes a softer, more introspective approach, using sparse instrumentation to emphasize Del Rey’s haunting vocal delivery. The song is steeped in nostalgia, referencing motifs of old Hollywood and faded glamour, and drawing on fragments of “What Is a Youth?” from Romeo and Juliet (1968), a nod that adds to the song’s wistful, timeless quality.
With lyrics like “If you send for me, you know I’ll come / And if you call for me, you know I’ll run,” Del Rey captures the heartbreaking loyalty of a love that endures even when it shouldn’t. It’s a track that feels simultaneously classic and deeply personal, embodying the album’s themes of love, memory, and sacrifice.
Memorable Moments
A few specific moments across Ultraviolence capture its essence and underscore Del Rey’s skill as both a lyricist and performer. In “Pretty When You Cry,” the track’s minimal instrumentation allows her raw vocals to take center stage. Similarly, in “Cruel World,” Del Rey’s opening line—“Shared my body and my mind with you, that’s all over now”—is delivered with a sense of finality that sets the tone for the album’s exploration of freedom and detachment.
Artistic Contribution and Innovation
Ultraviolence occupies a unique space within both Lana Del Rey’s discography and the broader music industry, defying the conventions of mainstream pop in favor of a more raw, unfiltered aesthetic. Released in 2014—a time dominated by polished electronic production and upbeat, radio-ready hits—the album’s slower tempos, lo-fi texture, and dark subject matter set it apart as an anti-pop statement. Del Rey’s retreat from glossy production toward a grittier, more analog sound felt rebellious in a landscape of hyper-produced pop, pushing the boundaries of what was expected from a major-label release. It suggested an alternative path for pop music: one that was intimate, stripped-back, and unconcerned with fitting into commercial molds.
Genre Elements
In genre terms, Ultraviolence resists a single classification. While it’s anchored in pop, it leans heavily into influences from blues rock, psychedelic rock, and the “California noir” aesthetic, creating a hybrid genre space that felt novel and cinematic. By blending these elements with her own version of baroque pop, Del Rey forged a sound that channeled nostalgia yet felt fresh and modern.
Her exploration of “soft grunge” textures and vintage rock sounds brought in audiences that might not have otherwise gravitated toward pop music, further expanding her cultural reach and challenging pop music’s boundaries. The album’s sonic references to the 1960s and ‘70s, alongside its use of cinematic storytelling, evoked a bygone era while speaking to contemporary themes, creating a timeless, almost mythic allure.
Heavy Themes
What is perhaps most innovative about Ultraviolence is its unflinching approach to heavy, often uncomfortable themes like toxic love, self-destruction, and fatalistic romance. Del Rey didn’t shy away from portraying love in its darker, more twisted forms, diving into lyrics that explore submission, loss, and the psychological weight of desire. This approach pushed the envelope in terms of what mainstream pop was willing to explore at the time, introducing a new type of vulnerability to the genre.
By stepping away from the typical empowerment narratives of the 2010s and embracing themes of fragility and flawed love, Del Rey reframed femininity as complex, troubled, and unapologetically dark. This thematic boldness not only contributed to her distinctive artistic voice but also influenced a new wave of artists who have since explored similarly melancholic and introspective territory in their work.
Production
On the production side, Dan Auerbach’s influence brought a rawness that was unusual for a major pop release, marking a notable shift in how Del Rey’s music was constructed and perceived. Rather than polishing away imperfections, Auerbach’s production embraced rough edges, with reverb-heavy guitar lines, unvarnished vocals, and echoing soundscapes. This approach to production, often associated with indie and rock genres, gave Ultraviolence an authenticity that felt markedly different from the clean, polished sound dominating pop at the time. By leaving in vocal cracks, extending instrumental solos, and creating unhurried atmospheres, the production felt daringly intimate and organic—a testament to Del Rey’s willingness to experiment with sound in ways that broke from commercial expectations.
Closing Thoughts
Ultraviolence stands as one of Lana Del Rey’s boldest statements, a work of art that rejects mainstream conventions and creates its own world of beauty and bleakness. Among its greatest strengths are its fearless exploration of dark, complex themes and its innovative blend of genres. Del Rey’s lyrical vulnerability, paired with Dan Auerbach’s lo-fi, analog production, creates a uniquely haunting atmosphere that draws listeners into a cinematic experience that feels intimate and timeless. The album’s thematic cohesion and emotional depth allow Del Rey to refine her persona as the tragic heroine, adding layers of grit and realism that are both alluring and haunting.
However, the album’s deliberate pacing and brooding tone may be seen as a drawback to some listeners. Its moodiness and introspective themes create a consuming, at times heavy experience that might lack the versatility or replayability of a more accessible pop record. While Del Rey’s choice to embrace darkness is integral to Ultraviolence’s impact, it may also limit its appeal to those who prefer lighter, more dynamic compositions.
Overall, Ultraviolence is a testament to Lana Del Rey’s commitment to her artistic vision. It’s an album that encourages listeners to confront the bittersweet facets of love and longing, offering a rare sense of emotional honesty that is hard to find in mainstream music. The album marks a turning point in Del Rey’s career, establishing her as a distinctive voice willing to push boundaries and challenge the norms of pop.
Official Rating
The album earns a solid 8 for its fearless vision, thematic depth, and innovative sound. While it may lack the accessibility that some listeners might expect, Ultraviolence succeeds in creating an immersive and cohesive experience that resonates with its audience. It may not be an album for every mood, but it remains a standout work in Del Rey’s catalog, cementing her role as a pop artist unafraid to embrace beauty in darkness.