Lana Del Rey and Quavo are a country-loving, shotgun-shooting couple on their country-rap collaboration, “Powerful.” The monitor dropped Wednesday afternoon.
“Powerful just like the scuff on a pair of outdated leather-based boots/Just like the blue-collar, red-dirt perspective,” sings Del Rey on the tune’s refrain. “Like a .38 made out of brass/Powerful just like the stuff in your grandpa’s glass.”
The Wyatt Spain Winfrey-directed video sees the pair of musicians sharing a lifetime of leisure at a countryside mansion, taking turns taking pictures weapons and driving a beat-up Chevy truck. The lyrics hear the pair singing from the attitude of a pair reflecting on life’s tribulations after attending to a greater place.
At one level, Quavo references Takeoff, crossing his arms as a letter T, whereas rapping: “Standin’ by way of the storm, nonetheless shinin’ like a diamond within the tough/And that’s arduous should you evеr misplaced somebody that you simply love.”
On Instagram, Clayton Johnson, one of many monitor’s songwriters, shared that he helped co-write the tune with Del Rey throughout a visit to Nashville again in January whereas “free-styling songs on an acoustic guitar about imaginary animals.” Johnson mentioned Del Rey “had a imaginative and prescient” for the monitor they usually determined to remodel a voice observe he had recorded into what’s now “Powerful.”
“Her and Jack [Antonoff] gave me a name when she received dwelling and requested if we may rework this voice observe concept that I despatched over for ‘Powerful,’” he wrote on Instagram. “The remainder is historical past.”
Del Rey and Quavo shared a snippet of the Cirkut and Andrew Watt-produced monitor on Instagram final month. They later debuted the tune whereas Del Rey carried out at Boston’s Fenway Park. The brand new tune additionally arrives about 5 months after Del Rey and Quavo had been noticed attending a celebration collectively throughout Grammys week in February.
“Powerful 4th Of July,” the duo wrote on Instagram saying the monitor’s launch date over the weekend. The announcement sees Del Rey placing a necklace round Quavo’s neck.
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Earlier this 12 months, Del Rey introduced she’d launch Lasso in September. “For those who can’t already inform by our award winners and our performers, the music enterprise goes nation,” she informed the gang. “We’re going nation. It’s occurring. That’s why Jack [Antonoff] has adopted me to Muscle Shoals, Nashville, Mississippi, over the past 4 years.”
That is removed from the primary time Del Rey has collaborated with rappers in her music. A$AP Rocky performed an alternate-universe model of John F. Kennedy within the iconic video for Born to Die‘s “Nationwide Anthem” in 2012. He later joined her on “Groupie Love” and “Summer time Bummer,” which additionally featured Playboi Carti from 2017’s Lust for Love. Rocky and Del Rey additionally recorded a fan-favorite unreleased monitor titled “Ridin.”
In 2014, French Montana sampled Del Rey’s “Video Video games” for “All For You,” which featured verses from Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa.
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The brand new monitor follows Del Rey’s headlining units at Coachella, which featured appearances from Camila Cabello and Billie Eilish on separate weekends. Her final album arrived final 12 months with Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Underneath Ocean Blvd.
“By way of tales of her household, a failed relationship, her conflicting need of being each seen and hidden, Del Rey exposes extra than simply who she is, however why she is who she is,” learn a Rolling Stone overview of the LP.