An image of a deadly nightshade
(Stefan.lefnaer,
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons - image cropped)
Posted on June 22, 2025.
In honor of the iconic Lana Del Rey's 40th birthday, here's a simple feminist analysis of the title track of her sophomore album Ultraviolence, the song that cost her accusations of glamorizing abuse. Addressing this controversy, she unfortunately produced a bigger controversy as a result, in her 2020 Instagram post Question for the Culture, which I believe is not perfect but somewhat misunderstood [1].
The beautiful song sets off with a sound resembling violins, a common instrument in Lana Del Rey's earlier records, that recalls the opening of her first breakthrough album, Born To Die - is there even a song on that album without violins? Violins, violins, violins... Of course, she rhymes the word "violins" with "ultraviolence" in the chorus!
The first lines, "He used to call me DN. / That stood for Deadly Nightshade," already shed light on the theme of the song being about a romantic relationship. Her lover associates Lana with a poisonous plant, Deadly Nightshade. The following lines, "'Cause I was filled with poison / But blessed with beauty and rage," elaborates on the flower metaphor - she's beautiful, but he can't stand her. Lana's beauty is ravishing but her attitude puts her lover off. Obviously, a woman's beauty is emphasized and the contrast her attitude creates with it is highlighted. This reflects the valuation of women based on their beauty, beauty standards, and the nature of heterosexual relationships, where women are deemed objects of desire that must submit to their male romantic partner. Lana, having internalized the patriarchal norms, feels the unfair expectations surrounding her but cannot speak up about how she feels about her lover - she's silenced. She narrates herself but only from his perception, not hers.
An image of a deadly nightshade
(Stefan.lefnaer,
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons - image cropped)
Continuing the first verse, the double line "Jim told me that, he hit me and it felt like a kiss. / Jim brought me back, reminded me of when we were kids." reads further into the unhealthy relationship between Lana and her lover, likely the person referred to as Jim. Also appearing in the chorus later, the notorious sentence "he hit me and it felt like a kiss" marks her relationship as abusive. She's enduring domestic violence, but she normalizes her partner's reaction, describing it as though it were a romantic expression of his love. Domestic violence disproportionately affects women [2], and labeling such violence as "love" reflects how the patriarchy perpetuates gender-based violence and excuses it as men's way of showing affection. Lana being reminded of her childhood could be a revelation of her abusive relationship with her parents. Her partner's abuse is nothing new to her - she's been conditioned into believing that abuse is what she deserves, from a mix of childhood experiences and patriarchal norms.
Later comes the heavenly chorus, where she cries the name of the song four times, preceded by a "with his..." before the first instance.
"With his ultraviolence, ultraviolence, ultraviolence,
ultraviolence,
I can hear sirens, sirens.
He hit me and it
felt like a kiss.
I can hear violins, violins.
Give me all of
that ultraviolence."
One interpretation of the word "ultraviolence" could relate to a simple combination of two words, "ultraviolet" and "violence." We're unable to see ultraviolet radiation, which could imply that Lana is sadly blind to her abuser's violent attitude. She hears sirens, depicting the intensity of violence, perhaps she just wants to feel something, violins symbolize romance, and she's submitting herself to her lover's control under the delusion of romantic love. The theme of gender-based violence and internalized misogyny is once again relevant here.
On the second verse, "He used to call me poison, / Like I was poison ivy." mutters Lana. Likewise with the first verse, she touches on her abuser's perspective of her and references another dangerous plant, poison ivy. The next lines "I could've died right there. / 'Cause he was right beside me," are a nod to the physical abuse she experiences. Her partner is so abusive that even her presence next to him is a threat to her safety. Maybe this interpretation is too literal, but it applies well into the song's overall theme of intimate partner violence.
An image of a poison ivy (Famartin,
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons - image cropped)
The next Jim-lines "Jim raised me up, he hurt me, but it felt like true love. / Jim taught me that loving him was never enough." finally displays Lana starting to realize she's hurting inside but is indifferent to the abuse. She lost her joy and whimsy because of her lover, but she depicts this as him raising her up and maturing her, somewhat highlighting her indifference. It could also be a reference to the patriarchal notion that women must mature earlier, take things more seriously, and act in a more proper manner, almost echoing the "put her in her place!" saying. The subordinating conjunction "but" emphasizes the contrast that his abuse cannot actually coexist with her idea of true love, but that's how she feels anyway. No matter how much Lana loves him, she cannot stop her abuser, but she also cannot cut him off easily. As a woman, she's expected to be obedient to her male partner, paralleling the notion that a woman cannot divorce her husband, or else, it's her failure. Jim, once again, is in a position of power over her - he raises her up and he teaches her. She merely exists as an object of his authority.
After the second chorus toward the song's end, Lana follows the theme of subjugation, most apparent in the lines "Loving you was really hard. / ... / I would do anything for you, babe," and the interlude:
"I love you the first time, I love you the last time.
Yo soy la
princesa, comprende mis white lines.
[translation: I'm the
princess, understand my white lines]
'Cause I'm your jazz singer,
and you're my cult leader.
I love you forever, I love you
forever."
Her love could be a reflection of her personality - she's forever attached to him. She's in a state of idealization toward her partner, where she can excuse his abuse, in part with, of course, patriarchal conditioning. "White lines" might suggest she or him is dealing with drugs or a different interpretation of the song being about drugs altogether. Drugs might be a way of her dealing with the relationship's abusive nature or what drives her abuser to intensify his attacks on her. It's no surprise he is a cult leader if we consider the relation between his tendency to abuse her and the patriarchal setting of organized religion.
In the music video, Lana is portrayed in a veil reminiscent of wedding visuals, carrying flowers, stepping on grass, with yellow patches of lighting. This aligns well with the song, as many weddings accompany patriarchal traditions that objectify women [3].
Lana Del Rey in the music video of Ultraviolence (YouTube
- image cropped)
Leaving the narrower scope of the song, Lana has been associated with a notorious image of anti-feminism, probably influenced by her certain interviews [4][5], Ultraviolence, and Question for the Culture. Despite having mentioned that feminism is not a movement that concerns her earlier, her views must have evolved as she proceeded in her albums. On Lust for Life [6], songs titled Coachella - Woodstock in My Mind, God Bless America - And All The Beautiful Women In It, and When The World Was At War We Kept Dancing clearly show her awareness of social issues, and on Change the need for social change, as the name also hints at. This personal development, as well as her preference for long song titles, is still apparent on her next album NFR! and succeeding works. In Question for the Culture, she explicitly mentions that she is a feminist using a double negative to get her point across:
"Let this be clear, I'm not not a feminist -but there has to be a place in feminism for women who look and act like me - the kind of woman who says no but men hear yes..."
Considering the context of the sentence and her newer songs, it's safe to say she identifies herself within the feminist movement, or at least, is not opposed to it. It's likely that the misunderstood conception of feminism has formerly led her to distance herself from the movement.
Finally, Lana is a victim of the patriarchy, just like many women are. Ultraviolence, the song that was heavily criticized for glamorizing abuse, does not romanticize abuse but rather portrays a woman in an abusive relationship under the patriarchy. Her experiences are indicative of a broader system of control and something many women share. Anyone who has endured intimate partner violence or abusive relationships or enjoys the expression of melancholy (unsurprisingly, the song was originally reworked from a song called Melancholia [7]) will feel seen and understood in her music. Personally, it's one of my favorite songs in her discography.
See the full Ultraviolence lyrics.
