After over a year of teasing fans, Lana Del Rey has officially gone country. On Friday, April 11, Del Rey released “Henry, Come On”, the assumed lead single for her upcoming album “The Right Person Will Stay.” At different times referred to as country, Americana and Southern Gothic, the new album will be showing a different side of the singer who usually writes songs romanticizing the glittering lights of Los Angeles or New York.
“Henry, Come On” starts with plucks on an acoustic guitar, setting up the mellow and tragic feeling of the ballad. Evoking the attitude of a worn-out lover, Del Rey sings, “I mean Henry, come on / Do you think I’d really choose it? / All this off and on / Henry, come on.”
As the pre-chorus begins, Del Rey emphasizes the country-aspect of her song: “Last call, ‘Hey, y’all,’ hang his hat up on the wall / Tell him that his cowgirl is gone, go on and giddy up.” Her voice rises and floats as she creates the male character, a sad cowboy who finally pushed his girl to the breaking point.
Del Rey then turns the tables, using her soprano voice to emphasize her own propensity for choosing the wrong people to love, laying the fault on herself. She sings, “And it’s not because of you / That I turned out so dangerous / Yesterday, I heard God say / ‘It’s in your blood’.” Del Rey’s voice is calm, accepting of the inevitable.
Del Rey combines the mundane with the fantastical in her chorus: “Yesterday, I heard God say / ‘You were born to be the one / To hold the hand of the man / Who flies too close to the sun’.” Comparing her lover to the legend of Icarus, Del Rey again emphasizes the problematic nature of their relationship. She follows this with a mundane statement, singing “I’ll still be nice to your mom / It’s not her fault you’re leaving.” Del Rey portrays the relationship as both legendary and completely ordinary.
The bridge to the outro of “Henry, Come On” ends the song with a twist of irony, referencing the emotional instability of country artists. “All these country singers / And their lonely rides to Houston / Doesn’t really make for the best / You know, settle-down type,” Del Rey laments. The listeners are left wondering whether Del Rey is still talking about her man or herself and her new country persona. Or, perhaps, both.
During an Instagram Live, Del Rey described the single as having “a Glen Campbell feeling on the top and a little bit of Disney and sticks on the bottom.” Del Rey manages to emulate Glen Campbell in more ways than one—like Glen Campbell, Del Rey has now become a country and pop crossover musician.
On its first full day of release, “Henry, Come On” reached No. 16 on the Spotify’s Top Songs Global chart and No. 10 on the U.S. Spotify chart. These stats make Del Rey’s country single her second largest debut on the streaming service, cementing the early success of her pivot to country.
Clara Ottati ‘27 is an English and history major from Chicago, IL and can be reached for comment at [email protected].
