Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
Lana Del Rey has mastered the art of carefully constructed, high-concept alt-pop records that bask in—and steadily amplify—her own mythology; with each album we become more enamored by, and yet less sure of, who she is. This is, of course, part of her magic and the source of much of her artistic power. Her records bid you to worry less about parsing fact from fiction and, instead, free-fall into her theatrical aesthetic—a mix of gloomy Americana, Laurel Canyon nostalgia, and Hollywood noir that was once dismissed as calculation and is now revered as performance art. Up until now, these slippery, surrealist albums have made it difficult to separate artist from art. But on her introspective ninth album, something seems to shift: She appears to let us in a little. She appears to let down her guard. The opening track is called “The Grants”—a nod to her actual family name. Through unusually revealing, stream-of-conscious songs that feel like the most poetic voice notes you’ve ever heard, she chastises her siblings, wonders about marriage, and imagines what might come with motherhood and midlife. “Do you want children?/Do you wanna marry me?” she sings on “Sweet.” “Do you wanna run marathons in Long Beach by the sea?” This is relatively new lyrical territory for Del Rey, who has generally tended to steer around personal details, and the songs themselves feel looser and more off-the-cuff (they were mostly produced with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff). It could be that Lana has finally decided to start peeling back a few layers, but for an artist whose entire catalog is rooted in clever imagery, it’s best to leave room for imagination. The only clue might be in the album’s single piece of promo, a now-infamous billboard in Tulsa, Oklahoma, her ex-boyfriend’s hometown. She settled the point fairly quickly on Instagram. “It’s personal,” she wrote.
The singer-songwriter’s ninth album arrives as a sweeping, sterling, often confounding work of self-mythology and psychoamericana: Lana’s in the zone.
The LA artist's ninth album – amongst her most revealing work yet – continues to expand the modern icon's artistry
Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd once again proves that Lana Del Rey plays for nobody but herself.
The structure is extremely loose and often feels indulgent, but what else do her fans want to do but indulge in their idol?
A record that plays out like a Tennessee Williams drama, with all its restless, unsure inbetweens left in.
Songwriter’s latest record isn’t rigid with its aesthetic and is all the better for it
On Lana Del Rey's ninth album '...Ocean Blvd', the singer invites us into her psyche, to contemplate life's big questions.
Lana Del Rey could have retired after the cinematic grandeur of her 2019 high-water mark Norman Fucking Rockwell!
A shift occured about halfway through Lana Del Rey's 2017 album Lust for Life, the turning point marked by a song called "Coachella – Woodst...
A week before release, we’re brought into a record label office to listen to Lana Del Rey's new album to review.
There was, once, a long pathway with mosaic ceilings and caramel tiles lined along both the floors and terracotta walls of the underground entrance into the shore in Long Beach, CA. This was the tunnel under Ocean Blvd., a promenade animated by vendors and screaming children with floaties on their arms and sunscreen blotches on their noses.
Lana Del Rey has always espoused a commitment to doing whatever she damn well wants. If anything, the pandemic has simply accelerated this. Left alone to
Read MOJO’s verdict on the new album by Lana Del Rey, Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
Shimmering strings meet trap beats as the songwriter looks back in languor on her richly textured ninth album
Lana Del Rey’s ‘Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ feels like a placeholder in the singer’s discography.
Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd by Lana Del Rey Album Review by Sam Franzini, the singer/songwriter's is now out via DSPs
The songwriter’s ninth album is heavy and disarmingly truthful, yet expands its close lens thanks to her wide-ranging, alluring aesthetic looseness
Lana Del Rey - Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under... review: Californians always think of sex / Or think of death / Five hundred girl deaths / A Mexico revenge, it's stolen land / They really get it off on / "Don't hurt me please"
Depeche Mode make their most beautiful album yet, Del Rey's sprawling work contains flashes of brilliance, Fall Out Boy look to the cosmos
The star’s ninth album is one of her most confounding to date. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing
The latest from the sultry American singer is overlong but contains gold. Review by Thomas H Green