PARADIXO

Call me crazy but I’m triggered with the blonde pic

Ocean Blvd Turns 1: A Classic in the Making Lana Del Rey released her ninth studio album Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd one year ago, on March 24, 2023. Opening with “The Grants”, a bluesy gospel track, Lana sets the tone for the project: heavy on piano, spiritual, deeply emotive, connected to nature and the more human side of things, and also constantly metaphysical – it’s a classic conversation on life and death, less mythical than her previous style and more intimate or confessional. She worries about her own mortality and the legacy she’ll leave behind, be it a family or a prolific music career. She sings about her own personal life, yet effectively connects with the audience through universal emotions or situations, such as dealing with the loss of a relative or loved one. The title track explores loneliness and insecurity, comparing herself with a Beaux Arts tunnel in Long Beach that was once popular among locals and tourists in the 30s and 40s and then sealed and forgotten a few decades later. The orchestral soft rock number is inspired by Harry Nilsson’s “Don’t Forget Me” and even states that she “[wishes] to have a friend like [Nilsson]”, in what’s arguably the song’s most heartbreaking moment, where Lana and the choir, powered by increasingly intense guitars and strings, sing like it’s the end of the world – “Don’t forget me / Like the tunnel under Ocean Boulevard.” Things soften up a bit with “Sweet”, a simpler piano track featuring the most romantic moment on the entire album; she’s “in the woods somewhere” with her lover, or alone thinking of him, wondering – These three songs mark the start of the tunnel; before entering, one might be frightened, unsure about what could be waiting in the dark. “A&W”, the fourth track, brings in some of that darkness. Discussing womanhood in ways Lana has never explored before, the 7-minute piece deals with innocence, her mother, physical integrity, casual sex, giving up on monogamy and the ideal of love, toxic relationships, drug use and even sexual assault; “This is the experience of being an American whore,” she sums up. To make things even more disturbing, the first half of the song is an eerie psychedelic folk composition featuring a chromatic mediant progression (an unusual harmony system often used in jazz and old film scores) played on a cold piano and a thick, raw-sounding 12-string acoustic guitar. It’s straight out of a psychological horror film where Radiohead and Nirvana are part of the tracklist. The song gets deeper and darker until it collapses and deconstructs itself -- “If I told you that I was raped / Do you really think that anybody would think I didn’t ask for it? / I didn’t ask for it / I won’t testify / Already fucked up my story,” she confronts before multiple layers of synthesizers, sound effects, kicks, snares and sub-bass clash with each other, transforming the track in a hard-hitting East Coast hip hop anthem – “I already lost my mind,” she sings, playful yet unnerving. The darkness of the tunnel is translated into complex compositional choices; the already experimental “A&W” is followed by a 4-minute psychedelic piece where a suspenseful electric guitar accompanies a sermon by Hollywood pastor Judah Smith and some laughter and chattering by Lana. The unexpected track, simply titled “Judah Smith Interlude”, delves further into marriage, monogamy, morality, love and lust. “Candy Necklace”, featuring piano and vocals by Jon Batiste, is a somber, cacophonous ballad where Lana, through abstract lyricism, discusses the tragic side of fame and getting into the entertainment industry. In its 10-minute, metatextual short film, she embodies Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Short and Veronica Lake, women who “changed their name, changed their hair” and “fell into these different snakeholes,” as she explains in the video. As we discussed earlier, much of Ocean Blvd is about legacy and death, and Lana decides to honor women who were tricked into the industry and later oppressed and censored by men. “Candy Necklace” also connects with “Patent Leather Do-Over”, a poem Lana shared in 2020. The song is followed by “Jon Batiste Interlude”, an acid jazz/space rock improvisation between Lana and Batiste, reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig In the Sky”. The topic of death reaches a highly sensitive spot with “Kintsugi” and “Fingertips”, arguably Lana’s most intimate revelations to date. In the former, which sounds like it was recorded in one take, Lana discusses the loss of her uncle, grandfather and grandmother, her struggle with facing death and funerals and how she found comfort in the rest of her family. “Fingertips”, in the other hand, is the ultimate fear of death song. It features whispery vocals, strings and organ and was written in “automatic singing” style, resulting in a loose composition where the focus is on words rather than structure or melody. She declares her “Father, Sister, Brother” as a Holy Trinity, she’s interested in the development of DNA repair to attain immortality and sadly embraces the idea of not having children. She mentions her dependency for “the cocktail of things that twist neurons inside,” a suicide attempt and the death of her first boyfriend back in Lake Placid. She also reveals more details on her uncle’s passing (“Hung himself real high / In the National Park sky”) and how she found out only hours before a concert; also, how bad is her relationship with her mother, to the point of even censoring the word – “Paris, Texas” continues the story of how she was sent away by her mother due to alcoholism. It’s a cinematic, ethereal ballad about intuition, protecting yourself and finding your own safe place which, in Lana’s case, was “Venice, California,” as she whispers in the outro. “Grandfather please stand on the shoulders of my father while he’s deep sea fishing” is an intense, nautical-themed post-rock song, an ode to her father and his late father and how they provide her strength and direction when it comes to her career and her place in the public eye. Love is back with “Let the Light In”, arguably the album’s biggest hit. A country rock collaboration with Father John Misty, the singer asks her lover to quit secrecy and settle down with her. “Margaret” is a waltzy dream pop number, dedicated to her friends Jack Antonoff (who sings on the track) and Margaret Qualley, who got married last year. The song, romantic as it gets, briefly narrates how the couple met and discusses the idea of love at first sight, capsuled in a lovely and catchy “When you know, you know.” The song finds Lana in a very positive light, celebrating her friends’ story and wishing for a similar experience – “And if you don’t know / Maybe tomorrow you’ll know,” she harmonizes, a message to the listener but also most likely for herself, as we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The final section of the album, often described by fans and critics as the credits at the end of a movie, finds Lana in a humorous, sensual and laid back attitude. The music takes an unexpected turn, a mixture of humid trap beats and surf rock instrumentation. “Fishtail” exposes a neglectful lover, while “Peppers” is a wild ode to love during the pandemic. Lana gets a bit more confrontational on closing track “Taco Truck x VB”. She raises a middle finger to the critics, while sampling “Venice Bitch” from 2019’s Norman Fucking Rockwell!, the album that changed the critics’ perspective on her and turned her into one of the most acclaimed artists of our time. Lana reminds us that no matter what people say, she’ll do whatever she wants, always keeping in mind who was there for her and who tried to bring her down. Overall, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd is a dense and complex piece of music where the audience gets to experience an intimate, raw take on death, family bonds, emotions and music. It’s her most artistic and theatrical effort, where Lana and her musicians perfectly balanced light, spiritual and ethereal moments with more tense, somber and dramatic compositions. She reaches and undeniable level of songwriting, gaining new respect as one of the most interesting, unique and prolific songwriters of the century – if that’s the legacy she was aiming to cement, she definitely made it. --- THANK YOU Ocean Blvd, my favorite Lana album and one of my favorite albums OF ALL TIME.

