“Chemtrails over the Country Club” by Lana Del Rey is the anthem of the Covid-era
The day before Lana Del Rey released the title single for her 2021 album Chemtrails over the Country Club, an old friend passed away after a short battle with COVID-19, which she had contracted during her work as a nurse. We had fallen largely out of contact over the years, but the first thing I remembered upon hearing about it was us seeing Lana on the Ultraviolence tour 7 years prior. In a way I’ll always feel like Chemtrails (the song and the album) was written for her.
The single was a perfect song for the time, and like all of Lana’s best tracks it holds up a dark mirror to the very concept of americana. The imagery of chemtrails evoke one of the most recognizable facets of modern americana: conspiracy theories. In this track, and continuing through the entire album, Lana highlights the sinister darkness that lurks right beneath the surface in the otherwise immaculate and sterile upper crust society. In this way, the album was the story of the Covid era: the story of people who were rich enough to be removed from society, work in isolated environments, free to fear-monger about vaccines, viruses, and just who was responsible for it all.
The consequences of the real life chemtrails over the country club will always live with me. When I first heard the song, I was unsure how I felt about it, and I didn’t think I would ever be able to disconnect it from my old friend or the tragic nature of the end of her life. I was right, of course; to this day she is essentially all I think about when I listen to Chemtrails. The sadness and anger I felt on first listen though, have since been replaced by warm feelings–memories of dancing the night away, listening to Lana, and sharing a warm 12 dollar beer with a friend who is no longer here.
