Lana Del Rey surprised fans with a cover of Father John Misty’s bluesy “Buddy’s Rendezvous.” There was no valuable press leading up to its release, only an Instagram comment by the original recording artist.
Lana’s Recent Moves
The 36-year-old New York native is as enigmatic as ever. After deleting her main Instagram account (pulling over 20 million followers), Del Rey retreated to her secret account @honeymoon. Named after her fourth album, the star initially used the account to posted tidbits about the project. Then, it extended into years worth of behind-the-scene moments, and seeing the artist in a more intimate light (with friends and family). The account fluctuates between private and public access, and sits at 2.1 million (heavily active) followers.
Nowadays, not even that is enough to know what the singer is up to. Between her recent throwbacks of interview montages and album trailers to weddings, it seems her recent release is the least of her worries. While there was something of a buildup given her January release for HBO’s Euphoria, “Buddy’s Rendezvous” received no official announcement. If you count the premature post on January 18 and the recent April 22, it was still unclear that it was a cover.
However, this pair is by no means random; both artists have been avid supporters of each other. In a 2016 interview with NME, the former Fleet Foxes drummer described working with Del Rey (on her “Freak” music video) as “a dream.” He said he would “definitely” like to collaborate with the singer again. She even alluded to his 2017 Coachella show in “Coachella- Woodstock In My Mind” from Del Rey’s Lust For Life album.
“Buddy’s Rendezvous” by Lana Del Rey
Father John Misty’s filmmaker wife Emma Elizabeth Tillman directed the song’s music video and said in a statement:
‘Buddy’s Rendezvous’ is a world unto itself. It is a place out of time. My dream for the video is that it would surrender itself to the power of the song. Although the video and the song can be considered love letters to Los Angeles, the themes are universal. Disappointments, regrets, forgiveness, tenderness, perseverance, and love.
The original version was a part of Father John Misty’s fifth album Chloë and the Next 20th Century with Lana’s cover as a deluxe track.
Above the sad doo-wap, Lana’s voice rings earnest yet ghostly, perhaps forgotten. The song (as referenced by the director) is a slow burn of a bright star past burnout and hope; it is destruction. The singer remains deadpan with minimal support from Misty in the background. The most striking lyrics come in the second pre-chorus and chorus, with increasing certainty in her voice. She sings, “My destruction’s an hour late/ I’m at Buddy’s Rendezvous / Tellin’ the losers and old timers / How good I did with you / They almost believe me, too. / Whatever happened to the girl I knew? In the wasteland, come up short and end up on the news?”
Soon her voice soars, begs, and cries as she wonders with Father John Misty where time has gone. And if she spent her time doing the right things.
New Music On The Horizon
With W magazine, Del Rey appeared as the cover star for their Music issue. In conversation with Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, she offered a taste of what to expect with her new music; she says she practices “meditative automatic singing” as a way to have no filter. In continuation, the artist says,
For this new music, there’s none of that [color references like in Honeymoon] at all. It’s more just like: I’m angry. The songs are very conversational. For the first song, I pressed record and sang, “When I look back, tracing fingertips over plastic bags, I think I wish I could extrapolate some small intention or maybe get your attention for a minute or two.” It’s a very wordy album. So there’s no room for color. It’s almost like I’m typing in my mind.
There is no release date for new music yet. But Del Rey’s longtime manager Ben Mawson posted a screenshot on Instagram with the following caption:
A true star ⭐️ , one of the greatest living female songwriters that will influence for decades to come and a real performer that has inspired multiple generations . Big love and proud of @honeymoon forever ✨♥️new music incoming 🚀
What do you think of Lana Del Rey’s cover of “Buddy’s Rendezvous”? Let us know in the comments!
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