Lana Del Rey may be the most obvious current champion of the west coast, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t aware of its noirish qualities. In the newly released video for the single, Del Rey expounds on the repetitive scene we were forced to watch over and over while listening to the audio for the song.
Still languidly teetering around on the beach with what one may assume is her love interest or perhaps just a rando picked up on the Pacific Coat Highway, we’re also shown melancholy palm tree clusters and a presumably metaphorical setting sun. LDR shows us two sides of the not so complex California girl as she transitions from happy-go-lucky beach bum to glamorous younger woman dating an older man.
And, of course, what would a video about the west coast be without scenes in a car? As we watch LDR being driven around by her rich, yet sleazy middle-aged beau, it’s hard to tell which version of herself is more apathetic: The one romping around on the beach or the one distracted by her preoccupations with beauty.
As the video comes to a close, director Vincent Haycock (who has also directed a slew of videos for Calvin Harris) infuses the frame with color as LDR appears in a red dress and flames encircling her. So, while on the surface it may seem LDR is an unabashed lover of all things Californian, it’s easy to see she views life in Los Angeles as a slow, painful burn.
