How I love Lana Del Rey. Her new video “Ride” is the first single off of the extended cut of her album. In the video, she plays a character with curly dark hair and tells a story on her carefree and young attitude/self. She rides on the back of motorcycles with a crew, crawls on all fours while roaring and swings like a pendulum on a tire swing thats suspended from the sky in a desert. The video is a masterpiece and beautifully 10 minutes long. The video begins and ends with a narration written by Lana and shows her being a streetwalker while showing different clips of older men in different locations. The actual song does not start until 3:30minutes in and was directed by Anthony Mandler who also directed Lana’s “National Anthem” (another great video in my opinion). At times the sentiment is emotionally powerful but there are also times where I felt she repeats some of her words/work.
“…I believe in the country America used to be. I believe in the person I want to become.I believe in the freedom of the open road. And my motto is the same as ever —I believe in the kindness of strangers. And when I’m at war with myself — I ride. I just ride.Who are you? Are you in touch with all of your darkest fantasies?Have you created a life for yourself where you’re free to experience them?I have. I am fucking crazy. But I am free.” — Piece from Lana Del Rey’s Narration
