Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness Music Video

Oh Lana, you've done it again.

It wasn't long ago that we were presented with the 7 minute mini-movie video for National Anthem from the long-haired beauty, and she's already bestowed upon us the visual for album favourite Summertime Sadness.  Lana has played various versions of the same role in her videos, from doomed runaway, to damsel in distress and of course first lady, and in the video for Summertime Sadness Lana is serving us sensual yet suicidal chic.

The motif of death has been glaringly obvious throughout the whole album campaign, in both the videos and the songs themselves (shocking stuff from an album called 'Born To Die') and Summertime Sadness doesn't do much to change things up.  The video depicts a doomed relationship between Lana and her stunning guest star Jamie King, and is effectively compiled of four minutes worth of footage featuring the breathtaking couple either having fun or, y'know, plummeting from great heights to their death.  The whole video calls to mind her beautiful 'doomed prom queen/Carrie' photoshoot from earlier in the year and much like the character she portrayed then, her performance in this video is hauntingly beautiful.  


It may not be uplifting, but it's a perfect marriage of song and visual, as the single itself talks of a love that may be great, but isn't going anywhere and has to hit a wall (or in the video's case, a hard ground).  It's full of silhouettes, stunning scenery and smoky transitions.  Make no mistake, the video is a work of art and is without a doubt the most effective video she has released.  Now if I could just get one video from her that doesn't have such a literal interpretation of the 'Born To Die' mantra.

4.5/5

My one complaint is that out of the six music videos released from the album, four have featured her now trademark cut and paste, heavily filtered style.  It may be pretty to look at, but it's starting to grate a bit and so I'm praying that when she's writing her treatment for the Dark Paradise video, she approaches it from a Born To Die/Blue Jeans angle as opposed to this National Anthem/Summertime Sadness style that she has since perfected.