Lana Del Rey - Did you know there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd REVIEW

9.3/10

Lana Del Rey, an American singer-songwriter best known for her dreamy and theatrical production style, and lyrical themes of romance, luxury, and pop culture, has come out with her eighth full-length project, shortly following her double LP release of 'Blue Banisters' and 'Chemtrails Over The Country Club' in 2021. In 'Did you know there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd', Lana explores themes of loss, grief, romance, self-reflection, and nostalgia over emotionally grand ballads and arrangements.

This is one of Lana's most outgoing projects production-wise, as teased in the three singles "A&W", "The Grants", and the title track, "Did you know there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd". Most notably, "A&W" starts off with a classic minimal and ambient Lana Del Rey sound, with lovesick lyrics discussing how she is not truly loved but instead being taken advantage of in her relationship. The track cleanly switches into this beat with heavy 808s and poppy drums. On top of this, Lana unexpectedly comes through with a rap verse and executes it well, offering up a smooth and catchy flow, talking about how her partner is leading her into drug use. The title track contains similar surprising production, with densely layered synths, and a beautifully mysterious-sounding melody from Lana. It's also lyrically intriguing, with Lana connecting the tunnel under Ocean Boulevard, a tunnel in California that used to be a popular destination but has since become unknown, to her current relevancy and fall from the public eye, asking “When’s it gonna be my turn?”. "The Grants", the last single to release before the album release, opens up the album, with its raw vocal harmonies performed by R&B singers Melodye Perry and Pattie Howard in the intro, opening up into Lana's verse accompanied by layers of strings lead by a graceful chord progression. It's a mellow track but is kept entertaining by the different layers of vocals and excellent instrumental progression, most notably in the outro when it fully opens and comes to life.

"Sweet" is a great follow-up to the intro, whose amazing strings combined with the slow piano make for a hypnotic listen with Lana drawing you in even more with her satisfying melody; she goes where you expect her to with the melody. In this track Lana seems to be bragging a bit, talking about how she's different from others and doesn't want to follow the traditions of marriage and children, instead wanting to explore the world as she mentions her love for hiking and traveling. Unfortunately, "Judah Smith Interlude", a four-minute interlude consisting of emotional preaching about how people fall out of love performed by controversial celebrity sermon Judah Smith, slightly ruins the blissful four-track run the album was on. Although it's a captivating and intense interlude with a stunning piano that calmly lingers below all of the chaos, it's surprising Lana would confidently include such a controversial figure in her project, even though we know that she's openly religious. Knowing what Judah has been criticized for in the past, however, makes this a cringe-worthy and unserious listen.

Thankfully, "Candy Necklace" puts Judah Smith's interlude in the dust, with its subtle yet shiny strings that hover behind the piano, and vocals from Grammy-winning R&B singer Jon Batiste, whose voice meshes perfectly with Lana's in the outro. I love the short but sweet piano solo that pops in mid-song, adding a beautiful sprinkle of emotion. It's such a calming and perfectly simple ballad, but Lana knows how to make tracks like this not boring somehow. Jon Batiste keeps the spotlight on him into the next track, "Jon Batiste Interlude", with the piano shining throughout the entirety, seeming to have a mind of its own, making the three-minute listen feel somewhat shorter. It's not as captivating as the previous interlude, but it's more beautiful and uplifting, with some vocals and joyful spoken word from Jon.

The songwriting on this album is some of Lana's best work, especially shown in "Kintsugi" and "Fingertips". On "Kintsugi", Lana talks about being burnt out and dealing with responses from critics saying that her previous album is "just another folk album", but continuing to move on and not care, connecting this to kintsugi, which is a Japanese art form where you put broken pottery pieces together using gold. The production in this track is also superb with its combination of piano and subtle raw-sounding acoustic guitar, matched by Lana's haunting melody. "Fingertips" is one of the most lyrically gutting tracks on the project, with Lana touching on a platter of sensitive subjects such as her uncle's suicide, separation from parents, drug addiction, losing her boyfriend at sixteen to a car accident, and almost drowning, all above elegant strings and piano that's uniquely mixed to fill up the track. It's touching and it's vulnerable, with Lana doing a good job of painting a picture of her life in your head.

Although the album is vocally subtle all-around, Lana shows her vocal range on "Paris, Texas", complemented by a dark piano melody and soothing strings. Lana elaborates on being separated from her parents as introduced in the previous track, talking about how she was sent to Spain for boarding school with just a notebook in her hand. "Grandfather please stand on the shoulders of my father while he's deep sea fishing" was the first track on the album that didn't seem to click with me right away, and although it starts off a bit bland, it really begins to come alive in the middle of the track with a dense arrangement. Lana again mentions critics, talking about how she's struggled with showing authenticity.

The second half of the album contains some of the strongest tracks on the project, starting with "Let The Light In", a change in pace from the previous tracks with a faster-paced groovy beat. Father John Misty and Lana vocally combine well, and I love all those synths and strings that float in the background. "Margaret" contains incredible vocal production on this track--it just sounds so full and girthy. The melody is nostalgic and reminiscent sounding, and the combination of strings, horns, guitar, and piano makes for a beautiful and ethereal listen. Bleachers, better known as Jack Antonoff, award-winning producer and songwriter, offers up solid vocals and a great verse. "Fishtail" is a stand-out track in terms of production, and may even be considered "experimental" in terms of Lana's sound. The drums are great and it contains lots of different industrial-esque sounds and dark synths. Lana also comes through with a catchy flow in the chorus. "Peppers" sadly seems like a filler track, with Lana mentioning in the track itself that she's going for a "dance type of song", but it doesn't seem to go anywhere instrumentally, and is a little too mellow for me to qualify as a "dance song". However, the closing track, "Taco Truck x VB" picks the energy right back up, with simple yet satisfying drums, and a surprisingly grimy bass that comes in. The breakdown into the second half of the track is done so well, going into a festival of synths and hard-hitting bass. It's one of the most outgoing tracks production-wise.

After a whopping seven studio albums and a presence in the music industry since the 2000s, Lana Del Rey continues to show her consistency and evolution. I loved how she went for some different production styles on this project and at the same time still kept that iconic dreamy sound she's known for. Undoubtedly, this is one of Lana's best pieces of work recently, and I'd love to see her go even more outside of her comfort zone in the next album.

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