Lana Del Rey delivers an opening track like no other: “The Grants” is a eulogy and testament to the beauty of life and family.
“The Grants” is the third single from her highly-anticipated album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd?, releasing this Friday. It also follows the sweet and venomous “A&W” which went semi-viral on TikTok for its sonic geniusness.
“The Grants” by Lana Del Rey Analysis
The BBC1 Radio premiere of “The Grants” left a very different impression on viewers than the previous single. For starters, this is the first opener for Del Rey which doesn’t woo extravagant orchestral instrumentals. Rather it’s a chorus outtake from her background singers (Melodye Perry, Pattie Howard and Shikena Jones) singing: “I’m gonna take mind of you with me.”
To the music icon, the beauty in being flawed and coming back flawlessly from an error was the “right way” to open the album and new era.
Even the track title “Kintsugi” refers to the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with gold. The technique’s philosophy treats breakage and repair as the object’s history rather than something to disguise.
Del Rey’s work, heavily saturated with continuity, never highlighted internal shifting as monumental… just a happening. However, since her magnum opus Norman F*cking Rockwell, her lyricism didn’t reflect brokenness— she owned a bit of her history, whether familial or romantic.
So when Lana uses her metaphysics Fordham education to question her life remembrance in Heaven, know it’s real.
“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 / It’s a beautiful life / Remember that too for me.”
Lyrics from “The Grants” by Lana Del Rey
The living paying respect to the afterlife is taboo, sacred even, but Del Rey’s intentions aren’t missed. As the album’s opener, “The Grants” is ode to her love ones and her commitment to them in all of life’s stages,
What do you think of “The Grants” by Lana Del Rey? Don’t miss Del Rey’s ninth studio album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd?, out this Friday!
