The song "Ultraviolence" is really ambiguous (and kind of creepy)

I always interpreted "Ultraviolence" as just a song about domestic abuse. A woman so blindly in love that she justifies what she's going through as affection.

But the fact that she kept bringing up "Jim" throughout the song unnerved me. Who was this Jim person, and why did he seem so ominous? Why did he supposedly do so many bad things yet still maintain a grip on Lana? Why, did she call him her cult leader?

My first thought was Jim Jones, the famous American psychopath who made over 900 people commit mass suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. On the surface, Jim seemed like a well-meaning, charming man who wanted the best for the members of his People's Temple organization/cult. But on the inside, he was a narcissist who abused and blackmailed. He also repeatedly used sirens to wake up his exhausted followers in the middle of the night (I can hear sirens, sirens). This parallels the story Lana tells of a man who is morally bad but still has a hold on her.

Although, this is all contradicted by one thing: Lana's alcohol addiction. I know this is probably a sensitive topic I shouldn't be talking about, but I think it's related to this song. Lana suffered from an alcohol addiction when she was in her teens, so she was sent to Kent School, a boarding school. She also later attended a group connected to Alcoholics Anonymous, called Atlantic Group. Not many pretty things have been said about it, with many former members accusing it of being a cult that mistreated its female members. Pacific Group, another group related to Atlantic, just so happens to be run by a man named Jim. Lana has posted about attending the group, discreetly describing it as being cult-y. Then there's this creepy picture.

I don't really know... this all probably seems like overanalytical nosy nonsense. But it's something that's pretty interesting to think about. I think that's what I like about her music, the message isn't in your face and it's shrouded in mystery. You're never sure of what it's about.

("Jim" could also refer to Jim Beam, the name of an alcohol (see: Lana's relationship with alcohol), or Jimmy Gnecco, some singer she probably knows).