Lana Del Rey has shared a new spoken word piece titled “Patent Leather Do-Over,” featuring music by Jack Antonoff.
In a follow-up post, Del Rey said that the piece would appear on Behind the Iron Gates – Insights From an Institution, the second of two spoken word LPs she recorded; the singer previously announced her first spoken word album Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass.
In “Patent Leather Do-Over,” Del Rey addresses the poet Sylvia Plath and her work The Bell Jar.
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“Sylvia, I knew what you meant when you talked about swimming in the ocean and leaving your patent leather black shoes pointed towards it while you swam. It tickled you to leave them there,” Del Rey says.
“It was the thought of a young child, or of a lost fairy. It reminded me of who I am. It’s why I’m now at this facility by the ocean and why I go barefoot, and why I go calmly. Why I leave my shoes up by the stairway. I do it for you and I do it for me. Because having learned from others and from you, I learned there was a missing piece to finding existential calmness and domestic bliss to lead to peace. So see, you can’t fall in love with a man like Ted or a musician who sings about being free.”
Behind the Iron Gates – Insights From an Institution is due out in March 2021, the singer said.
Del Rey’s new piece comes days after the singer announced that her new album would arrive September 5th in an Instagram open letter that also drew criticism on social media.
“Question for the culture: Now that Doja Cat, Ariana, Camila, Cardi B, Kehlani and Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé have had number ones with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, fucking, cheating etc. — can I please go back to singing about being embodied, feeling beautiful by being in love even if the relationship is not perfect, or dancing for money — or whatever I want — without being crucified or saying that I’m glamorizing abuse??????” Del Rey wrote.
On Saturday, Del Rey followed up her “controversial post” with some “final notes” on the subject:
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