Lana Del Rey first discussed the follow-up album to Honeymoon during an interview with NME magazine in December 2015. When asked where she would like to go with it and when it would be released, she replied by saying, "I do have early thoughts about what I'd like to do with it. My label, Interscope, is pretty flexible and open to my records coming out at any time, so I don't have that pressure. I'm just happy to be able to keep on making music I can stand behind. That's enough for me." In February 2016, during Clive Davis's Pre-Grammy Gala, Del Rey told Billboard that her upcoming record would be a different direction from Honeymoon, while retaining the same aesthetic.
Featuring recurring trap rhythms, classic rock references, "sepia-toned" orchestral backings, and Del Rey singing with a "hip-hop affectation", The Daily Telegraph stated that Lust For Life "lets a bit of light into the darkness of Del Rey's moody past works," noting that "there's a sense of heightened drama in punchy Phil Spector style sixties back beats and the way the heavy timpani criss-crosses with echoing digital trap beats, all swathed in a gauzy haze of Shangri Las style girl group harmonies."
The Guardian described the album's sound as "sleek contemporary-sounding soundscapes," and noted "Summer Bummer"'s "eerie production and futuristic melancholy sounding closer to a track from Frank Ocean's Blonde than her usual 50s and 60s enthralled shtick."
