''Blue Banisters'' is the eighth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American singer-songwriter

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Lana Del Rey discography, Her music is noted for its melancholic exploration of Glamour (presentation), glamor and Romanc ...

. It was released on October 22, 2021, by

Interscope Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

and

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a 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 ...

, seven months after her previous record, '' Chemtrails over the Country Club''. The album was produced by Del Rey, Zachary Dawes, Drew Erickson, Loren Humphrey, Mike Dean, Barrie-James O'Neill,

Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. (born March 16, 1954) is an American songwriter and record producer. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists,Arcadia"; "Text Book" and "Wildflower Wildfire" were also released ahead of the album as promotional singles. ''Blue Banisters'' peaked at number eight on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and reached number one in Argentina and the Netherlands. The album received positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

, most of whom complimented Del Rey's introspective lyrics.

Background

Del Rey released her seventh studio album '' Chemtrails over the Country Club'' on March 19, 2021. The next day, she posted on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

announcing that an album titled ''Rock Candy Sweet'' would be released on June 1. On April 11, Del Rey shared a selfie on Instagram of her looking up to the sky with the caption "Blue Banisters", leading to speculation that it could be a song title. On April 28, Del Rey announced the album would be titled ''Blue Banisters'' and would be released on July 4, which was later delayed to October 22. Later the same day, Del Rey posted a trailer for the title track and its accompanying music video to Instagram with the caption: "Sometimes life makes you change just in time for the next chapter" and to

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with the caption: "I'm writing my own story. And no one can tell it but me".

Composition

Musically, ''Blue Banisters'' has been described as a

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

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, 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'' (1981 film), an American drama film * ''Americana'' (20 ...

record. It has been described by ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an 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 created in ...

'' lyrically as her "

breakup A relationship breakup, breakup, or break-up is the ending of a Interpersonal relationship, relationship. The act is commonly termed "dumping omeone in slang when it is initiated by one partner. The term is less likely to be applied to a ma ...

record", while ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' regards it as an "observational project". In a March 2023 interview with ''

Rolling Stone UK ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known f ...

'', Del Rey explained that ''Blue Banisters'' was created due to accusations of

cultural appropriation Cultural appropriation is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture or cultural identity, identity by members of another culture or identity in a manner perceived as inappropriate or unacknowledged. Such a controversy typically ari ...

and previous claims that she glamourized

domestic abuse Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. In a broader sense, abuse including nonphysical abuse in such settings is called domestic abuse. The term "domestic violence" is often use ...

: "I was just like, 'Let me try and write an album that maybe could explain why, if that was true, let's say, I could potentially identify with certain modes of operating'. So, ''Blue Banisters'' was more of an explanatory album, more of a defensive album, which is why I didn't promote it, period, at all. I didn't want anyone to listen to it. I just wanted it to be there in case anyone was ever curious for any information."

Release and promotion

The promotion for ''Blue Banisters'' was minimal compared to Del Rey's previous releases, mainly due to Del Rey deactivating her social media accounts in September 2021. Del Rey first revealed cover art for the album on April 28, 2021. The initial album art depicts a selfie that Del Rey had previously posted in August 2020 with a sepia-toned filter. The art was heavily criticized as being unprofessional looking by both fans and critics. New official album artwork was revealed via an Instagram post on July 4, 2021, with Del Rey captioning the post "Happy fourth, Album out later". The cover depicts Del Rey sitting on a porch between her dogs, Tex and Mex (who are mentioned in the album's title track). The artwork references Tracy Nelson's album cover for ''Poor Man's Paradise'' (1973). Alternate covers for the album were released on September 8, 2021, alongside the album's track listing and digital and physical

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

s. Retail chains

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * 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 artille ...

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

, and

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revealed their exclusive editions of the record featuring more alternate covers, all photographed by Neil Krug. On September 3, 2021, Del Rey posted the cover for the single "Arcadia" on her Instagram account and revealed the song would be released the following Wednesday, September 8. A day before the release of the song, Del Rey shared an additional snippet, captioning it with a small written teaser of the album's general themes, mentioning she's never felt the need to explain her story "but if you’re interested this album does tell it- and does pretty much nothing more." On September 8, 2021, the album's pre-order was released along with "Arcadia", revealing the album would be released October 22, 2021. ''Blue Banisters'' was released on October 22, 2021, by

and

. The same day, in promotion of the album, Del Rey appeared on the American late-night talk show ''

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night news satire, news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Stephen Colbert, Spartin ...

'' and performed "Arcadia".

Singles

" Blue Banisters" was released as the album's lead single alongside the songs "Text Book" and "Wildflower Wildfire" on May 20, 2021. A music video was released for the song. "Arcadia" was released as the album's second single on September 8, 2021, alongside the album pre-order. Two music videos were released.

Critical reception

Upon release, ''Blue Banisters'' received positive reviews from music critics. At

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

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

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 80, based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. ''The A.V Club''s Tatiana Tenreyo stated "'' lueBanisters'' is a reminder that when the singer-songwriter is in charge of her vision and fully taps into her emotions, she's still capable of crafting breathtaking beauty." Mike Wass of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote the album "offers a rare glimpse of an artist securing her legacy, one song at a time." 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 publis ...

'', Ben Bryant wrote a positive review, calling it "one revelation colours the singer's entire body of work", noting "it is far more elliptical and mysterious than it first appears". Giving the album four out of five stars, Sarah Grant of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' commented "Her second album of the year is dense and abstract, turning inward and finding solace in sisterhood." Sam Sodomsky for ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' praised Del Rey's songwriting, noting the record "is a sweeping survey of her talent as a songwriter, stripped of the aesthetic borders she often places around her work." Rhian Daly of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' called ''Blue Banisters'' "a defiant and delicate return." In their mixed reviews, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and ''

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'' critics stated the album struggled from "samey-ness", wavering quality, and familiar but confusing themes.

