Arriving with little of the buzz or fanfare surrounding "National Anthem," Lana Del Rey's latest retro super-8 music video opus "Summertime Sadness" appeared online earlier today without much fuss, for a change. Trading in her photographer-punching JFK for actress Jaime King (whose husband Kyle Newman directed the video along with filmmaker Spencer Susser), Miss Del H&M continues to flaunt her very specific skill set: aimlessly frolicking, pouting and standing around looking sad and distant with sweeping orchestral music playing in the background.
I don't kind know… I kind of like it. Of course, I kind of liked it when it was called "Video Games," too. Swap out A$AP Rocky for a doomed Thelma & Louise romance, though, and you've got a shorter version of "National Anthem"… minus a few pastel sweaters and a confused Marilyn Monroe homage. I get that the girl-girl romance is supposed to be edgy and engaging… but I don't know what these two purportedly did together other than take boring super 8 films of each other and stare longingly at each other in the front seat of a Cadillac. I get it, style-over-substance is par for the course when you're talking Lana Del Rey, but I can't help but feel like she's digging herself into an aesthetic rut. I never once thought I'd ever wish for a stale choreographed dance routine… but, well…
Verdict? It's fine… in that "is this really the only type of video Lana Del Rey knows how to make?" sort of way. Would really like to see her switching things up a little bit, though. Maybe next time the love affair is only mildly doomed? Or maybe only shoot 98% of it on old film stock? Shrug, food for thought.
What do you guys think of Lana Del Rey's "Summertime Sadness" video? Get the conversation started in our comments section below.
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