Alternative music star Lana Del Rey might be stretching into a new genre.
Taking to Instagram yesterday (18 January), the Summertime Sadness singer left a 50-second snippet of a new song entitled Henry, Come On.
Tagging songwriter and producer Luke Laird, Del Rey shared a tender, acoustic number with her typically emotionally resonant vocal, maybe indicating a move towards country music.
In the snippet, she sings, “Henry, come on / Did I really choose it? / All this off and on, Henry, come on / Baby, come on / Do you think I’d really lose it on ya? / If you did nothing wrong, Henry, come on”. You can listen to the stripped-back tune below.
Del Rey’s Instagram comments section was packed with excitement, with fans leaving messages like “country era is coming” and “Ah, so is this what you’ve been cooking up here down south?” – referencing the singer’s stint in Alabama, including waitressing at a Waffle House – “Ooo my let me saddle up!” and “Come on and giddy up”.
Last July, Del Rey was waitressing at a Waffle House in Alabama and was spotted in a nail salon in Birmingham and walking through downtown Florence.
At the time, she wasn’t playing shows in support of her new album, Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, released last March, but there is a lyric in the song Paris, Texas, that might have hinted at why she was in Alabama: “I took a train to Spain, just a notebook in my hand/Then I went to see some friends of mine, down in Florence, Alabama.”
Del Rey’s ninth album, Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, debuted at #1 on the ARIA Albums and Vinyl Chart last year, giving the singer her fifth #1 album in Australia.
In the UK, she scored her sixth #1, beating Depeche Mode with their latest album, Memento Mori, and tied with Radiohead, Blur and Arctic Monkeys on the list of artists with the most UK #1 albums. She also topped the UK vinyl releases chart.