Blue Banisters
| Lana Del Rey
Blue Banisters
Blue Banisters is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. It was released on October 22, 2021, by Interscope and Polydor Records, seven months after her seventh studio album, Chemtrails over the Country Club. The album was produced by Del Rey, Zachary Dawes, Loren Humphrey, Mike Dean, Barrie-James O'Neill, Rick Nowels, and several others. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Lana Del Rey’s second album of the year is a sweeping survey of her talent as a songwriter, stripped of the aesthetic borders she often places around her work.
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Rolling Stone
Her second album of the year is dense and abstract, turning inward and finding solace in sisterhood.
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UNF Spinnaker
“Blue Banisters” welcomes back Lana’s signature sounds and lyrics, as well as introducing new sounds in tracks like “Arcadia”. Though the album itself is a little repetitive and mellow, the tracks are still beautiful. Since the tracks mostly blend very well together, this album has a pretty good re-listen value as well.
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Variety
“Blue Banisters” might lack the majesty of “Norman Fucking Rockwell” or the commercial sheen of “Born To Die,” but it offers a rare glimpse of an artist securing her legacy, one song at a time.
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Spin
Singer’s second album in seven months is confident, honest and arresting.
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The Crimson
With “Blue Banisters,” one thing is for certain: Del Rey’s vocals are primed to head in a new direction, and the road looks promising.
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NME
a defiant and delicate return.
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The Ithacan
Lana Del Rey has revealed another layer of her impressively distinct talent. Her vocals have never been more dynamically powerful. The fifteen tracks of “Blue Banisters” feel like a musical poetry book, as each song offers artistically crafted audio and atmosphere.
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The Guardian
The singer’s eighth album feels familiar, but also pushes at the edges of her usual themes.
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The Edge
Blue Banisters has left me in a dazed trance over it’s utter beauty. I’ve loved Lana Del Rey since ‘Video Games’, so it pains me to say that I felt Chemtrails Over The Country Club signified an artist who’d missed their prime, and I was nervous about hearing Blue Banisters – but boy, was I wrong! Del Rey doesn’t hold back with honest lyrics and emotional vocals, while accompanied by soothing melodies and a variety of interesting instrumentals.
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Buns
That being said, compared to “Chemtrails Over the Country Club,” this feels like a return to the Lana Del Rey that Tumblr kids of the early 2010s came to love. As a longtime Lana fan myself, I was happy to see this return, but also excited by the evolution she has taken to achieve a more psychedelic/folk-rock sound. It is what made me love albums such as “Ultraviolence” and “Lust for Life.”
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Under the Radar Magazine
While the days of Born to Die have long since passed, Lana Del Rey is still seeking paradise, closer now than ever as she turns her search inward, seemingly recognizing that paradise is ultimately found within the best of oneself. Still, if there is indeed a physical Arcadia to be revealed, it has not emerged in its entirety on Blue Banisters. That said, its intoxicating hints are enough to keep seekers thirsty. Until then, we celebrate Del Rey’s glorious return to that place, hoping only that we may one day join her there before it has vanished.
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The Chronicle
For an artist who has long been pigeonholed as the spokesperson for her generation’s angst and sadness, Del Rey once again shows that she has much more to offer on “Blue Banisters.”
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The Forty-Five
The cover may be slicker now, but ‘Blue Banisters’ still thrums with a sense of Lana’s own history, like a personal photo album – and certainly a better kind of archive than any Instagram account.
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Beats Per Minute
It will also reframe her previous work. Was the more conservative and pop Chemtrails devised to please the label and allow for less interference in the sudden follow up? Now that we see Del Rey at her most personal, exploratory and exciting – and difficult to like for those used to seeing musical creases ironed out – was the uniform response to previous albums already part of an approved narrative? Maybe this look behind Del Rey’s curtain is too much for those listeners – maybe they just aren’t able to stand the gaze of the German shepherd that stares back.
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Stereoboard
Lyrically abstract cuts like Living Legend, Thunder and Cherry Blossom are less insightful and find her doomed screen siren persona/armour returning as she defaults to rote tales of relationships and addictions. Featuring Miles Kane, Dealer might be the album’s best song. It just doesn’t belong here. Del Rey’s wail is astonishing, but too theatrical and overwrought, making it seem like the performer has returned, and the confessor vanished, when there’s clearly much left to tell.
