Chemtrails over the Country Club

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For the song, see Chemtrails over the Country Club (song).

Chemtrails over the Country Club
Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails over the Country Club.png
Studio album by
Lana Del Rey
ReleasedMarch 19, 2021 (2021-03-19)
Recorded2015–2016;[1] 2019–2020[2]
Studio
Genre
Length45:28
Label
Producer
Lana Del Rey chronology
Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass
(2020) 		Chemtrails over the Country Club
(2021) 		Blue Banisters
(2021)
Alternative cover
Chemtrails Over the Contry Club Alternate Cover.jpg
Singles from Chemtrails over the Country Club
  1. "Let Me Love You like a Woman"
    Released: October 16, 2020
  2. "Chemtrails over the Country Club"
    Released: January 11, 2021
  3. "White Dress"
    Released: March 26, 2021[3][4][5]
  4. "Tulsa Jesus Freak"
    Released: March 26, 2021[6]

Chemtrails over the Country Club is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. It was released on March 19, 2021 by Interscope Records and Polydor Records.[7][8][9] This serves as the follow-up to her sixth studio album, Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019).[7] Initially titled White Hot Forever, the album was produced by Del Rey and Jack Antonoff,[10][11] and features additional production contributions from Rick Nowels,[10] whom Del Rey worked with on past studio albums. The album also featured guest appearances by Nikki Lane, Weyes Blood and Zella Day with whom she did a cover of Joni Mitchell's 1970 song "For Free" which is also included in the album.[12]

Chemtrails over the Country Club was described as a folk, country folk and Americana record.[13][14][15] The album deals with themes of escapism, love, heartbreak and nostalgia, while encompassing her usual references to Americana, alongside emotions of disillusionment. Chemtrails over the Country Club received acclaim from music critics, with many comparing its sound to its predecessor. It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 75,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, becoming her seventh top-ten album in the country.[16] It also topped the UK Albums Chart, becoming her fifth number-one album in the country.[17]

Background[]

On August 30, 2019, the release day of her sixth studio album Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Del Rey announced that she had already begun work on her follow-up album,[18] revealing the working title to be White Hot Forever.[19] Nearly nine months later on May 25, 2020, she posted a series of videos on Instagram in which she announced that the title had been changed to Chemtrails over the Country Club.[20] The album was initially scheduled for release on September 5, 2020, but it was later revealed that the release had been postponed because of vinyl production delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[21][22] as well as uncertainty over whether the track "Dealer" would be included on the album.[22][23][24] "Dealer" was later confirmed to have not made the album. The track was later included in Del Rey's eighth studio album Blue Banisters.[25]

Del Rey stated that "so much of the album" pertains to her "stunning girlfriends" and "beautiful siblings".[26][27] She further added that, "In 2021, [Chemtrails over the Country Club] opens a sunnier chapter in [Del Rey's] controversial roman-à-clef, and folk legend Joan Baez advocates her acceptance in the pantheon", adding that the album "appears to reveal a more vulnerable Del Rey" who is "lighter on the LA menace" and "more innocently emotional" than in her previous work.[28][29] On August 7, 2020, Del Rey posted a video on Instagram featuring a snippet of the track "Tulsa Jesus Freak", which would later be included on the album.[30][31][32] On September 1, she posted a video on Instagram of her on set filming the music video for the album title track, "Chemtrails over the Country Club", and announced that she would soon release another track, "Let Me Love You like a Woman", further stating that the album would be released "soon" after.[33] "Let Me Love You Like a Woman" was released on October 16 as the lead single from Chemtrails over the Country Club.

On December 14, 2020, a pre-recorded live performance of "Let Me Love You Like a Woman" (Del Rey's first television performance in nine years, since her 2012 live performance on Saturday Night Live) was presented on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,[34][35] and a few days later, Del Rey performed "Silent Night" alongside "Let Me Love You Like a Woman" at Jack Antonoff's Ally Coalition Talent Show.[36][37][38] Shortly after, on December 22, Del Rey posted a teaser video for "Chemtrails over the Country Club" on social media, announcing that the track would be released as the second single from the album on January 11, 2021, the same day the album would become available for pre-order.[39]

The eighth track on the album, "Yosemite", was originally intended to be included on Del Rey's fifth studio album, Lust for Life (2017).[40] In a 2017 interview with Zane Lowe, Del Rey stated the track was excluded from Lust for Life because "the song was too happy; we're not there yet."

