Valentine’s Day is a day filled with romance, chocolates, and roses — or is it? If the love in the air is complicated this Valentine’s season, fret not. Grab your headphones, press play, and let Lana Del Rey, queen of the sad girls, be your guide.
“Cinnamon Girl” For the On-and-Off Again girlies
The lyrics of Lana Del Rey’s song “Cinnamon Girl” represent the on-again, off-again dance that many of us are all too familiar with. It embodies the complexities of a turbulent relationship through its various stages. The verses paint a vivid picture of a love that’s both enticing and unpolished and unveil a longing for a type of love that’s yet to be experienced.
“There’s things I wanna say to you / But I’ll just let you live…”
Lana sets the tone for a relationship filled with unspoken sentiments. This is for the girls that feel themselves constantly battling with the desire to express themselves and the decision to let the other person “live.”
“Like if you hold me without hurting me / You’ll be the first who ever did…”
These lines illustrate the vulnerability that comes with opening up to love again. The hesitancy from past wounds reveals a familiar longing to be loved. The repetition emphasizes the rarity of finding someone who can hold you without inflicting pain.
The post-chorus sets a different tone, moving from hesitancy to a sincere cry for love that breaks the pattern. It’s a wish for a new beginning where love is gentle, pure, and most importantly, sustained.
“Hold me, love me, touch me, honey / Be the first who ever did…”
The push and pull of a sporadic relationship is mirrored in the song’s shift between these two emotional extremes. Del Rey conveys the contradictory nature of desiring connection but wanting to stay away to protect yourself from pain. The hope expressed in the lyrics is that maybe, just maybe, this time will be different. It’s the desire for a new beginning, a love that breaks the mold of the past.
“Happiness is a butterfly” for If it’s toxic
If you know you know. If this is your go-to Lana Del Rey song, you’ve probably been hurt before. Moreover, the song paints an almost too clear picture of what it’s like to love the very person who’s simultaneously inflicting your pain.
“I said, ‘Don’t be a jerk, don’t call me a taxi / Sitting in your sweatshirt, crying in the backseat, ooh / I just wanna dance with you…”
Here Del Rey writes for girls who just can’t walk away. The two people who just can’t quit each other come crashing together, causing this weirdly captivating bond that just keeps pulling them back into the relationship. You know that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but there’s this magnetic chaos that makes it hard to hit the exit button. It’s the messy, complicated essence of a toxic love story, the kind that keeps you hooked despite the rollercoaster of emotions.
If that’s not enough, she then dives into the struggles of uncertainty that frequent a volatile, toxic relationship.
“Do you want me or do you not? / I heard one thing, now I’m hearing another…”
In a toxic relationship, the uncertainty becomes a persistent source of distress. This verse speaks to the conflicting signals and mixed messages that intensify the emotional turmoil, leaving the person in the relationship grappling with a lack of clarity and stability.
In my opinion, the most profound moment of the song is when she sings,
“If he’s a serial killer, then what’s the worst that can happen to a girl who’s already hurt? / I’m already hurt…”
This lyric painfully depicts the moment in the relationship where you’ve experienced so much hurt that it’s made you numb to the pain and willing to experience it again. You understand you’re hurt, yet you willingly endure it because the idea of not having them in your life is the only thing that feels worse.
“Dark Paradise” for Post-Breakup feels
This song is for the post-breakup girlies. “Dark Paradise” by Lana Del Rey explores the remnants of a previous romance that persists. The lyrics depict an emotional tale of acceptance and desire as one works through the difficulties of a love that only exists in memory.
“Your soul is haunting me and telling me that everything is fine.”
The haunting imagery here encapsulates the enduring impact of a past love. This lyric speaks to the complicated feelings that arise from your inner thoughts. It speaks to the feeling of old memories being both comforting and torturous.
“I wish I could believe you, then I’d be alright…”
These sentences reveal a deep need for closure, comfort, and acceptance in the aftermath of a lost love.
“But life is sweetest when you’re in love with someone who could never love you…”
Here, Del Rey captures the devastation that comes from an unrequited love. The intensity of emotions is worsened by the heartbreaking realization that the person you love may never reciprocate those feelings toward you.
No matter what kind of love story you’re living, play these anthems on repeat, embrace the emotions, and remember the love you deserve is waiting for you.
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