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Exepose
Blue Banisters still manages to be an evolutionary album, expanding off of Lana’s previous qualities and building onto newer, relevant themes. Despite years of feigning privacy, this album is the first to dip into her personal relationships and struggles such as gaining weight during the pandemic and “shopping at Target”. Once again, Lana del Rey has proven to be a timeless artist, crafting and expanding beyond her perceived persona and going above and beyond her listeners’ expectations.
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Hotpress
Blue Banisters moves at a similar, down-tempo pace throughout but the conclusion sees the alternative act address her pregnant sister directly. “Don’t have to write me a letter/cause I’ll always be right there,” Del Rey sings, “Closer to you than your next breath.” Ending on a note of familial, feminine love is Lana’s smartest move yet.
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mxdwn Music
Blue Banisters reveals the multiple layers of Lana Del Rey’s personality. Despite its flaws, the album is a solid addition to the singer’s discography.
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Renowned for Sound
Del Rey bewitches her audience with intimacy and vocal performances that show us why she is so revered by her peers. The vivid imagery and atmospheric nature of Blue Banisters feels like Del Rey is following the bread crumbs back to what made Video Games so special in 2012. She is an original artist with a contradictory past but a future that is certain.
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Beep
Simply put, Blue Banisters is a triumph. Del Rey’s ability to perfectly capture emotion and craft eloquent yet stirring songs is to be commended, and will no doubt continue with the release of future albums. If you’re not a fan of Lana Del Rey, you will be after listening to this.
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Spectrum Culture
While it might not stand up with her best albums, Blue Banisters doesn’t unduly dent Lana Del Rey’s current purple patch of creativity.
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Clash Magazine
Refreshingly hers, 'Blue Banisters' is a beautiful mix of old and new. Taking all the most captivating bits of her past catalogue, all the things that make her her, and the comforting recognisability of Lana’s world, the anticipated record is a gift for long running fans. Finally giving official recorded space to fan favourite demos and offcuts she couldn’t let go of, it feels like an album she’s been begging and waiting patiently to record right, and now she has the freedom and peace to do it.
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Sputnik Music
As with all her records, "Blue Banisters" looks backwards for its sound - everything has a songbook standard feel.
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The 13th Floor
As good as any album that Lana Del Rey has done to date. The setting is minimalist but the songs occupy the vast expanse of America in body and in mind. Sung beautifully from start to finish.
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The Courier Online
What makes this album so remarkable is how she is able to keep a consistent style throughout her years of work and many albums, while adjusting her themes to keep it genuine to her personal life. She won't shift for anyone, and this is what makes her a timeless indie-rock staple. Her work is bold and uncensored, and it touches every one of your emotions. There's a reason her career's still growing a decade on, and listeners haven't grown tired of her work, it's her raw authenticity and relatability. Blue Banisters is worth the listen.
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Slant Magazine
Blue Banisters further fleshes out Lana Del Rey’s increasingly colorful personal world.
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Her Campus
The fifteen songs in Blue Banisters flow into each other with their shared vocal power and ethereal sound. The album is a slow listen. Del Rey’s ballad-like singing matches a long autumn drive or an evening walk. From “Text Book” all the way to “Sweet Carolina,” you will feel like you are listening to one long diary entry.
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The Upcoming
Del Rey’s stylistic storytelling seamlessly blends the more profound and poetic lyrics with colloquial, everyday references, once again reminding listeners that, even after a decade, she remains unparalleled in her output. Vocally at her best, Del Rey’s Blue Banisters forms another alluring chapter for the always engaging artist.
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DIY Magazine
A collection of sun-kissed moments and hazy memories, free from judgement and firmly rooted in place.
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The Independent
Del Rey’s claims that this is her most personal album yet are not quite true – it is far more elliptical and mysterious than it first appears.
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Commedia
Overall, this is a solid album filled with beautiful ballads, but with mediocre instrumentation throughout the album, the album feels way longer than it is. Lana Del Rey is an incredible lyricist and vocalist but has produced way better albums.
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Northern Transmissions
We’ve come to expect a certain thing from Lana Del Rey over the years and while Blue Bannisters doesn’t change the plot up much, it is one of Del Rey’s better releases. Del Rey feels comfortable here, bringing you into her world. One that is honest, messy, dryly hilarious and extremely relatable.
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AllMusic
Much of Blue Banisters has this kind of casual, first-take energy, and functions more like a mixtape than an album as Del Rey cultivates a sustained atmosphere, but still makes room to try out new ideas and inject some unexpected moves into her established sound.
