The music is so unique and thought-provoking, providing the perfect background to Lana's deep, intimate track-list. I must say that "Ultraviolence" is the epitome of an original album, and one of my favorite ones that she has released. I identify so well with her all-consuming love for her man and her desperate attempts to make him happy/heal his pain. This is so skillfully expressed in Shades of Cool and Old Money. I admire her unfailing loyalty in the face of heartbreak and how she stands by her boyfriend, no matter what happens or where he goes.
"Halcyon Days" by Ellie Goulding
This is the second masterpiece that I've been listening too for months, during a really dark, lonely season in my life. I relate to each one of the moving songs that Ellie wrote for this authentic and enlightening experience. You are taken into a fascinating, but at the same time dark and strange time period in her life, a whole journey of love, pain, heartbreak, and new self-discovery. I've used the songs in "Halcyon Days" to help me through so much, as an outlet of expression and a way to let go of my anger and bitterness about my own chaotic circumstances. I cried with her through hours of despair and confusion and found relief; when we both realized our pain had turned to beauty. I found peace and enlightenment, upon understanding that I couldn't lean on someone else for my happiness. There was a new and lovely kind of joy, to finally seek true freedom without needing a certain person to fulfill you.
I'll forever be grateful to Ellie for encouraging me throughout this past year. Her words are the anthem to every day and breath I take. And I know in the end, as she tells me in "Halcyon", that "it's gonna be better, it's gonna be better." There is hope, even amidst all of my loneliness and a thousand nights of aching and longing for love.
