A Detailed Look: Lana Del Rey’s ‘Ocean Blvd’ is a Moody and Intimate Epic

“Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” by Lana Del Rey (Interscope Records)

Lana Del Rey is an amazing and mysterious singer – since the release of her super-popular album, “Born to Die”, people have said she’s one of the best songwriters ever. Her music talks about something special in our past that was kind of dangerous but very romantic. It’s full of love and mystery at the same time!

The singer-songwriter is embarking on their latest project called “Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd”. This time, instead of fantasizing about things that are out of reach – they will be exploring the realities of life and the hardships it brings. Instead of escaping into a pretend world – they’ll take on this adventure in the real world!

The sixteen-song album is all about themes of spirituality, with some connections to religion too – it includes vocals from a gospel group called ‘The Grants’, and a special interlude with Pastor Judah Smith who’s a part of mega celebrity church, Churchome. It also has Grammy winning superstar Jon Batiste playing on two songs – “Candy Necklace” and the “Jon Batiste Interlude”. Besides that, producer-musician Jack Antonoff (playing under his nickname Bleachers) and Father John Misty are also featured in one song named “Let The Light In”.

Del Rey sings sadly about how fast time passes in her title song “Don’t forget me/Like the tunnel under Ocean Boulevard.” In another one of her songs called “A&W,” which was written and produced by Antonoff, she talks about the struggles free women face. She looks at how even though they are allowed to express their freedom, some people still don’t like it.

In “Fingertips,” Del Rey sings a dreamy, string-heavy song about her family and her thoughts on life and death. She thinks about whether she will live to reach 10 years old, if she can beat the things that shorten our lives, and if her family will still be there with her when this happens.

“Paris, Texas” by SYML is like a peaceful song. Lana Del Rey sings calmly about longing and looking for her perfect home. She croons “When you find it, you’ll know – (Venice, California).”

Del Rey wrote a song that is like a fairytale. She sings about how people think that somebody else made her beautiful when in fact, they are wrong. In the lyrics she says, “Grandfather please stand on the shoulders of my father while he’s deep-sea fishing.”

“Margaret”, featuring Bleachers, is a big love song composed by Jack Antonoff for his girlfriend Margaret Qualley. The song begins slow and calm but quickly builds up with bells and trumpets in the ending!

The one-hour album ends with a song called “Taco Truck x VB”. This is a dark tune which then turns into a trap version of “Venice B(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)”, which is from Lana Del Rey’s popular album called “Norman F(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(sterrisk) Rockwell”. She is showing us that she does not need to prove anything in her newest album by using her own work as samples. All of this means that Lana Del Rey has never been more sure and true to herself than on “…Ocean Blvd.”.

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