Hello, everyone! My name is Simon, and today, I’m finally reviewing the ninth studio album by Lana Del Rey, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. I kept saying I would eventually post this review, and here it is, finally.

Last year, when I used to always include a throwback review whenever I did a mini review post, I did a throwback review of Lana Del Rey’s 2012 album, Born to Die. Personally, I don’t like that album … at all. And if you want to know why, you can read my mini review of that album.

But even though I didn’t like Born to Die—in fact, I dislike it quite a bit—I said in that review that I was curious to hear more of Lana Del Rey’s albums.

So, if you’re wondering why this review is as late as it is … well, there’s a few reasons. One being that I’ve been working on lots of other reviews, and also my favourite songs of 2022 list (which I think is finally close to being done—I’m optimistic I can get it posted by the end of July), but another reason being that I decided to check out the rest of Lana Del Rey’s albums before listening to and reviewing this one … and after listening to Lana Del Rey’s first eight albums multiple times each, it turns out I have some extremely controversial feelings on her music. Keep in mind my intent isn’t to be mean or anything, it’s just how I personally feel, but I have some very controversial things to say.

I can’t say I’m a fan of Lana’s 2010 debut album, but I certainly like it more than her next three. I already mentioned Born to Die, but Ultraviolence and Honeymoon are also albums that I very strongly dislike, for reasons I don’t feel like fully getting into right now … but I also think it’s worth mentioning the argument I’ve seen some people make that men can’t fully understand Lana’s music. And it’s worth mentioning that I’m a man … and some people would probably tell me that I can’t fully understand those albums, so I’m ‘wrong’ for feeling the way I do about them. But that doesn’t really add up to me, because wouldn’t my feelings on the album be more evidence supporting the argument that men can’t understand her music? Now, it’s worth mentioning that lots of men love Lana’s music, but here’s an argument I want to make: no one can fully understand anyone else’s art. So, just keep in mind that when I talk about my very strong negative feelings toward Born to Die, Ultraviolence, and Honeymoon, it’s just how I personally feel. It’s not me trying to disrespect the art, or me trying to tell anyone else how they should feel about the albums … it’s just me saying I personally never want to listen to those albums anytime soon, if ever.

Honestly, I think Ultraviolence is my least favourite Lana Del Rey album … yes, I know it’s a massive hot take, but that’s how I feel about it. And while I said I don’t fully want to get into why I dislike those three albums so much … well, they’re all different, but one thing that all of them had in common was that they all felt like they were glamorizing terrible behaviour—and no, I’m not saying that was the intent, and I’ve heard lots of arguments why that’s not what her music is about … but I hear those albums the way I hear them, even though I’m sure they were made with good intentions. Do my feelings on those albums make me like her less as a person? No. It’s just how I feel about those albums.

Anyway, then came her 2017 album, Lust for Life, which, of all her albums, is probably the most often considered her worst album … which I find funny because I was shocked how much more I liked it compared to her previous three albums! Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t love Lust for Life … but it’s a pretty enjoyable album for the most part, and “Love” and “13 Beaches” are legit fantastic!

But then there’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! from 2019, and it seems like almost everyone loves that album, even people who previously hadn’t liked Lana’s music … and I just couldn’t really get into it. To me, it’s a mostly pleasant album with some standout tracks, but as a whole it just didn’t click for me.

Lana then put out two albums in 2021, neither of which I really liked all that much, but I like them both more than any of her first four albums.

So, anyway, now that her newest album is getting a ton of critical acclaim, could this be the album where Lana Del Rey’s music finally really clicks for me?

Well … kind of. Okay, the answer is yes, to a point. I don’t love this album, but I think it’s the Lana Del Rey album I understand the appeal of the most, and it’s got some of my favourite Lana Del Rey songs on it.

In other words … I think this is Lana Del Rey’s best album to date.

Now, before I talk about the album more, I want to make this clear: I’ve been trying to get this review out for a while, but I’ve been working on other reviews, and I’m not looking super deeply into every lyric. Like with most of my reviews, I think it’s a good idea to take my lyrical analyzations with a grain of salt, considering that I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics.

I’m not going as in-depth as I want to on this album, but I really just want to get this review posted, and get some of my thoughts on this album out, even if not in a super detailed way.

The opening track, “The Grants” doesn’t have the most interesting vocal melodies to me, and I’m not a huge fan of the airy production, but I like the lyrics about the afterlife, with Lana saying she’ll remember people close to her once she’s in heaven. It’s a nice way to open the album, even if I don’t really love the song.

I really like the strings on the next track (which is also the title track), and I like the vocal melodies in this one more than the vocal melodies in the previous track. This track seems to partially be about the magic of music, and the special part it plays in our lives. But this track, like the opener, has airy production that feels kind of distracting, and it does hold this song back for me.

