*“I hear the door slam, but the window's wide open”*

With “Bluebird,” Lana Del Rey unveils the second single from her once-titled, now-untitled upcoming album — a song that not only feels more confident than last week's “Henry, Come On” but also points toward a promising sonic direction for the full record.

In “Bluebird,” Lana takes us on a journey through pure Americana, laced with classic country — unfiltered, unpolished, and deliberately simple. She doesn’t try to modernize it or hide it in dense metaphors. Instead, she embraces the genre’s core: telling small, intimate stories with quiet emotional truths. Here, the titular bird becomes a symbol for a woman caught in an abusive relationship — someone who must find the courage to break free and reclaim her sense of self.

And that’s the beauty of Americana — its ability to take personal stories and make them resonate universally. That’s exactly what makes “Bluebird” work. Compared to the slightly meandering “Henry, Come On,” this track feels tighter, more grounded. Its country instrumental break adds a burst of authenticity, punctuating the narrative and giving the song space to breathe — keeping it from ever feeling too long or weighed down.

Lana Del Rey has never been — and was never meant to be — a pop star in the traditional sense. For years, she’s been gravitating toward a more lived-in, rootsy aesthetic — one that mirrors her current state of mind and way of life. And when that kind of soul finds its way into the music, it speaks to listeners across her entire discography — whether they came for the trap-inflected drama of Lust for Life and Ultraviolence, or the musical experiments and lush arrangements of Norman Fucking Rockwell and Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.

8.0/10

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