By Mia Zajac
This week we’re talking about Lana Del Rey and her newest album Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. This won’t be a very long post as I’m just going to highlight my favorite songs from the album and my thoughts on it as a whole.
Some background on Lana Del Rey before we get into this review. Her real name is Elizabeth Woolridge Grant and she’s a New York, New York local. She’s a producer, songwriter, and singer. Her most popular song is ‘Summertime Sadness’ which was released in 2012 from her album Born to Die. She has released nine albums and thirty-eight singles, safe to say she has been doing this for a LONG time. I’ve just recently begun to get into Lana, which like finally, at this point getting into the game this late is a little embarrassing. To preface this review I do like her older music more than her newer music so let's keep this in mind.
This album has sixteen songs and is an hour and seventeen minutes long. This isn’t that long for an album of this caliber but, most of the songs are four minutes and up. I’m going to be so honest I do not have the patience for that. So going in I was very nervous listening to the first few songs. I understand it’s a part of her brand being cinematic and known for music like that but it may or may not be my thing. This might explain why I never got into Lana.
She opened with ‘The Grants’ and I LOVE that song. It’s one of my top songs off of the album. I think it’s just beautiful. She incorporated a choir into it and that caught me. Near the end of the song, the way I can describe it is it feels like sunshine. It’s just gorgeous. That song's opening had my hopes up but sadly, I was let down until almost halfway through the album to the single A&W. Almost every single song on this album blurred together for me. It had the same piano and beat that made it a chore to listen to. I can appreciate an artist trying to stick to a theme for an album but when you get to the point of so many songs sounding the same it personally lets me down a little bit as a listener. Also, Lana going MIA music-wise recently made fans so excited for this album and it’s sad to see that some of them have been let down.
As I just mentioned before the next song that stood out to me was A&W. This was her featured single off of the album and I love it. It’s a nice change from the past three songs as there’s an acoustic guitar paired with the piano. It’s very pretty sounding, in the chorus she harmonizes with herself and it sounds beautiful. I love when she does things like this because she has a very specific voice that casual Lana listeners don’t get to hear as much. It’s a good choice of a single for this album because it is a solid song. A little bit past halfway through the song we get a more edgy part of the album. The song is 6 minutes long so having this transition is interesting. It’s like a synth music transition being merged with her vocals from the beginning in the background into the chorus of this half. It’s super different from what she’s established the first part of the album as. I don’t know how to explain it but I like it. You’ll just have to listen to it.
Then, the only other song that stood out to me was Paris, Texas. This is a really pretty song and reminds me of the sound of music for some reason. Maybe it’s just because she’s speaking about traveling and there is a music box kinda vibe in the background. It also contributed to a ballet kind of feel that I’ve been getting throughout.
I am a little sad about this album as I really wanted to love it but, it’s just not working for me right now. I’m sad that I couldn’t have loved it as much as I wanted to considering I’ve been getting more into Lana lately and was hyped to be a fan for an album release.
If you want to start and get into Lana I would recommend this album as a later listen and for you to listen to Norman Fucking Rockwell, Born to Die, and Ultraviolence first. My top five Lana songs are; ‘Carmen’, ‘A&W’, ‘Everyman Gets His Wish’, ‘The Grants', and ‘Brooklyn Baby.
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