Lana Del Rey – Bluebird Review

A scrapped album title, another delay, and it all feels a bit run of the mill for Lana Del Rey. There is an unexpectedness to the album release cycle, the push out of singles, the second being Bluebird, despite the project at the end of the road not quite clear. She is an artist big enough to make these slip-ups and not be affected too much by them. Late for the stage, later still for release. We can hold onto the hope of songwriting, then. Henry, Come On was a solid draw, an extremely well-written piece which keeps up with the standard Rey set for her conviction in writing and tone. But it was a little too close to the past, the sounds of someone unable to move on from the popular tones of the last few years. Rey suggests a stagnant form may be her next step. Bluebird does nothing to suggest otherwise.  

What else could Rey do? Bluebird plays up a popular style which has steered her writing well so far, and it sounds as though this will continue. Her acoustic flourish here is a welcome, slight change. The tone of country rides through these songs, though it sounds like Rey has shied away from what could have been. Sweet enough, a calm and sparse song which hints at what Rey can do when following a route of folk fundamentals. What an artist can do with an acoustic guitar and their voice is, briefly, found out. A tremendous voice, another recollection of the past paired with an affectionate, hopeful flow. Bluebird is a charming piece of work from Rey. One of the few pop songs detailing lost love which uses strings not as a crutch but as an instrument of note. They are restrained and filter into the countrified style nicely.  

Bluebird may be a simple-sounding song, but there is great risk in making a stripped-back track. Rey manages to carry Bluebird with nothing more than the occasions of reflection, the occasional strum of acoustics and a strong voice. She profiles her lyrical talent through sparse moments, the hopes for health be it for themselves or another. These are the moments which feel like a warm awakening, especially in these times of global conflict. A charming core, a tonal sincerity to Bluebird, would be lost if the lyrical choices were dense or stuffed with detail. Brevity is a lost art. Rey does not so much revive it as a concept for singer-songwriters but certainly finds plenty of love and reflection in the space between.  

That hope for peace and the rush of reality, personified by horses crashing through the quiet, is wonderful writing. Rey hits on a tremendously listenable moment, one where hope is not crushed, but it does sound unlikely, no matter the optimism of the protagonist at heart. Wishing nothing but the best for someone as the instrumentals close in, that sincerity is hard to find. Rey has mastered that in moments, and while the messiness of her album cycle may be of slight worry, her choice of single is remarkable. Bluebird keeps on pushing the fold of what her work can do at a time when some slight sense of reinvention is needed. Hence the country tones, but the rejection of Let the Right One In, the change-up so close to the finish line, is as bold a choice as it was for Rey to rest on acoustic tones and introspective messages. Bluebird is a tremendous example of what Rey can do.