If the simple title Blue Banisters had you worried last time, don’t be: Lana Del Rey is still in her wordy era. And after 2020’s Violet Bent Backward Over the Grass and 2021’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club, her new one takes the cake. Del Rey’s next album is called Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. On Friday, she dropped the track list on her private Instagram and announced that the 16-track album’s release has been pushed two weeks from March 10 to March 24. She also shared a preview of the album art, but it was removed for violating nudity guidelines. Del Rey previously released the title track as a lead single on December 7, one of her most orchestral, lush songs in recent memory. “When’s it gonna be my turn?†she wails in the chorus between references to the Eagles’ “Hotel California†and Harry Nilsson’s “Don’t Forget Me.†(So she really has been listening to a lot of Nilsson.) The song returns to her partnership with Jack Antonoff, who was absent from Blue Banisters, with additional production from key Banisters collaborators Drew Erickson and Zach Dawes. And on the topic of partnerships, Del Rey co-wrote “Ocean Blvd†with Mike Hermosa, a director and her rumored ex-boyfriend.
Antonoff, Erickson, Dawes, and Hermosa, along with Benji, are part of the album’s core creative team with Del Rey, per album covers. But Ocean Blvd looks to be a more collaborative album than Del Rey’s past few, with features from Antonoff’s band Bleachers, past collaborator Father John Misty, Grammy darling Jon Batiste, rapper Tommy Genesis, singer-songwriter SYML, and even her pastor, Judah Smith. (She’s still in her church-girl era, too.) News of Ocean Blvd caps off an otherwise quiet year from Del Rey — literally, considering how few words she sang on one of her only releases, Taylor Swift’s “snow on the beach.†She previously released two albums, Chemtrails and Banisters, in 2021 and fought a war with the culture in the years before. See the full track list, including an especially intriuging Track 11, below:
1. The Grants
2. Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
3. Sweet
4. AW
5. Judah Smith Interlude
6. Candy Necklace
7. Jon Batiste Interlude
8. Kintsugi
9. Fingertips
10. Paris, Texas
11. Grandfather Please Stand on The Shoulders of My Father While He’s Deep-Sea Fishing
12. Let the Light In (ft. Father John Misty)
13. Margaret (ft. Bleachers)
14. Fishtail
15. Peppers (ft. Tommy Genesis)
16. Taco Truck x VB
This post has been updated throughout.