Revenge is on the table, with a side of harlotry and brattiness in Lana Del Rey’s newest single “A&W,” a sonically experimental track that doesn’t hold back.

Before the opulent and polished Lana Del Rey we know now, Lana went by Lizzy Grant. She lived in a trailer park and sang in New York bars in a T-shirt and jeans. The music Lizzy produced was sassy, experimental and boisterous — a far cry from the sweeping operatic sound of Del Rey.

The single begins with an expected piano and guitar, reminiscent of Del Rey’s critically acclaimed album “Norman F*cking Rockwell.” Lana paints a picture of youth, juxtaposed with an apathetic response to comments about her body, “Look at the length of my hair, and my face, the shape of my body / Do you really think I give a damn / What I do after years of just hearing them talking?” 

This line is the first clue that a reclamation of autonomy and agency over her body is coming, as the narrative of the song swims by. Del Rey sounds relaxed, almost drowning in the reverb from producer Jack Antonoff. 

A mist forms around her words, broken only by Del Rey proclaiming,

“Call him up, he comes over again / Yeah, I know I’m over my head but, oh / It’s not about havin’ someone to love me anymore / No, this is the experience of bein’ an American whore.”

This frank and decisive statement about her sexuality is surprising and oh, so refreshing. Del Rey’s most popular album, “Born to Die,” is so full of naiveté and lover-girl swooning promises of forever love that some critics argue it is satirical. 

It’s a masterpiece, but it’s not reality. Del Rey is grabbing the reins on the conversation about her body and exercising sexual agency here — this is real life.

She goes on, in the same slow style fans are used to with a ghostly and wispy voice, “I’m invisible, look how you hold me / I’m invisible, I’m invisible / I’m a ghost now, look how you hold me now.” There is no golden palace or prince in the world of A&W, only Lana’s sobering feelings around sex, herself and perhaps even her conscience. 

Her soft voice climbs higher and higher until it is cut by the much lower tone of an almost evil-sounding Lana, repeating “It’s not about havin’ someone to love me anymore (Oh, OK) / No, this is the experience of bein’ an American whore.”

This tale, though surprising in its lyrics, still sounds like a Lana song. All of that changes with a quickening beat that sounds almost eerie. Then, the bass drops and is met with Lana’s voice — no longer mystified in reverb — talk-rapping in a sassy tone reminiscent of her campy Lizzy Grant songs. 

The change in sound is enough to leave you speechless and ask yourself — “Am I still listening to the same song?” Yes, you are. 

Here Lana’s melancholy, evil and sometimes apathetic tone of the first half is cut as she says, “Jimmy Jimmy cocoa puff, Jimmy Jimmy ride / Jimmy Jimmy cocoa puff, Jimmy, get me high (Oh my god).”

In Lizzy Grant’s work, there is a character named Jimmy based on Jimmy Gnecco, a musician Del Rey is rumored to have dated. As her work developed though, Jimmy, or Jim, became a catchall name for her lovers. 

Del Rey is being brutally honest here — this man isn’t even important or deserving enough to be named, and she’s all about his drugs and the hookup. This is Lizzy Grant. 

Perhaps the campiest and most memorable line of the track follows soon after, overtop the trappy and psychedelic beat, “Your mom called, I told her, you’re f*ckin’ up big time.”

This vengeful and brutally honest take is the icing on the cake of this badass revenge ballad. Del Rey continues, “Jimmy, if you switch it up, you should light it up / Jimmy, if you leave the house, find me in the club.” 

If the track began melancholy and pensive, it ends with a vibrant no-tears-left-to-cry vibe, long forgotten from her Lizzy Grant era. 

Lana’s naiveté is stripped raw here, quite literally like her clothes on the hotel room floor. There is no fairy tale here, just drugs, revenge and an absolute agency of her body. 

“A&W” is streaming on all platforms and is part of Del Rey’s ninth album “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” which drops March 24.