Lana Del Rey Shares Political New Song, “Looking For America”
Although she has a new album – Norman Fucking Rockwell – coming out later this month and already announced the tracklist, Lana Del Rey just released a brand new song not part of the album. Inspired by the recent shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Lana wrote and recorded “Looking For America” this week. Following a preview of the song on Instagram on Monday, today “Looking For America” saw an official release on all music platforms. All proceeds from the single’s sales will go to relief funds for survivors of those shootings.
As Lana explained in her Instagram post, the song is inspired the troubled state the US is in currently. The two back-to-back mass shootings last weekend are just the latest in an epidemic of gun violence in the United States in recent years. While government officials fail to do anything about these issues, artists like Lana have become increasingly socially and politically conscious in their music.
“Looking For America” is a gentle, intimate song set to acoustic guitar. Lana describes her own journeys across the country, both in California and New York, and the differences between when she was young versus today. She paints an image of children playing in a park. But, heart-wrenchingly, she intones that we only used to worry for them after dark; now they’re in constant danger. Lana’s voice is delicate and lilting in the chorus. It’s a simple but powerful song that’s all too relevant today.
Listen to “Looking For America” below:
You can stream or download “Looking For America” from all the major music providers here. Remember, all proceeds from the song will go to the Gilroy Garlic Festival Victims Relief Fund, El Paso Community Relief Fund, and Dayton Foundation.
Prior to releasing the song today, Lana shared a video of when she recorded it just last Monday. She wrote the song with Jack Antonoff.
See the “Looking For America” video below:
Hi folks came back early from Montecito with my brother this morning and asked Jack Antonoff to come into town because I had a song on my mind that I wanted to write.
Now I know I’m not a politician and I’m not trying to be so excuse me for having an opinion- but in light of all of the mass shootings and the back to back shootings in the last couple of days which really affected me on a cellular level I just wanted to post this video that our engineer Laura took 20 minutes ago. I hope you like it. I’m singing love to the choruses I recorded this morning. I’m going to call it ‘Looking for America’
@jackantonoff
@sharp_stick
This isn’t the first time Lana has gotten political in her music. On Lust For Life, her songs “God Bless America – And All The Beautiful Women In It,” “When The World Was At War We Kept Dancing,” and “Beautiful People Beautiful Problems” all touch on political issues.
“Season Of The Witch”
In addition to “Looking For America,” today Lana shared another new song: Her cover of “Season Of The Witch.” The song appears in Guillermo Del Toro’s new horror film, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark.
Lana has had many songs in movie soundtracks over the years, and this year will add several more to her list. We already got her cover of “Doin’ Time” for the Sublime documentary. Later this year, we can also look forward to a song with Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus in the upcoming Charlie’s Angels film, a possible song in the forthcoming Maleficent movie, and a possible song in the upcoming Elvis Presley film.
Norman Fucking Rockwell
Lana is also about to release a new album. You can pre-order Norman Fucking Rockwell from Lana’s official website here. The album comes out on August 30th.
We’ve already heard several songs in full – singles “Mariners Apartment Complex,” “Venice Bitch,” and “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but i have it,” plus a live performance of “How To Disappear.” We’ve also heard several clips of album tracks.
Soon, we will get to see a double music video for two new songs. Lana just filmed a video for two tracks – “Fuck It I Love You” and “The Greatest” – so we should be hearing those songs and seeing the video soon.
There’s no word on if “Looking For America” will be added to Norman Fucking Rockwell – if only digitally. The album will be released on August 30th. Catch up on everything we know about it so far here. We’ll have a lot more Lana Del Rey excitement in the coming weeks. As always, keep checking back here for all the latest music news.
- Green Day Announces ‘BBC Sessions’ & Shares “2000 Light Years Away” - October 22, 2021
- The Weeknd & Swedish House Mafia Team Up for “Moth To A Flame” - October 22, 2021
- See Lana Del Rey’s Music Video for “Blue Banisters” - October 20, 2021