Then, after the song “Sweet” (which I mostly like but I wish I liked the vocal melodies more) is the song, “A&W”, which might be one of my favourite Lana Del Rey songs to date. It’s a very complicated song which partially has to do with looking back to the past and noticing the changes in life. And it shows her falling into a cycle of debauchery, likely as an attempted escape from trauma, and it’s an incredibly dark song that really brings light to some huge issues—for example, the super problematic mindset that victims of abuse ‘asked for it.’ This song also features the great line, ‘Did you know a singer can still be looking like a sidepiece at thirty-three?’ There’s also a fantastic beat switch that leads into the second half of this track.

“Judah Smith Interlude” features some haunting piano with the recording of a sermon, and I’m not really sure what this track’s inclusion on the album is supposed to mean, but it’s very interesting and haunting.

“Candy Necklace” has a chorus that reminds me of early Lana Del Rey music, which isn’t a compliment coming from me, but the following “Jon Batiste Interlude”, similarly to “Judah Smith Interlude”, is very haunting and while I don’t really understand it fully, I think it’s a great track regardless.

The next song is “Kintsugi”, which has some really nice piano and great vocals, and there’s a lot of nostalgia in the lyrics, and it also shows Lana thinking about old songs that almost everyone still knows nowadays, and she’s afraid that her own music might not live on in the same way, and it’s the kind of honesty that I find really striking, and it adds a nice touch to the song.

Then we go into the second half of the track list, starting with “Fingertips”, which on the surface may seem like a boring, mellow song with meandering melodies, but I love how detailed the lyrics are, and the production is gorgeous, and I love a lot of the subtle details in the instrumentation like the quiet strings.

The sample of “I Wanted to Leave” by SYML sounds beautiful in “Paris, Texas”, which is probably my favourite song on the album. I love the lyrics about taking action when you feel you need a big change in your life, and the production and vocals are incredible!

Next is “Grandfather please stand on the shoulders of my father while he’s deep-sea fishing”—the song with the longest title on the album—and I like how Lana is showing self-love here while also acknowledging her flaws, and I like how the instrumental builds. That being said, the line, ‘regrettably also a white woman’ really holds this song back from being better … I mean, it’s supposed to be a self-love anthem, and while I think all she’s trying to say is she sometimes feels white guilt, it comes across like she’s saying it’s a bad thing that she’s white—again, this song is a self-love anthem.

“Let The Light In” has some kind of messy production in which some sounds feel overpowered in the mix, but the strings are a nice touch to the song, and Lana and Father John Misty have good vocal chemistry. And the following “Margaret” has some nice melodies, but I’m more impressed by “Fishtail”, which kind of has a trap beat, but for some reason it works if you ask me. And Lana’s vocals on this track sound incredible!

Unfortunately, I’m not really a fan of the last two tracks here. “Peppers” has some interesting ideas, and I like the usage of the Tommy Genesis “Angelina” sample, but a lot of the vocal melodies bore me, and there’s also that line about Lana’s boyfriend getting COVID and her kissing him anyway.

And the last track doesn’t really work for me, either, with the sample/interpolation of “Venice Bitch”, one of my least favourite songs from Norman Fucking Rockwell!, if not my least favourite. This track, called “Taco Truck x VB” is better in my opinion, and I really like the first half, but I still don’t want to listen to multiple minutes of “Venice Bitch”.

But still, I surprisingly ended up liking this album quite a bit! Again, I don’t love it, and there are some flaws that hold it back for me … but honestly, as strange as it feels for me to be saying this, I’m actually really looking forward to hearing Lana Del Rey’s next album whenever it comes out. Because while I’m not denying there’s emotion put into her early albums, I think the emotion really shines through on this album more, and helps elevate these songs, and I find the lyrics a lot less problematic.

As this album shows, clearly Lana’s been through a lot, and I hope she’s doing well, regardless of whether or not I like the album—which, by the way, I do. And for me, it’s a 7/10.

It’s nearly eighty minutes long, and there are some parts of the album I don’t like, but I still highly recommend you listen to it. There’s a good chance you’ve already listened to it, but if you haven’t, you might be really missing out. This is an incredibly emotional album with a lot of great song writing, vocals, and production, despite being inconsistent … and you might end up liking it even more than I do, who knows?

Thanks for reading this review, and my apologies for this review being a little less in-depth than it could have been, and for it being so late. I think I might make some changes to how I do my reviews going forward in 2024. I’ve been reviewing a lot of albums this year, and I don’t usually go super in-depth. But with these full-length reviews, I do usually like to go pretty in-depth, but I’m often not as good as I want to be at getting my feelings across with words. I mean, I’m getting there, and I’m sure I’ll get to a point where I can review albums more in-depth, but for now I’m just getting across some of my thoughts, and my overall feelings on the albums, without trying to analyze every single lyric super deeply, considering that I’m not very good with analyzing lyrics anyway, which is also something I’m slowly getting better at. And to get better at it, I have to analyze more lyrics, but I just don’t want to worry about understanding every single line … it’s not that I didn’t try to analyze the lyrics here, I just didn’t want to worry too much about making sure I caught every possible metaphor, and the meaning of every line, etc.

Anyway, I’ll be back with more reviews soon. Thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “A&W”, “Judah Smith Interlude”, “Jon Batiste Interlude”, “Fingertips”, “Paris, Texas”, “Fishtail”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Peppers”