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Exclaim!
Though still world-weary as ever, Del Rey is, on Blue Banisters, for the first time diaristic and ad hoc. This album is a stunner.
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The Line of Best Fit
Lana Del Rey’s Blue Banisters is a disarmingly warm and pared-back selection of songs new and old.
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The Rice Thresher
“Blue Banisters” is overall a success and seems likely to live up to the performance of previous albums. Lana delivers a genuine picture of family, sisterhood, friendship and life in 2021. It felt like Lana was truer to herself than she ever had been before now, while still being able to break out of her musical comfort zone, even if just a little bit.
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The Gonzaga Bulletin
Ultimately, "Blue Banisters" is a defiant, complex body of art. Shedding the layers, Del Rey offers us her most honest testimony to date. Had she cut a few of the later tracks (see: “Cherry Blossom” and “Nectar of the Gods”) and cleaned up a bit of the patchier moments on the record, "Blue Banisters" could easily rival her greatest works.
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The Needle Drop
Blue Banisters sounds more slapped together than Lana's past two LPs.
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DGN Omega
Lana Del Rey is surely not for everyone, but that’s common in alternative music. However, her voice is beautiful and her messages can reach many audiences. This album is for fellow Phoebe Bridgers lovers who need to expand their sad girl alternative playlist. I don’t love it, but I genuinely like it. I’m sure I’ll like it even more when I get my heart broken.
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Hidden Jams
There are some excellent songs here that will stand the test of time, and most of them will harken you back for frequent relistening. This is not a surprising album, exactly, but it is a solid and delightful new addition to Lana’s catalogue.
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The Westford Academy Ghostwriter
‘Blue Banisters’ is beyond “something beautiful".
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Pro Tem
Blue Banisters does have some key differences compared to her older studio albums, but I have no complaints whatsoever. While I appreciate her older music, it is inspiring to see an artist go beyond their comfort level and evolve in their craft, and I look forward to seeing what direction she will go next.
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Riot Magazine
All in all, Blue Banisters isn’t Lana Del Rey’s most potent statement in recent memory, but it serves as a decent synthesis of how her art has progressed since she broke onto the scene with “Video Games”.
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Ben's Beat
Dropping two great albums in the space of a single year is a truly difficult feat that it seems like more and more artists are attempting lately, and not even one of the greatest working songwriters can pull it off. While this is likely to prove an important stepping stone in the Lana Del Rey journey when it’s all said and done, it won’t go down as one of her musical essentials despite her consistently entrancing vocal work.
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Was for WP
But at its best, this music offers an even more rewarding thrill: it knows how to entertain, enrapture and even surprise. because of how well we know Lana Del Rey – and how much there is still to learn.
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Digis Mak
It’s insanely fun and deserves its place, but the other throwbacks feel less noticeable, blending into a frigid dirge. However, despite the wavering quality, Blue Banisters are an important addition to the Lana tradition. That it can still be so disconcerting after a decade in the game is a huge achievement.
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Evening Standard
After two close Jack Antonoff collaborations, she’s working with a range of producers and co-writers this time, which leads to impressive anomalies such as Dealer, where British indie guitarist Miles Kane gets the lead vocal, and the swinging string section on Thunder. It counts as this singular artist being eclectic, and it works.
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The Daily Californian
Lana Del Rey’s ‘Blue Banisters’ is lyrical heaven, her best work to date.
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Far Out Magazine
It’s certainly not transcendent or even terribly different from that other album she put out this year. But for someone working at such a feverish pace, it’s telling that the quality of work hasn’t dipped. Perhaps with a longer production period, Del Rey’s next album will take on new sonic territories, and 2021 will be looked back on as her piano balladry years. Who knows, but it’s always worth noting that Lana Del Rey is still putting out good music, even if you pretty much know what’s coming.
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The Irish Examiner
Blue Banisters is typically accomplished and has some wonderful moments, even if there's a lingering feeling Del Rey could be pushing the boundaries a bit more.
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The Weekly Coos
Blue Banisters left me feeling underwhelmed compared to Chemtrails Over The Country Club, as Lana seems to focus tightly on a single note. The music has its fair share of depth, but there are a few that carry weight. If you’re a fan of Lana, there is enough for you to like; however, Blue Banisters is nothing more than a slight retread of Chemtrails.
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