“Shades of Cool” by Lana Del Rey

“Shades of Cool” is actually centered on the singer’s lover. He is depicted as a fiercely-independent, albeit self-destructive spirit. But Lana Del Rey is still fascinated with him, with the title alluding to how “cool” she perceives her man to be. This is despite the fact that she recognizes she will never be able to “fix” unfavorable aspects of his personality and that also he’ll never be fully committed to her. So Shades of Cool is clearly an ode to a less-than-favorable albeit yet lover in the singer’s life.

Music Video

The music video to Shades of Cool was helmed by British director Jake Nava and was shot in Los Angeles.  It features a popular tattoo artist, Mark Mahoney, as Lana’s romantic interest – who by the way is almost 30 years older than Del Rey.

Release Date of “Shades of Cool”

Interscope Records released Shades of Cool as the second single from Lana’s third album, “Ultraviolence”, on 26th of May 2014. And interesting to note is that the track came out just two days after Del Rey performed at the wedding ceremony of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian on 24 May.

A Song that Charted!

It proved to be a mild hit for the singer, appearing on the Billboard Hot 100 and charting in 10 other countries outside of the United States.

Did Lana Del Rey write “Shades of Cool”?

Yes. Lana wrote this song in conjunction with Rick Nowels. And the audio’s producer is Dan Auerbach.

This is just one of the many songs that Nowels has collaborated with Del Rey on. Other notable collaborations between the two include:

• “Cola”
• “Young and Beautiful”
• “American”
• “Summertime Sadness“