Toby Canham/Getty ImagesWhile most pop stars look to the future (if not outer space) for styling tips, Lana Del Rey has always evoked old Hollywood glamour. So it only makes sense for her to debut her new music video at the historic Aero Theatre.
The Born to Die songstress stepped out at the Santa Monica, Calif., theater last night to premiere the 10-minute short film accompanying "Ride," the first single off her upcoming Paradise Edition rerelease of her first album. And LDR was greeted by quite the crowd.
Hundreds of the songstress's loyal fans lined up outside the theater, with the line continuing around the block and down multiple blocks into a residential area, for hours awaiting their chance to get in to one of the screenings that ran every half an hour throughout the night.
The chaos didn't end outside. After everyone was packed inside, a theater manager took the stage to instruct the crowd to remain seated, then introduced Lana herself. And that's about as long as the promise to stay seated lasted.
Ms. Del Rey made her way down the aisle escorted by four beefy security types but was immediately flocked by fans, who held out memorabilia and album covers for Lana to sign. And she did, graciously, while simultaneously hugging her fans, telling them she loved them too and kissing more cheeks than Barack Obama and Mitt Romney combined.
One fan in the front row even scored a smooch on the lips, right before Lana—and the video's director, Anthony Mandler—who also helmed her clip for National Anthem—took the stage amid thunderous applause. "You make everything that was ever hard completely, completely worth it," Lana gushed with her signature giggle.
The lights dimmed, the projector rolled and the "Ride" began. The video comprises of a long monologue of Lana breathlessly declaring herself "an unusual girl" and gushing over the open road before the song actually begins.
The film itself is everything you would expect a video from LDR to be: long brooding shots of her singing on rundown off-strip Vegas stages, riding on the back of choppers with a handful of leather daddies and it all culminates in shots of Lana wearing a feathered headdress as she straddles a motorcycle with a gun pointed at her head.
"Ride" is set to premiere online tomorrow (until then, listen to the song below) but at the end of the clip, Lana declares, "I am f--king crazy. But I am free." And if the teen girl opening sobbing throughout the duration of the video is any indication, her fans are crazy for her too.