Carmen (Lana Del Rey song)

"Carmen" is a song by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey, taken from her second studio album Born to Die. On February 27, 2012, Del Rey revealed through her Facebook that she had shot the music video for the song. During reviews for the album, "Carmen" garnered very positive responses from critics, most of whom praised Del Rey's lyrical abilities and the songs message to warn younger girls about the lifestyles of celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.

Background and composition
"Carmen" was written by Del Rey and Justin Parker, and produced by Emile Haynie with additional production by Jeff Bhasker.

"Carmen" is a dark tale of pretty-girl psychosis. Andy Gill of The Independent described the song as a perfect tale to warn millions of young girls who want the sort of fame described in "Carmen". "You don't want to get this way," warns "Carmen," a name given as an alter-ego to Del Rey, "famous and dumb at an early age." In the song, Del Rey seems to describe the life of LA celeb party girls like Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton as she states "you don’t want to get this way, Street walk at night, and a star by day. It’s tiring, tiring." "Carmen" plays the albums "bitchy lament" with its lyrics about a girl who "doesn't have a problem lying to herself cause her liquor's top shelf." In the songs break, Del Rey sings with rigid and self-referential lyrics, "Relying on the kindness of strangers / Tying cherry knots, smiling, doing party favors / Put your red dress on / Put your lipstick on / Sing your song, song / Now the camera's on / And you're alive again."

Critical reception
"Carmen" was favored by most critics for its ability to tell a story and haunt with its intense lyrics of the downside to fame. Noted as a cautionary hint of any downside to such a debauched lifestyle that Del Rey portrays on her album, Andy Gill of The Independent describes the song as a metaphor used by Del Rey for her "synthetic life experience." Alex Denney of NME described the song as "a winner" with Del Rey’s richly suggestive tones conjuring the ghosts of Lauren Bacall’s classic femme-fatales. While reviewing the album and describing the song as the point where "things start to pick-up," John Capone of Prefix Magazine described the song as a "three-Xanax-and-gin-martini-cocktail broken-hearted baroque ballad." Angela Okhumoya of Addictmusic showed appreciation for Del Rey's writing abilities on "Carmen" stating that it is "better than most of her contemporaries." Dom Gourlay of Contactmusic gave the song a positive review, stating "You want hip-hop beats? Check. Radio friendly choruses? Check. Singalong verses for the hen party and karaoke masses? Check." Rob Harvilla of SPIN noted the song for its ability to "gently ascends/descends to Drake/Weeknd empty-hedonism poignancy."

Music video
On February 27, 2012, Del Rey revealed through her Facebook that the video for the song was shot and would be finished being edited that day. Along with the news of the video's release she stated "Shooting the final video in my trilogy with Yoann next week," referring to the music videos for "Blue Jeans" and "Born to Die".