Cover artwork[]

On January 10, 2021, a day prior to the release of "Chemtrails over the Country Club", Del Rey revealed the album cover and track list of Chemtrails over the Country Club on Twitter and Instagram.[25][41] On January 11, retail chains Target and HMV revealed exclusive editions of the record[42][43] featuring alternate cover art, photographed by Neil Krug.[44]

Critical reception[]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.8/10[45]
Metacritic81/100[46]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4/5 stars[14]
The A.V. ClubC+[47]
Consequence of SoundB+[48]
Entertainment WeeklyB[49]
The Guardian3/5 stars[50]
The Independent5/5 stars[51]
NME5/5 stars[52]
Pitchfork7.5/10[53]
Rolling Stone4/5 stars[54]
The Telegraph5/5 stars[55]

Chemtrails over the Country Club received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 81 based on 28 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[46] At AnyDecentMusic?, which collects critical reviews from more than 50 media sources, the album scored 7.8 points out of 10, based on 29 reviews.[45]

AllMusic's Fred Thomas stated that Del Rey "shakes off the cocoon of her slick pop days completely" in Chemtrails over the Country Club, carrying on the nuanced songwriting of Norman Fucking Rockwell! and ensuing in her "most atmospheric" album to-date.[56] Will Hodgkinson of The Times called the album both "beautifully executed" and "thoughtfully realised".[57] Los Angeles Times critic Mikael Wood found Del Rey's singing reaching a "new peak" in Chemtrails; he pinpointed how her vocals move "between her airy head voice and her sultry chest voice".[58] Rhian Daly of NME called the album "a sublime statement" that mediates on fame and romance, having the singer "at the peak of her game".[52] Reviewing for The Independent, Helen Brown named Del Rey "a great storyteller", who consistently details "the who, what, where and when". Brown wrote that the album tones down the "lush orchestration" of its predecessor, opting for more acoustic guitar-picking, supported by "scuffs of scuzzy electric guitar and trip-hoppy hotel lobby organ".[51]

Liam Inscoe-Jones of The Line of Best Fit complimented the album's "gorgeous" instrumentation and Del Rey's story-based songwriting.[59] Praising the album's writing, The Observer critic Kitty Empire described it as "a record chockful of beauty and thoughtful autobiography that only a more experienced, more assured songwriter could have made".[60] Branding it "an enchanting listen" and a "bewitching project", Clash's Robin Murray lauded the album's minimal instrumentation and the world-building of its lyrics.[61] John Amen of PopMatters wrote, "Chemtrails makes use of a more minimal and nuanced palette than earlier albums, Del Rey distancing herself, throughout the set and to varying degrees, from her longstanding persona and familiar stylistics. In this way, she avoids collapsing into formulas or self-caricature, continuing to explore new aesthetic possibilities."[62] Tim Sentz, writing for Beats Per Minute, stated that Chemtrails is nowhere near as sonically versatile as its predecessor, but it is "a coffeehouse-appropriate album that contains almost none of what made her last album transcend".[63]

In mixed reviews, Spin critic Bobby Olivier favored the "several gorgeous arrangements" of the album, but felt that the music is less memorable than the rest of her catalogue. He found the country and folk inspired sound "sometimes striking", whereas the lyrics were "uninspired" at moments.[64] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian thought the album centres on Del Rey's recurrent themes of "nostalgia, troubled fame and ne'er-do-well lovers", but appreciated the melodies of its tracks.[50] The A.V. Club's Tatiana Tenreyro dubbed Chemtrails a sonically and lyrically inferior record to Norman Fucking Rockwell. She commented that most of its tracks "don't stand out", as they "blend together in their delicateness".[47] Johnny of the Well, reviewing for Sputnikmusic, criticized the album's "clumsy writing, bland instrumentation, vacuous sentimentalism and hamfisted stylisation". Nevertheless, he picked "Tulsa Jesus Freak" as a highlight.[65]

Year-end lists[]

The album was placed in numerous year-end lists of 2021.

