Lana Del Rey’s affinity for old-school cinema and classic American literature is no secret, and today she dropped a new single filled with references to both. On “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but i have it,” Lana references classic celebrity photographer Slim Aarons, Massachusetts poet and author Sylvia Plath, the Oscar-nominated 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption, and more.
She kicks things off with the Slim Aarons reference, which Genius contributor normanfuckingrockwell explains in an annotation:
The chorus begins with a reference to Sylvia Plath, a poet and author from Massachusetts who is best known for her 1963 novel The Bell Jar as well as poems like “The Colossus” and “Lady Lazarus”:
I’ve been tearing around in my fucking nightgown
24/7 Sylvia Plath
Plath struggled with depression throughout her life—chronicled in the semi-autobiographical The Bell Jar—and eventually committed suicide in 1963 by sticking her head in a gas oven.
The next few lines could be a reference to the shocking murders committed by the Manson family in 1969, where victims' blood was used to write messages on the walls of their home:
Writing in blood on the walls
‘Cause the ink in my pen don’t work in my notepad
Themes of depression are echoed a few lines later, when she sings:
Don’t ask if I’m happy, you know that I’m not
But at best I can say I’m not sad
As Genius contributor ShadesOfGrant points out, these lines bare some similarity to a famous quote from Sylvia Plath. “I may never be happy but tonight I am content,” she wrote in The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, released in 1981.
The song’s title, “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but i have it,” seems to be a reference to 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption, as Genius contributor Kevin Loo explains:
There’s a final line that’s caused some controversy, but may also tie into the cinematic themes of the song. On the second chorus, Lana sings:
Shaking my ass is the only thing that’s
Got this black narcissist off my back
She couldn’t care less, and I never cared more
So there’s no more to say about that
Lana engaged in a public fight with rapper Azealia Banks last October, and some fans have speculated that “black narcissist” is a disparaging reference to Banks. However, Lana has been discussing the song publicly since well before their feud escalated, and said the entire album was completed in September 2018.
Black Narcissus is the title of a 1947 psychological drama about a group of nuns starting a convent in the Himalayas. Whether Lana is intentionally referencing this film is unclear, but it’s also possible that the term is being used as a metaphor for depression, continuing the song’s references to Sylvia Plath.
“hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but i have it” is set to appear on Lana’s upcoming album, Norman Fucking Rockwell, alongside her recent singles “Venice Bitch” and “Mariner’s Apartment Complex.” The project is due out in the first quarter of 2019.
Listen to the song above and read all the lyrics to Lana Del Rey’s “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but i have it” on Genius now.
