Lana Del Rey National Anthem | An iconic music video and song (2023)

Drawing and writing of the Gioconda

Lana del Rey is a beast. If you ask me, she's the master of deep lyrics. The stories told in their songs are so profound that they will touch every fiber of your heart. She is of course also a master of aesthetics. Whether you like her music or not, Lana's "National Anthem" music video is something to talk about. Although this video is not new, it was actually released in 2012 and has over 73 million views on YouTube, both the content and the narration are relevant to this day. The following is a small list of things to look out for in Lana's "National Anthem" music video and the narrative behind it.

1. Music taste aside, why is it relevant?

There are several aspects that give this video something to tell. The most important is that it is a historic event that shook the history of the United States of America. That event is the assassination of former United States President John F. Kennedy (J.F.K.) and some of the indiscretions he allegedly spoke about with Hollywood icon Miss Marilyn Monroe. Lana's video begins with a recreation of the iconic and remarkable 1962 moment at Madison Square Garden in which Marilyn Monroe sings "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to J.F.K., with Lana playing the role of Marilyn, of course, in her video, and then the narrative unfolds from there.

2. Let's talk about controversy

Lana's music video is fraught with controversy. As mentioned, one of the main ideas of the video is to talk about J.F.K.'s affair with Marilyn, but that's not the only controversial aspect. J.F.K. was a white President and although race and color are not relevant to define a person today as we are all human and equal, things were different in 1962. A$AP Rocky, the African American rapper, is featured in Lana's music video as President in the role of J.F.K. C O N T R O V E R S Y at its best because this historic event in Madison Square Garden occurred two years before the Civil Rights Act was implemented, hence the struggle and struggle of African Americans to be seen as equals and treated as such was at its hottest moment . Also, let's not forget the fact that the United States did not have an African American president until Barack Obama won the election and officially became president in 2009. Supposedly, in 1781, a man named John Hanson was the first black person to usurp the title of "President of the United States assembled in Congress," but for editorial reasons, we'll stick with Obama, who made history first on the matter.

Another aspect of this video that is causing controversy is that Lana, in her role as Marilyn, stays with the President in this narrative, meaning they have become romantically involved. The story has Jackie Kennedy as J.F.K.'s fiancee, but not in this video. Lana has changed history since revealing herself as a wife and first lady. Lana shows what it would have been like if J.F.K. and Marilyn had gotten together, barring that there had ever been a Jackie Kennedy and assuming the affair was real. But she doesn't rule out the Jackie Kennedy idea at all, and I'll explain why later in this article.

3. Lyrics

Since Lana's lyrics are copyrighted, as any artist's work should be, I leave the link to them at the end of the article for your careful reading. Check them out first before continuing reading this article.

There are a lot of hidden messages in the lyrics of this song and as always, Lana makes us think. Although the word "opulence" isn't in the lyrics, the entire song and video revolves around the idea of ​​that word. Once you see the music video you'll see what I'm talking about. The link to the video will also be posted at the bottom of this article.

There is also a part in the song that mentions the word "diamonds". Why would a simple word in a song be relevant or controversial? Well, going back a bit in Hollywood history, the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes released in 1953 talks a lot about diamonds. In fact, the idea and narrative of the film revolves around diamonds, particularly in the character played by Marilyn. This film has one of Marilyn's most recognizable and iconic moments when she sings the song "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" with her pink dress on. I will also leave the link to this video at the bottom of this article. Feel free to check it out and then come back to this reading.

Hence, and in my opinion, the word "diamonds" in the video refers more directly to Marilyn.

4. Lana's spoken words as the finale of the video

"And I remember when I met him. It was so clear that he was the only one for me. We both knew it straight away. And as the years went by things got more difficult. We faced more challenges. I asked him to do it stay,
Tried to remember what we had in the beginning. He was charismatic, magnetic, electric, and everyone knew him. When he came in all the women turned and all stood up to speak to him.
He was like that hybrid, that mix of a man who couldn't control himself.
I always felt that he was torn between being a good person and missing out on all the opportunities that life could offer a great man like him. And that's how I understood him.
And I loved him, I loved him, I loved him, I loved him. And I still love him, I love him."

- kingswool

As said at the beginning of this article, Lana doesn't rule out the idea of ​​Jackie Kennedy at all. There were two aspects Lana used to include Jackie in this video. The narration of the video changes a bit at the end as Lana says in the words previously shown Lana herself spoke before the video ended.

As shown in Lana's video, the couple seems to have it all in every way, one of which is of course happiness. But what matters here is what Lana was trying to say in her words, behind the literal meaning of course, especially in this part, and I quote: "...Things got harder over the years. We faced more challenges I asked him to stay
Tried to remember what we had in the beginning..." If the couple is shown to have it all in the video, why the sudden change of perspective? Is the theory true? The theory that those words were like Jackie Kennedy said herself to J.F.K. and then to Lana so she can tell them in her video?" But why would J.F.K. try to dump his Jackie? Was the affair with Marilyn true? Was that Lana's way of honoring Jackie? I guess those are questions to ask Lana directly.

Finally, the video features a recreation of the assassination of former President J.F.K. and Jackie is drawn back into the narrative. The scenes of the assassination resemble the actual act. We see Lana in the car suffering and shocked because her husband was shot in the video. The true story is that Jackie held her husband in her arms while still in the car after her husband was murdered. Yet another example of Jackie being part of Lana's video.

Conclusion

Whether you like Lana del Rey or not, this is a video you should watch. It's a video with many aspects to analyze and the ones I've mentioned were just the most important and relevant to my perspective.

The life of J.F.K. and what it was about is still one of the most studied and debated topics these days, and this video just gave us more to talk about then and now. Hope you enjoyed this article and sparked your interest in reading about history and understanding why things are the way they are today.

xoxo

Link to lyrics:

https://genius.com/Lana-del-rey-national-anthem-lyrics

Link to Lana's video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxDdEPED0h8

Marilyns Filmclip-Song-Performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfsnebJd-BI

thank you for reading.

xoxo

- The mona Lisa

Sources:

Thomson, D. (2016, November 3). "Happy Birthday, Mr President": the story of Marilyn Monroe and this dress. Retrieved fromhttps://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/03/happy-birthday-mr-president-the-story-of-marilyn-monroe-and-that-dress

History.com Editors. (2009, October 27). civil rights movement. Retrieved fromhttps://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement

Was there an African American president before Barack Obama? (n.d.). Retrieved fromhttps://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/20309