Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent r ...

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

Jack Antonoff Jack Michael Antonoff (born March 31, 1984) is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. Antonoff is the lead singer of rock band Bleachers, and is the guitarist and drummer in the pop rock band Fun. He was pr ...

Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. is an American songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artistsNikki Lane, Weyes Blood, and

Zella Day Zella Day Kerr (born March 13, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician from Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona. Day began recording music in her early teens, independently releasing her debut album, ''Powered by Love'', in 2009. Following ...

. ''Chemtrails over the Country Club'' is described as a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

,

country folk Contemporary folk music refers to a wide variety of genres that emerged in the mid 20th century and afterwards which were associated with traditional folk music. Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from tradit ...

, and

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

record. According to Del Rey, the album is about her friends and family. Other themes featured on the album are themes of

escapism Escapism is mental diversion from unpleasant or boring aspects of daily life, typically through activities involving imagination or entertainment. Escapism may be used to occupy one's self away from persistent feelings of depression or gener ...

, 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. The album debuted at number one in eight countries, including the United Kingdom, becoming Del Rey's fifth number one album in the country, and reached the top 5 in twenty countries, including the United States, where it peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200, becoming Del Rey's sixth consecutive top five album in the country.

Background

Del Rey first announced the album in an interview with ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' on August 30, 2019, the release of her sixth studio album, '' Norman Fucking Rockwell!''. Originally titled ''White Hot Forever'', it was slated for a 2020 release, with Del Rey saying that the album would be released "sometime within the next 12 or 13 months". On May 25, 2020, the album's final title was revealed to be ''Chemtrails over the Country Club'', scheduled for a September 5, 2020 release. After the release of her debut book, '' Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass'' in 2020, Del Rey held a book signing, where she revealed that the album had been postponed due to

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

production delays caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Additionally, she revealed the title of the song "Dealer", revealing that she was uncertain about including it on the album. "Dealer" would not be included on ''Chemtrails over the Country Club'', but eventually appeared on its follow-up ''

Blue Banisters ''Blue Banisters'' is the eighth album, studio album by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. It was released on October 22, 2021, by Interscope Records, Interscope and Polydor Records, seven months after her previous record, ''Chemtrails ove ...

'' (2021). 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. On September 1, Del Rey posted a video on Instagram of herself on the set of the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the album title track, and announced that the album's lead single would be the song " Let Me Love You like a Woman", further stating the album would be released "soon" after.

Music and lyrics

''Chemtrails over the Country Club'' is described as a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

,

country folk Contemporary folk music refers to a wide variety of genres that emerged in the mid 20th century and afterwards which were associated with traditional folk music. Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from tradit ...

, and

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

record. The majority of the album was co-produced by Del Rey, alongside

Jack Antonoff Jack Michael Antonoff (born March 31, 1984) is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. Antonoff is the lead singer of rock band Bleachers, and is the guitarist and drummer in the pop rock band Fun. He was pr ...

who is also the sole producer of the album's lead single, " Let Me Love You like a Woman". The song "Yosemite", which was recorded during the sessions for Del Rey's fifth studio album, ''Lust For Life'' (2017), held between 2015 and 2016, was produced by Rick Nowles. the song failed to be included on ''Lust For Life'', because, according to Del Rey, "the song was too happy; we're not there yet." Del Rey stated "so much of the album" pertains to her "stunning girlfriends" and "beautiful siblings". She further added that, "In 2021, 'Chemtrails over the Country Club''opens a sunnier chapter in el Rey'scontroversial roman-à-clef, and folk legend

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

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. The song "Breaking Up Slowly" features a guest appearance by American singer Nikki Lane, who also co-wrote the song with Del Rey. The album's closes with a cover of Joni Mitchell's "For Free" from her album '' Ladies of the Canyon'' (1970). American singers Weyes Blood and

Zella Day Zella Day Kerr (born March 13, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician from Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona. Day began recording music in her early teens, independently releasing her debut album, ''Powered by Love'', in 2009. Following ...

join Del Rey on the song.

Cover artwork

On January 10, 2021, a day prior to the release of its title track, Del Rey revealed the album cover and track list of ''Chemtrails over the Country Club'' on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and Instagram. The cover shows Del Rey with a number of her female friends (who also appear in the title track's music video). On January 11, retail chains

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

and

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

revealed exclusive editions of the record featuring alternate cover art—a portrait photograph by Neil Krug.

Release and promotion

On October 16, 2020, " Let Me Love You Like a Woman" was released alongside its music video as the album's lead single. Del Rey performed the song for the first time on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...

'' on December 14, 2020. The performance, which was pre-recorded, was her first televised performance in nine years, since her infamous appearance on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' in 2012. She performed the song again, as well as a rendition of "

Silent Night "Silent Night" (german: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht", links=no, italic=no) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an ...

" on at Jack Antonoff's Ally Coalition Talent Show on December 21. The following day, she posted a teaser video for the album's

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may a ...

on her social media platforms, announcing its release as the second single on January 11, 2021, alongside the album's pre-order. ''Chemtrails over the Country Club'' was released worldwide on March 19, 2021. Two more singles were released from the album. The songs "White Dress" and "Tulsa Jesus Freak" were released as the album's third and fourth singles respectively on March 26, 2021.

Critical reception

''Chemtrails over the Country Club'' received acclaim from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

score of 81 based on 28 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". 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.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Fred Thomas stated 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.

