Lana Del Rey lazes on a hammock, hangs with the ladies of the canyon and holds a majestic butterfly in the three-song video for “Norman Fucking Rockwell,” “Bartender” and “Happiness Is a Butterfly.”
Directed by Del Rey’s sister, Chuck Grant, the 14-minute triple video opens with the singer at the piano playing the chords to the title track. As it segues into “Bartender,” she poses with friends that include Emma Elizabeth Tillman (photographer and wife of Father John Misty’s Josh Tillman), Alexandria Kaye, Craig Stark and Ash Rodriguez. “All the ladies of the canyon/Wearing black to the house parties,” she sings. “Crosby, Stills and Nash is playing/Wine is flowing with Bacardi.”
For “Happiness Is a Butterfly,” she strolls along a wire fence in a ringer tee while cradling the winged insect in her hands. “If he’s a serial killer/then what’s the worst?/That can happen to a girl who’s already hurt?”
On Thursday, Del Rey announced that as she prepares for the release of a printed collection of poetry, she’ll also drop a spoken word album on January 4th. Half of the proceeds will benefit Native American organizations.
“I had a thought for a while about how I wanted the album to be around a dollar because I just love the idea that thoughts are meant to be shared and that they were priceless in some way,” she said on her Instagram. “And I just really wanted to sort of pay homage to this country that I love so much by doing my own reparation, I guess I would say, my own reparative act.”
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Del Rey previously released videos for the Norman Fucking Rockwell tracks “Fuck It I Love You,” “The Greatest” and her cover of Sublime’s “Doin’ Time.” She wrapped up her U.S. tour in November, where she covered iconic songs like Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” and Joni Mitchell’s “For Free” while bringing out surprise guests like Joan Baez, Sean Lennon, Chris Isaak, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, Lucy Dacus, Julia Jacklin and more.
The singer will kick off 2020 with a European trek, including an evening at London’s O2 Arena on February 25th.