I listened to Lana Del Rey’s new album “Lust for Life” this morning on the train, and I didn’t hate it.

To put this in context, I was not always a fan of Del Rey. In fact, I’m still not a fan of hers. Not even sure that I’m a fan of her music. But I do enjoy some of it. This is because I have grown to be able to put morals and principle aside, when it comes to her music, and just take it (and her) at face value and enjoy the music for what it is.

When Lana first changed her name, sound, face, hired new producers, etc., and came on the scene re-branded in her current iteration, I was super anti-anything to do with her. I couldn’t not get over the fact that she was a wannabe with bottomless coffers of money trying to buy her way into being perceived as “cool.” It didn’t help that she is a one trick pony, as far as vocal styling, who doesn’t write any of her own stuff. My disdain for her hit a fever pitch when I saw her first attempt to perform on SNL.

Alas, several years have passed since then. Not much has changed in with her style of music/performing. But I have changed. In an era where authenticity has lost its value, and instant gratification is prime, I have learned to just give into some of my guilty pleasures. And sometimes I just need to kick back and bask in the aural sunshine of an f-bomb dropping female crooner on heavy reverb over teeth rattling bass lines. She has truly turned “Summertime Sadness” into its own genre with this latest album. And I’ll admit that I enjoy it.