By Monica Gomez
Lana Del Rey opens a new side to her, a side that goes beyond her beautifully pained persona, but right into her truthful soul. For the first time since the birth of Lana Del Rey’s musical career, she opens up Elizabeth Grant (Del Rey’s birth name) to the public. On March 14, 2023, Del Rey surprised her fans by releasing her new song “The Grants” from her upcoming album Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (releasing March 24, 2023).
The song is titled after her family name, Grant, in which she opens up about the intertwining relationship between life and death. The song commences with gospel singers practicing the chorus “I’m gonna take mine of you with me.” The gospel singers establish the unraveling to come, Del Rey discusses religion, questioning heaven and what people take from this earth after death. She sings about how her pastor and the words of advice he shared, stating that after death one only takes their memories with them. Del Rey has the desire to take her memories of the ones she loves with her, singing “I’m gonna take mine of you with me.”
The most heartwrenching verse of the song is “My sister's first-born child I'm gonna take that too with me, my grandmother's last smile I'm gonna take that too with me.” She showcases how closely related life and death are, juxtaposing the joyous memory of meeting her niece with the tragic passing of her grandmother, but saving the beautiful memory of her last smile. The song serves as a reminder that life is fleeting but beautiful, and that at the end of it, you’ll only have memories to rest on. She captures the beauty of life and death, finding happiness in every memory of life because each fragment, each memory, creates a memorable picture of life.
In the last verse she sings, “It's a beautiful life, remember that too for me.” She encourages the listener to appreciate the life they’re living, and the things they’re experiencing, which is a complete contrast to Del Rey’s lonely and sad woman persona. In past songs she sings about her lack of desire to live, struggling with drugs, and violent relationships with men, but in this song, she shows an unseen side of her. The true side of Elizbeth Grant, no longer hiding underneath the fabricated and beautifully curated women that men lust over. She’s showcasing her true identity through her music, without the luster and gossip of social media. Del Rey is known for keeping her life very private, answering interview questions in a poetic but mystic way. Yet, with this new song, she opens something unseen by her fanbase, happiness and the willingness to live.
Is this new album possibly signifying a new beginning in Del Rey’s Career, a rebirth for the most beloved melancholic singer?
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