Lana Del Rey has kept fans guessing throughout her 13-year career. The alternative-pop singer has collaborated with Taylor Swift, performed songs for Charlie’s Angels, and, most recently, declared her intention to “go country” on her next album.
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Given her career’s latest curveball, covering a century-old hit feels much more on brand for Del Rey. The Chemtrails Over the Country Club artist has released “Blue Skies,” her take on the 1926 Irving Berlin classic.
Lana Del Rey New Song Is Another Jack Antonoff Collab
Del Rey recently announced her partnership with Jack Antonoff on her forthcoming country album Lasso. Now, she is one of many artists participating in the Bleachers frontman’s soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look. The show centers around fashion icon Christian Dior in post-World War II Paris, when the French designer founded and established the prestigious Dior fashion house.
Antonoff’s soundtrack will feature modern artists offering their spin on World War II-era hits, including Florence + the Machine’s “The White Cliffs of Dover” and the 1975’s “Now is the Hour.”
Del Rey’s melancholic, ethereal sound is a definite departure from previous cheery original iterations of “Blue Skies.”
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“Never saw the sun shining so bright/ Never saw things going so right,” the Born to Die artist sings, every word laced with irony.
“It’s giving season of the witch Lana,” one user wrote on X/Twitter, referencing yet another Del Rey/Antonoff collaboration.
The History of “Blue Skies”
Berlin composed “Blue Skies” in 1926 as a last-minute addition to the musical Betsy. Legend states that the opening-night audience demanded 24 encores of the song from the musical’s star, Belle Baker. When Baker forgot the words, Berlin sang it from the front row instead.
“Blue Skies” has been resurrected many times in the last century. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye performed it in the 1954 holiday classic White Christmas. Four years later, Ella Fitzgerald released her jazzed-up version of the song. Two decades after that, “Blue Skies” found a home atop the country charts when Willie Nelson released his cover in 1978.
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