TUEnESDAY: Lana Del Ray

More often than not, I get my ideas for TUEnSDAY from late night BBC Radio 2 or the t'interweb. Imagine my delight when BBC Radio 1 played something I think is musically beautiful. I don't get to say that much about music played on R1... there's not enough music during the time I listen (driving to and from work), and what does get airtime tends to be, for my middle-aged ears, far too mainstream, far too loud and (if I'm honest) far too young to move me in that way very often. But this song touched me today. It was a welcome respite in a day that, for a lack of a better phrase, pretty much sucked ass. And why it sucked isn't really important - neither is the fact that, realistically on the Worldwide Scale of Suckiness, my one relatively crap day today is probably still better than most people's best day - and I'm not saying that to be boastful, but to admit that I'm mindful that I am very, very fortunate. Whatever... I was feeling a bit shit today, and this song rescued me for four minutes and fifty sultry seconds.

I gather from a bit of eSearch that Lana Del Ray is something of an enigma. Somewhat refreshingly, she doesn't have a Wikipedia entry - so what info there is on her, I've gotten from her Facebook page and reviews online. Born and residing in New York, she sites as her influences a mix of artists from Britney Spears to the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. From her GQ.com Q&A article, I can't tell whether she's down-to-earth, ultra-cool or a bit of a ice queen. She's probably none of those, thosse being totally unrealistic and unhelpful labels that don't really describe anyone in totality. So I don't yet know what to think of HER. But this song... this song I like. I'm almost reluctant to put the video link here... partly because apparently it's so viral that you've probably already seen it... and partly because the botox overkill in the video is almost enough to distract me from the soul in the voice. But, as one person has said, 'She's beyond talented with a timeless voice so why let a minor Botox injection get in the way of that?'

I love her voice. I love this song. A love song that talks about hanging out and playing video games? You had me at 'Azeroth.' I want to dive a little deeper into Lana Del Ray - listen to some of her back catalogue and definitely keep an eye on her in the next few years. Join me, won't you...?