Lana Del Rey‘s “Say Yes to Heaven” has lived many lives. It was first written in 2012 during sessions for her third album Ultraviolence, but was left off of the record. Years later, a leaked version resurfaced online and entered the TikTok musical ecosystem. Del Rey officially released “Say Yes to Heaven” last year, much to the delight of Irish band Fontaines D.C. who reimagined the track for the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge.
Singer Grian Chatten led the performance, pulling the record to deeper depths vocally as he echos Del Rey’s urgent pleading for a lover to run away with her. The full band — including Conor Curley, Conor Deegan III, Tom Coll, Carlos O’Connell — brought an alternative rock edge to the ambient ballad.
While in the Live Lounge, Fontaines D.C. also performed their single “Favourite” from their recently-released album Romance. The record marked their fourth studio album and their first in two years. It also found them exploring new genres. In a review of the album, Rolling Stone wrote: “The shift was exciting, it was unpredictable, it was even lightly nerve wracking. But Romance delivers: the record is wildly expansive, and Fontaines’ bullheaded integrity still stands, perhaps with a stronger spine than ever.”
As their sound changes, Fontaines D.C. are also making a conscious effort to approach their live performances with a sense of consistency. “I think changing all angles and aspects of what we do was imperative to make sure that we felt like we were taking a genuine step in a different direction,” Chatten told Rolling Stone earlier this year.
Deegan added: “It’s kind of funny, it’s almost like muscle memory, but for the way we were. Your hands go to the same chords all the time after a while. We were going to the same outfits, and we were going to the same ways of being, and talking, and interviews. I think we really tried to make a conscious break with all of that to stay sincere.”
From Rolling Stone US
