My Acolyte Journey: 2014.36

Shades of Cool.
Lana Del Rey. I actually really like Lana Del Rey and the Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, but this song does nothing for me. At least, the music, as I heard it as part of the top forty. I marked it as "do not approve."
But why? I read the words and they're just as strong as Lana's other works. The art of metaphorical language is strong with this one. The song starts strong with the word paint:

My baby lives in shades of blue; Blue eyes and jazz and attitude.

 There's obviously a lover worth having, and he is just exactly perfect as a status symbol, even though he's riddled with flaws. And I love that Lana (yeah, I hate it when authors use the artist's first name like they're friends, but seriously: Del Rey) uses "invincible" to let us know she can't break through his walls.  It's such a powerful, positive word to describe what is obviously (to her) a negative thing. Even if she's sad about it, he's just too important to decry. And then, I'm not sure.

My baby lives in shades of cool, Blue heart and hands and aptitude. He lives for love, for women, too: I'm one of many, one is blue.

 Things get complicated, and maybe the video will help. I suspect not. Obviously, whoever wrote this story will understand why there seems to be a different "baby," why love and women are separate concepts, and if the "blue" baby from the first verse is the blue lover from this verse. And why does the songwriter begin singing to "you?" Am I the baby, blue or otherwise? I would love to think that I have it figured out, but all I can share is my questions.
The music video is mostly Lana: an older man (only one baby, I guess?) drives around looking invincible, and Lana wiggles around looking as sensual as possible. (I wonder) There's an awful, heartbreaking moment in which Lana Del Rey comes up out of a pool, trying to look as lascivious as possible, and the blue-eyed baby just looks nonplussed. But by and large, the triple overlays of visuals, the rich, meaningless sounds, and the megavamping just don't work this time. I love Lana Del Rey. I think her music is incredibly potent, but usually she uses something jaw-dropping and wonderful to megavamp. This time, I can feel the twitch in the music where it would take off, but it just . . . doesn't.
That guitar solo, tho.
I wouldn't buy this. (Caveat: I might buy Ultraviolence.)