Lana Del Rey has released a number of singles ahead of her new studio album ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell‘, which is set to be released on August 30th, but her latest single, ‘Looking for America’, is not an album track. Instead, Lana sings a heartfelt ode to America’s troubled relationship with gun control.

Lana shared the following Instagram post on August 5th, in the wake of the most recent series of mass shootings in America:

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Hi folks came back early from Montecito with my brother this morning and asked Jack Antonoff to come into town because I had a song on my mind that I wanted to write. Now I know I’m not a politician and I’m not trying to be so excuse me for having an opinion- but in light of all of the mass shootings and the back to back shootings in the last couple of days which really affected me on a cellular level I just wanted to post this video that our engineer Laura took 20 minutes ago. I hope you like it. I’m singing love to the choruses I recorded this morning. I’m going to call it ‘Looking for America ‘ @jackantonoff @sharp_stick

A post shared by Lana Del Rey (@lanadelrey) on Aug 5, 2019 at 4:03pm PDT

The video on her Instagram post was a live studio recording of the track ‘Looking for America’, which has now been released on streaming services, with all proceeds going to the Gilroy Garlic Festival Victims Relief Fund, El Paso Community Relief Fund and Dayton Foundation.

The song itself, aside from being a political statement in favour of gun control, is a beautiful and heartfelt ballad and perhaps one of Lana’s best tracks. Lana serenades the listener, with a chorus of “I’m still looking for my own version of America, One without the gun, where the flag can freely fly, No bombs in the sky, only fireworks when you and I collide.” It is hard not to be moved as her passion and emotion is prevalent throughout her heavenly vocals.

It is clear that this song is by no means a form of promotion for her upcoming album, but safe to say it is some of her best work in recent years and it also says something of her character, given the choice to release the track as a non-profit track for charity, rather than for her new album.