Lana’s ninth studio album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (shortening to Ocean Blvd for reading purposes), is set to release this Friday, March 28, 2023. I was fortunate enough to get a spot at Amoeba’s listening party today in Hollywood where I got to hear the album in its entirety alongside some of Lana’s most loyal listeners. Lana fans danced down the rain-slicked Hollywood Blvd., bows in our hair and smiles on our faces. Everyone gathered in, collected their commemorative poster & wristband, and patiently stood side by side throughout the aisles of Amoeba, waiting for the album to begin. It’s important to note that although Lana’s music tends to be very somber, I was getting memes Airdropped to me the entire time. Side A The first two songs, “The Grants” and title track, “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” played, and everyone smiled and nodded along to the familiar tunes. Then came the start of the third track, everyone went quiet and thoughtfully tilted their heads as the first notes of “Sweet” began. It’s a beautiful piano ballad that sounds a bit like “Norman F*cking Rockwell!” but a version that’s being played at an expensive piano bar, where you can picture Lana laying across the grand piano in a long, sparkly, black dress, asking you introspective questions like, “Where do we come from?” “Do you want children?” Next came “A&W”, an already released and well-known song that broke the tension for a moment, allowing listeners to giggle in relief and whisper along with the lyrics Side B The rain outside on Hollywood Blvd. picked up, and the first interlude of the album began - “Judah Smith Interlude.” The curious silence and fizzle of the rain made this interlude feel even more eerie, a great transition into the next track, “Candy Necklace.” If you’re an Ultraviolence lover, you’ll like this one. Its electric guitar accents and usage of a male vocal is reminiscent of “Brooklyn Baby” but it’s definitely completely something of its own. “Jon Batiste Interlude” functions as a bit of an outro to “Candy Necklace” with somber instrumentals juxtaposed with chaotic, happy exclamations, yells, and laughter that sound as if they’ve been pulled from a home video. “Kintsugi” is one of those Lana songs where you can’t decide if it’s extremely sad or extremely happy, because of the intricacy of the chord progressions and lyrics - much like “How to Disappear.” “Fingertips” is a beautiful, almost lamenting track with the iconic, Lana Del Rey, cinematic violin swells we all came to love during her Born to Die days. It was exciting to hear her revisit that sound on this album. Side C Side C starts with “Paris, Texas,” a song whose title intrigued me to the point where I had no clue what to expect. It turned out to be seriously lovely. The song is in 3/4 instead of 4/4 and has these sugar-plum-fairy-like violin plucks that are just so whimsical and completely unexpected. This song feels like the sun peeking out over tree tops on a dewy spring morning, although the lyrics are pretty sad. If you've ever been that person who travels to get away from feelings or relationships that no longer serve you - you'll resonate with this song in that while it works for the moment, you and your baggage follow yourself no matter where you go. I was also extremely interested to hear the next track solely because of the name - “Grandfather please stand on the shoulders of my father while he’s deep-sea fishing” and was pleasantly surprised by the fact that this song was a tapestry of all of Lana’s past eras and sounds woven together. The verses have beautiful piano riffs and Lana singing in her lower register, then the song builds into a rich chorus with electric guitars, organs, and Lana calling out to God in her signature whispery falsetto. “Let the Light In” wraps up Side C with a nostalgic acoustic song with bright, golden layers of Lana and Father John Misty’s voices harmonizing with violins providing accentuation. Side D “Margaret” ft. Bleachers reflects on Lana's realization of her worth over the course of her career, despite the ups and downs of how popular media has perceived her. It also has a subtle lyrical callback to "Paris, Texas" that you might miss on the first listen. This side of the album has an entirely different feel. “Fishtail” is also very different from the rest of the album as it has a heavily hip-hop inspired beat - one might even get the idea that Lizzie Grant played a hand on this side of the record. Lana's already electric voice lends autotuned backing vocals that weave their way through the chorus. I think these tracks will be fan favorites. Within the first few seconds of “Peppers” ft. Tommy Genesis, the person next to me smirked and said “Ooooohh okay….” which was totally different from the silent introspection we’d all been doing for the first bit of the album. I’m calling this song the hot girl version of “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but I have it.” It ends with a cutesy doo-wop beat and synths very similar to “F*ck It, I Love You” which made us all giddy with nostalgia. Lana really knows how to utilize callbacks to her previous repertoire in a way that tugs the heartstrings just enough to transport you back to that time in your life. The last track, titled “Taco Truck x VB” was honestly just plain iconic, I’ll say it. (*spoiler alert if you want to be surprised skip to the next paragraph*) “Taco Truck” is a bluesy song with lots of bass and kicks, much more than expected in my opinion. Then, the piece de resistance - that aforementioned beat transitions into a slightly remixed version of Norman F*cking Rockwell’s “Venice Bitch,” something that somehow none of us expected even given the “VB” in the title; it was yet another one of those callbacks we love to hear from Lana. Everyone in Amoeba was singing and dancing to a surprise song we all knew and loved from years before, and it was such a clever way to end the album. Lyrically, this album seems to be a state of reflection on Lana’s past versions of herself, her family, and who she and those around her might have been. I can’t wait to listen to it again in its entirety so I can further analyze the lyrics, as Lana is truly one of the most genius lyricists of our time. As most of Lana’s albums tend to do, Ocean Blvd made me so ready for summertime. Beat it, LA rain. Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd debuts this Friday! Presave here.
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