JUKEBOX: “Once Upon A Dream” by Lana Del Rey

Cover Art for Lana Del Rey's version of "Once Upon A Dream" for Disney's upcoming movie Maleficent

Hi everybody! It’s Kimberly here for my tenth post for the genre “Children’s Music.”

It’s the beginning of May, which means that it’s about one month until Disney’s Maleficent comes out. It’s also May 2^nd today, so go ahead and say, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” to Lindsey who turns 19 today. Given these important events in May, I thought it would be appropriate to review Lana Del Rey’s version of “Once Upon A Dream,” which is the song that will be playing during the credits of Maleficent.

Disney originally released their animated version of Sleeping Beauty on February 6, 1959. Being that Sleeping Beauty just celebrated its 55^th anniversary this year, it is an opportune year for Disney to release a spinoff of Sleeping Beauty, which is titled Maleficent. Maleficent seems to be taking a page out of Wicked’s book in that both flip the conventional story on its head and focus on the antagonist’s side of the story. Wicked has proven itself to be as popular if not more popular than its predecessor The Wizard of Oz, but only time will tell to see how successful Maleficent becomes.

In Sleeping Beauty, “Once Upon A Dream” is sang by Aurora after she meets Prince Philip. Ergo, “Once Upon A Dream” in Sleeping Beauty is more about a girl who is happy and thinking about the man of her dreams. Contrastingly, since Maleficent is about the villain it would be strange to have a happy-sounding song as the credits song. That’s where Lana Del Rey comes into the picture.

I don’t know much about Lana Del Rey, but I can say that I like what I’ve heard from her so far. I remember watching The Great Gatsby and having that one line from “Young and Beautiful” on repeat in my head: “Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful?” To me, her voice sounds like something from an old record player that’s being winded slowly and perfectly. Lana Del Rey’s voice combined with a mystifying track makes her version of “Once Upon A Dream” sound hauntingly beautiful like Maleficent herself. The song becomes more than just a song about a cliché girl thinking about a guy she just met. It ends up sounding more like a song about a villain out for revenge who haunts the dreams of an innocent girl. I will admit that this version of the song is kind of creepy, but I like that it gives a different take on the original version. I’m giving Lana Del Rey’s version of “Once Upon A Dream” 5 stars because her voice fits the track so well that the lyrics will leave you in a trance.

I hope you enjoyed my review of “Once Upon A Dream” and again remember to say Happy Birthday to Lindsey in the comments! J

Below is the audio for “Once Upon A Dream.”