Will Hodgkinson Will Hodgkinson is a journalist and author from London (born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne), England. He is the chief rock and pop critic for ''The Times'' newspaper and contributes to ''Mojo'' magazine. He has written for ''The Guardian'', ''The Indepen ...

of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' called the album both "beautifully executed" and "thoughtfully realised". ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' 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". Rhian Daly of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' called the album "a sublime statement" that mediates on fame and romance, having the singer "at the peak of her game". Reviewing for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 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". Liam Inscoe-Jones of ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'' complimented the album's "gorgeous" instrumentation and Del Rey's story-based songwriting. Praising the album's writing, ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' critic

Kitty Empire Kitty Empire is the pen name of a British writer and music critic, currently writing for ''The Observer''. Early life Empire says that she was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1970 and brought up in Canada, Italy and Egypt before arriving in Britain ...

described it as "a record chockful of beauty and thoughtful autobiography that only a more experienced, more assured songwriter could have made". Branding it "an enchanting listen" and a "bewitching project", '' Clash'' Robin Murray lauded the album's minimal instrumentation and the

world-building Worldbuilding is the process of constructing a world, originally an imaginary one, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task fo ...

of its lyrics. 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." In mixed reviews, Tim Sentz, writing for ''

Beats Per Minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

'', stated ''Chemtrails'' is nowhere near as sonically versatile as its predecessor and is "a coffeehouse-appropriate album that contains almost none of what made her last album transcend".'' Spin'' critic Bobby Olivier favored the "several gorgeous arrangements" of the album but felt the music is less memorable than the rest of her catalogue. He found the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

inspired sound "sometimes striking", but the lyrics were "uninspired" at moments. Alexis Petridis of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' thought the album centers heavily on Del Rey's recurrent themes of "nostalgia, troubled fame and ne'er-do-well lovers", but appreciated the melodies of its tracks. ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' Tatiana Tenreyro dubbed ''Chemtrails'' a sonically and lyrically inferior record to ''Norman Fucking Rockwell!'', commenting that most of its tracks "don't stand out" and "blend together in their delicateness". 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.

Year-end lists

Commercial performance

''Chemtrails over the Country Club'' debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, earning 75,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...

s, (including 58,000 copies in pure album sales) in its first week, according to

MRC Data Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

, blocked by the top spot by

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

's ''

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

'' becoming Del Rey's seventh US top ten debut on the chart. The album became her third chart-topper on the US

Top Album Sales Top Album Sales is a music chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine starting in December 2014. It is a weekly chart documenting the best-selling albums on a weekly basis in the United States. Up until December 2014, this had been documented by th ...

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. In addition, the album accumulated a total of 21.19 million on-demand streams from the album’s songs. In the United Kingdom, ''Chemtrails over the Country Club'' debuted at number one on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, selling 40,000 copies in its first week and outselling the rest of the top 10 combined, becoming Del Rey's fifth UK number-one album. The album became the fastest-selling vinyl of the century for a female act in the UK, with 16,700 vinyl copies sold. In its first three days in the United Kingdom, the album sold 30,566 physical copies. In August 2021, the album was certified Silver by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

(BPI) for earning over 60,000 album-equivalent units in the UK.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians *

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent r ...

– vocals *

Jack Antonoff Jack Michael Antonoff (born March 31, 1984) is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. Antonoff is the lead singer of rock band Bleachers, and is the guitarist and drummer in the pop rock band Fun. He was pr ...

– piano , guitar , bass , drums , Mellotron , keyboards , twelve-string acoustic guitar , synthesizers , Model B synth-bass , percussion , acoustic guitar , electric guitar , slide guitar ,

Hammond B3 Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia * Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in S ...

, programming , organ ,

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

* Daniel Heath – strings * Evan Smith – horns , accordion *

Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. is an American songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists Aaron Sterling Aaron Sterling (born July 9, 1980) is an American drummer, producer, engineer, and session musician who lives in Los Angeles. The son of professional musicians, Sterling grew up in Texas and Nashville, Tennessee, before moving to L.A. in 2000. K ...

– drums , percussion * Trevor Yasuda – sound effects * Nikki Lane – additional vocals * Mikey Freedom Hart –

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

, piano , guitar , Mellotron * Weyes Blood – additional vocals *

Zella Day Zella Day Kerr (born March 13, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician from Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona. Day began recording music in her early teens, independently releasing her debut album, ''Powered by Love'', in 2009. Following ...

– additional vocals Producers and engineers * Jack Antonoff – production , mixing * Lana Del Rey – production * Rick Nowels – production * Laura Sisk – engineering , mixing * Kieron Menzies – engineering , mixing * Dean Reid – engineering , mixing * Trevor Yasuda – engineering * John Fee – engineering * John Rooney – engineering assistance * Jon Sher – engineering assistance *

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered recordings such as Gwen Stefani's '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004), Rihanna's '' Loud'' (2010), Lady Gaga's '' Born This Way'' (2011) and Drake' ...

– mastering * Will Quinnell – mastering assistance

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Notes

References

{{Authority control Lana Del Rey albums 2021 albums Albums produced by Jack Antonoff Albums produced by Rick Nowels Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios Interscope Records albums Polydor Records albums Album chart usages for Greece Albums postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Americana albums Country albums by American artists Country folk albums Folk albums by American artists