Select year-end rankings of Chemtrails Over the Country Club
Publication List Rank Ref.
The Guardian The Best 50 Albums of 2021
40
[66]
Les Inrockuptibles Notre top 50 albums 2021
34
[67]
Los Angeles Times The 10 best albums of 2021
5
[68]
Mojo Mojo's Top 75 Albums of 2021
3
[69]
The New York Times Jon Caramanica's Best Albums of 2021
7
[70]
Slant The 50 Best Albums of 2021
4
[71]
The Telegraph The 10 best albums of 2021
2
[72]
The Times The 18 Albums That Shined Brightest in 2021
4
[73]
Uncut Uncut's Top 75 Albums of 2021
11
[74]

Commercial performance[]

Chemtrails over the Country Club debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 75,000 album-equivalent units, (including 58,000 copies in pure album sales) in its first week, according to MRC Data.[16] This became Del Rey's seventh US top ten debut on the chart.[16] The album became her third chart-topper on the US Top Album Sales list, scoring the fourth-largest sales week for a vinyl album since MRC Data began tracking sales in 1991, with nearly 32,000 copies sold.[75] In addition, the album also accumulated a total of 21.19 million on-demand streams from the album’s songs.[16]

In the United Kingdom, Chemtrails over the Country Club debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 40,000 copies in its first week and outselling the rest of the top 10 combined[76].[17] This became Del Rey's fifth UK number-one album.[17] The album became the fastest-selling vinyl of the century for a female act in the UK, with 16,700 vinyl copies sold.[17] In its first three days in the United Kingdom, the album sold has sold 30,566 physical copies.[77] In August 2021, the album was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for earning over 60,000 album-equivalent units in the UK.

Track listing[]

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."White Dress"
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
5:33
2."Chemtrails over the Country Club"
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
4:31
3."Tulsa Jesus Freak"
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
3:35
4."Let Me Love You like a Woman"
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
Antonoff3:21
5."Wild at Heart"
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
4:06
6."Dark but Just a Game"
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
3:55
7."Not All Who Wander Are Lost"
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
4:07
8."Yosemite"
Nowels5:04
9."Breaking Up Slowly" (featuring Nikki Lane)
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
2:57
10."Dance Till We Die"
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
4:03
11."For Free" (featuring Zella Day and Weyes Blood)Joni Mitchell
  • Del Rey
  • Antonoff
4:11
Total length:45:28

Personnel[]

Charts[]

Chart performance for Chemtrails over the Country Club
Chart (2021) Peak
position
Argentine Albums (CAPIF)[78] 6
Australian Albums (ARIA)[79] 2
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[80] 4
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[81] 2
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[82] 2
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[83] 5
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[84] 5
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[85] 2
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[86] 2
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[87] 5
French Albums (SNEP)[88] 3
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[89] 3
Greek Albums (IFPI)[90] 3
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[91] 23
Irish Albums (OCC)[92] 2
Italian Albums (FIMI)[93] 7
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[94] 101
Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)[95] 4
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[96] 2
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[97] 3
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[98] 1
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[99] 1
Scottish Albums (OCC)[100] 1
Slovak Albums (ČNS IFPI)[101] 20
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[102] 4
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[103] 3
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[104] 1
UK Albums (OCC)[105] 1
US Billboard 200[106] 2
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[107] 1
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[108] 1

Year-end charts[]

2021 year-end chart performance for Blue Banister
Chart (2021) Position
US Top Current Album Sales (Billboard)[109] 27

Certifications[]

Certifications for Chemtrails over the Country Club
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[110] Silver 60,000double-dagger

double-dagger Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References[]

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