"Yayo" is a song by American singer and songwriterLana Del Rey. It appears on her first extended play, Kill Kill, her self-titled debut album, and her third EP, Paradise. After the release of her third EP, the song charted in France. Before signing to a major record label, Del Rey released a self-produced music video for "Yayo". Ubiquitously, the song garnered acclaim, many reviewers saying the song was one of the best songs Del Rey has ever written and praising Del Rey's voice. Appearing on three of Del Rey's albums to date, the song is one of few that was authored solely by her. The original version of the song was released through 5 Point Records and produced by David Kahne, later being remastered by Emile Haynie and Dan Heath.
Critical reception
The Huffington Post dismissed both "Bel Air" and "Yayo" as "filler tracks". Disagreeing with this position, Carl Williot of Idolator wrote that "Yayo" should have been a single and was the best song on the EP. Calling the song Del Rey's most interesting song to date, Williot compared the narration on "Yayo" to the plight of Anna Nicole Smith and said it was "woozy" and "burlesque". Digital Spy said: "She treads close to being kooky for the sake of kooky on 'Yayo'." Pinpointing "Yayo" one of Del Rey's typical "bad girl" songs, Lancaster Online cited "Yayo" as one of the best Del Rey songs ever written, acquiescing the statement with: "I do not feel that I am exaggerating one bit by making this praise." Indie music journal Drowned in Sound highlighted the change of tempo "Yayo" brought to Paradise. Praising it, Drowned in Sound called "Yayo", "shimmeringly beautiful...shot through with uncertainty, 4am bloodshot-eyed regret and a sense of everything only a heartbeat away from collapse." Slant Magazine said: "Yayo' is a thin bundle of Lolita imprecations and sun-baked poolside sexuality, wrapped in wispy string production. It coasts on the same kind of rhythmic repetition that crops up on tracks like "American" and "Body Electric," all of them leaning too heavily on a pre-established atmospheric skeleton." Initially saying "we can live without 'Yayo'," So So Gay gave credit to the song for having, "great appeal in terms of the jazzy feel it brings to the album, but loses it with a series of vocal displays that make the track, quite frankly, a bit of warble...," finalizing their review by adding that it, "certainly has nothing on the closing track, 'Bel Air'."
Music video
Before signing with a major label, Del Rey produced a video for "Yayo". Pop music reviewer Amy Sciarretto said the video featured many shots of the singer herself in Super 8 granulation, juxtaposed with low, somber vocals. "The result is like a noir short film where nothing is clear and everything is left to the imagination," the reviewer added. Finalizing her review, Sciarretto said:
"But given the lyrical content, the distinguished gentleman in the footage is likely her father or at least a father figure of some sort. The singer does a dance in a bikini top and short shorts, asking her daddy to put ona show for him. A bit icky? On the surface, yes. But we get the sentiment and that it's not like "that." A lot of the shots feel looped and repeated over the course of six minutes, and there’s no clear linear narrative, either. It does impart a message of distance and loss via the found footage and first person perspective. You are left to sift through the footage and piece together your own perception of the source material and to fill in the gaps, which makes it a video that you can’t watch only once."
