I am a girl who feasts on the slow, easy feeling of familiarity, and I eat Lana Del Rey’s love songs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Her voice sounds like a mother in her youth, her acoustics play to the rhythm of a steady beating heart, her lyrics beautiful interpretations of thoughts I could never put into words. But it’s been a while since I’ve heard a song of hers that I truly devoured. My hunger is finally satiated with her new song “Let The Light In,” off the recently released album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. 

The song lures me in with a synth rhythm that brings windchime-filled gardens to memory; hummingbirds flitting through the harmonic metal forest, making music as they go. This introduction paints the world where the story begins to unravel. It is a place familiar and monotonous, yet beautiful; a place distinctly home. It is as if Lana emerges in your own garden, singing to the butterflies and broken hearts, calling them with every note. 

The chorus of this song is a morning walk, consistent and neverchanging. Lana circles back to it constantly, singing it like a pleading prayer. It is heard in the background, repeating in the synth and strings. 

“Ooh, let the light in /

At your back door yelling ’cause I wanna come in /

Ooh, turn your light on /

Look at us, you and I, back at it again.”

It is this chorus that speaks to me, this prayer that I know all too well. I sing for the sun, in its physical form out the window, and its metaphorical form within me. “Let The Light In,” “Forgive me,” “ See me as who I am.”

Father John Misty, the featured artist, makes his appearance in this chorus, harmonizing in a way that makes my skin prickle into goosebumps. His and Lana’s voices mix together like honey, gradual and sickly sweet. The strings in the background are incorporated so seamlessly with their voices, reaching its peak as they hit the octave. Every sound builds up to that moment. I am a physical listener, my body sways to the rhythm, and it is this peak that sent chills through me in waves. 

Lana Del Rey and Father John Misty’s voices are rays of sunshine, finally breaching the stained glass window of conflict holding them back. Though at first listen the song sounds like a story of love, with its longing strings and its gorgeous voices, it was not until I read the lyrics written down that I became uncertain. Lana tells the story of a monotonous relationship, plagued by routine misunderstanding. She sings a list of things the couple does together in a noticeably somber way:

“Pick you up at home, quarter to three /

Ask you if you want somethin’ to eat /

Drive around, get drunk, do it over again.”

It isn’t until she sings the lines:

“‘Cause every time you say you’re gonna go /

I just smile ‘cause, babe, I already know.”

That I hear an almost-victorious smile in her voice.

Lana Del Rey is an artist that can perfectly capture the art of multidimensional and often misunderstood experiences. Everything coated in her sugary sweet voice and brilliant lyrical mind glimmers, and this song is no exception. “Let The Light In” is a vanilla cake, beautifully decorated, and like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. So take out your fork and have a bite, let the tasty goodness sink to the bottom of your belly, and let the tune become you.