"Serene Queen" is an unreleased song by Lana Del Rey. It was recorded in late 2015 and was produced by Rick Nowels. It was the first song recorded in the earliest writing sessions for Lust for Life,[S 1][dead link] but was ultimately scrapped. It is not registered to any music publishing service.
Background[]
The song is rumored to be about ex-boyfriend Francesco Carrozzini,[S 1][dead link] whom Del Rey had a relationship with from June 2014 to November 2015.
On December 30, 2019, a low-quality snippet of the song leaked. Another low-quality snippet leaked on February 4, 2020. A third low-quality snippet would leak on March 21, and a fourth two days later on March 23. A higher-quality snippet leaked the following day. A sixth snippet leaked on April 13, with a seventh and final snippet leaking two days later on April 15. The full song would leak the next day, followed by a higher quality version on October 15. The original file, titled "SERENE QUEEN DR003", leaked on September 20, 2023.
A demo of the song leaked on December 24, 2021. It leaked as "The Village" Demo, which refers to the studio it was recorded at. This demo has since been remarked to be the second demo of the song, with the instrumental of an earlier demo leaking on September 20, 2023. An insider has claimed that the second demo is a stem edit,[S 2] but other insiders pushed back at this claim.[S 3][S 4][S 5][S 6]
A vocal stem from the song leaked in lossless quality on March 16, 2024. The entire stem session is rumored to be circulating.[S 7]
Cross-references[]
- Directly referenced in "Fingertips".
- Blazing guns are also mentioned in "Honeymoon".
- The phrase "arms around me" is also used in "God Bless America - and All the Beautiful Women in It".
- "Thinking too much" is also referenced in "On Our Way".
- The phrase "you never gave yourself away" is similar to "never ever gave myself away" from "You're Gonna Love Me".
- Del Rey also calls someone cool in "Wolf T-Shirt", "Heavy Hitter", "Brooklyn Baby", and "Lust for Life", and in the poem "In the Flats of Melrose".
- The phrase "I love you" also appears in "Off to the Races", "Ultraviolence", "Pretty Baby", and "Fuck It I Love You", among some other songs.
- The phrase "come on" is also used in "Be My Daddy", "Wolf T-Shirt", "Cola", "Back to tha Basics", and "Put Me in a Movie".
Official versions[]
- Final version — 5:06
- Demo version 1 (unleaked) — Unknown
- Instrumental version – 5:17
- Demo version 2 — 5:19
Lyrics[]
Why you so uptight? What's the problem?
Everybody knows you're doing it anyway
Why you act so uptight when you got so much?
You could be sending it my way
Those guys were cool
But you'd never give yourself away
And I'm not a fool, no
"I love you," I say
He had all his guns and all his guns were blazing
Put his arms around me, so amazing
He had all his guns, all his guns were blazing
Put his arms around me, so amazing
Amazing
Amazing
Amazing
He'd call me the serene queen
(Come on, baby, if you want it, you can get it right)
The serene queen
(Come on, baby, if you want it, you can get it right)
The serene queen
(Come on, baby, if you want it, you can get it right now)
I don’t start fights but I’ll stop 'em all by any means
Why you so upset? What's the problem?
Everybody knows you're doing it anyway
Why you act so tough when you got so much
Going for you already?
Those guys were cool
But you never gave yourself away
Baby, it's true, you
I'd never betray
He had all his guns and all his guns were blazing
Put his arms around me, so amazing
He had all his guns, all his guns were blazing
Put his arms around me, so amazing
Amazing
Amazing
Amazing
He'd call me the serene queen
(Come on, baby, if you want it, you can get it right)
The serene queen
(Come on, baby, if you want it, you can get it right)
The serene queen
(Come on, baby, if you want it, you can get it right now)
I don’t start fights but I’ll stop 'em all by any means
"You think too much, you dream too much"
"You think too much, you dream too much"
"You think too much, you dream too much,
But what a beautiful mind is such"
He had all his guns and all his guns were blazing
He never gave himself away
He had all his guns and all his guns were blazing
I'd never betray
He'd call me the serene queen
(Come on, baby, if you want it, you can get it right)
The serene queen
(Come on, baby, if you want it, you can get it right)
The serene queen
(Come on, baby, if you want it, you can get it right now)
I don’t start fights but I’ll stop 'em all by any means
References[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 This is speculation and should not be relied upon. It has not been confirmed by any official source, but was originally reported here and is considered widespread knowledge within the community.
- ↑ This is speculation and should not be relied upon. It has not been confirmed by any official sources, but has been reported by Eclipse, who is considered a reliable insider by the community.
- ↑ This is speculation and should not be relied upon. It has not been confirmed by any official sources, but has been reported by Honeymoun, who is considered a reliable insider by the community.
- ↑ This is speculation and should not be relied upon. It has not been confirmed by any official sources, but has been reported by bunoner, who is considered a reliable insider by the community.
- ↑ This is speculation and should not be relied upon. It has not been confirmed by any official sources, but has been reported by Say Yes To Heaven, who is considered a reliable insider by the community.
- ↑ This is speculation and should not be relied upon. It has not been confirmed by any official sources, but has been reported by Rorman Nockwell, who is considered a reliable insider by the community.
- ↑ This is speculation and should not be relied upon. It has not been confirmed by any official source, but is considered widespread knowledge within the community.