Year-end lists

The album was placed in numerous year-end lists of 2021.

Commercial performance

''Blue Banisters'' debuted at number eight on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 33,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...

s, which consisted of 19,000 pure sales and 14,000 streaming units (calculated from 18.6 million on-demand streams of the album). It was Del Rey's eighth consecutive record to reach the top 10 in the US, but her first to miss the top-three since her ''Paradise'' EP (2012); however, ''Blue Banisters'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' Alternative Album chart. ''Blue Banisters'' become her sixth consecutive number one on the chart and her second of the year, after March's '' Chemtrails over the Country Club'', setting a record, with Del Rey being the artist with the most number ones on the Alternative Album charts since its inception. In the United Kingdom, ''Blue Banisters'' debuted at number two on the

UK Albums chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, and it stayed on the chart for four weeks. The album was certified Gold in the UK with 100,000 units sold.

Track listing

* signifies an additional producer. * "Interlude – The Trio" samples "The Trio", composed by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

for the soundtrack album for ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (1966).

Personnel

Musicians *

– vocals (all tracks), horn arrangement (3, 6), string arrangement (3) * Gabe Simon – piano (1, 2), acoustic guitar, background vocals, bass, drum programming, guitar, keyboards, percussion, sound effects, synth bass (1); organ (2) * Melodye Perry – background vocals (1, 10) *

Greg Leisz Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, banjo, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Biography Leisz grew up in the garage ba ...

–

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Sche ...

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

(1) * Griffin Goldsmith – drums (1, 5) * Darren Weiss – drums (1, 10), percussion (10) * Jacob Braun – cello (3, 8) * Drew Erickson – horn arrangement (3, 6), organ (3), piano (3, 6–8, 15), string arrangement, synthesizer (3, 8); drum programming (4, 6), keyboards (5), bass, drums,

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

(6); Moog bass (6, 8), conductor (8),

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

(14, 15) * Dan Fornero – trumpet (3, 6) *

Wayne Bergeron Wayne Bergeron (born January 16, 1958) is an American trumpeter. Bergeron rose to prominence as a member of Maynard Ferguson's band in the 1980s. Since then, he has worked on over 500 TV and motion picture soundtracks. As a lead and studio pla ...

– trumpet (3, 6) * Dan Rosenboom – trumpet (3, 6) * Blake Cooper – tuba (3, 6) * Zach Dellinger – viola (3, 8) * Andrew Bulbrook – violin (3, 8) * Wynton Grant – violin (3, 8) * Zachary Dawes – bass (5, 9), synth bass (5), keyboards (9), Höfner bass, piano (10) * Dean Reid – drum programming (5), acoustic guitar (6, 10) * Benji Lysaght – electric guitar (5, 10) * Cian Riordan – synth bass (5) * Loren Humphrey – drums (6, 9, 10), percussion (10) *

Tyler Parkford Tyler Davis Parkford is an American musician, best known as the keyboardist and vocalist for Los Angeles–based band Mini Mansions. He is also one half of the lounge pop duo Mister Goodnite, and a touring member of the British indie rock band ...

– keyboards (9) *

Miles Kane Miles Peter Kane (born 17 March 1986) is an English singer and musician, best known as a solo artist and the co-frontman of the Last Shadow Puppets. He was also the former frontman of the Rascals, before the band announced their break-up in Au ...

– vocals (9) * Evan Weiss – acoustic guitar, electric guitar (10) * Lisa Stone – background vocals (10) *

Táta Vega Táta Vega (born Carmen Rosa Vega, October 7, 1951) is an American vocalist, whose career spans theater, film, and a variety of musical genres. Early life Vega was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York and raised between New York, Chicago, Texas, P ...

– background vocals (10) *

Owen Pallett Michael James Owen Pallett-Plowright (born September 7, 1979), known professionally as Owen Pallett, is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their former pseudonym Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music P ...

– string arrangement, viola, violin (10) * Mike Dean – keyboards (11) * Barrie-James O'Neill – guitar (12, 13), piano (12–14) *

Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. (born March 16, 1954) is an American songwriter and record producer. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists,mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

(1–10, 12–15) * Mike Dean – mastering engineer, mixer (11) * Dean Reid – mixer (1, 3–8, 10, 15),

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

(1, 4–8, 10, 15) * Gabe Simon – mixer (2), engineer (1, 2) * Drew Erickson – mixer (3, 6–8, 15) * Michael Harris – mixer (3–8, 15), engineer (4–8, 15) * Cian Riordan – mixer (5) * Jason Wormer – mixer (9) * Lana Del Rey – mixer (12–14), recording arranger (4) * Barrie-James O'Neill – mixer (12–14) *

John Congleton John Congleton is a grammy winning American record producer, engineer, mixer, writer and musician. In addition to his production work, Congleton has fronted the alternative rock band The Paper Chase, and writes music for a newer project entitl ...

– engineer (1, 10) * Jon Sher – engineer (1), assistant recording engineer (3, 5–8, 15) * Mai Leisz – engineer (1) * Loren Humphrey – engineer (9) * Kieron Menzies – engineer (10) * Sage Skolfield – engineer, assistant mixer (11) * Sean Solymar – engineer, assistant mixer (11) * Ben Fletcher – assistant recording engineer (1, 3, 5–8, 15) * Alex Tomkins – assistant recording engineer (1) * Brian Rajaratnam – assistant recording engineer (1)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Lana Del Rey 2021 albums Americana albums Folk albums by American artists Interscope Records albums Jazz albums by American artists Lana Del Rey albums Polydor Records albums