I had the opportunity to listen to this album on holophonic speakers, in total darkness, full volume, and I couldn't believe it. This is such a rock album. Every instrument had enough space to breathe and her voice was piercing; it was like experiencing a live show with no crowd; you could hear the smallest details and the sound quality was vivid. Venice Bitch was insane. The amount of people sobbing during Cinnamon Girl was crazy. Happiness - Hope was intense. However what moved me the most was her voice; I was hooked. I'm so glad I was able to experience her voice like this. I got tickets for Ocean Blvd on April 19. I'm so so excited.

I just know the lead single will be epic and I’m sure she’ll follow the same strategy as Mariners/Venice and Ocean/A&W, i.e., a classic sound and then a crazy ass song… just because it worked incredibly well twice already

Love you Jack

exactly. I would be extremely disappointed if the cover it’s just her on a horse in plain daylight

I'm going to this tonight Norman Fucking Rockwell it is

She's a star

she said in 2014-15 that she doesn’t like deluxe versions i hope it’s pistachio flavored too

😔

How come nobody mentioned this? This is great

I feel like this album will be really successful

I genuinely want to ask, without getting attacked by stans who hate anything post-Norman, why do people on this forum hate Margaret? From the beginning it was one of my top favorite Ocean Blvd songs, and then I learned it was ranked as one of the worst by most people. Lana sounds lovely, the lyrics are really good (and serve as the yang to Paris Texas' yin), it's a great post-rock / dream pop song. It sounds waltzy without even being 3/4. And it's one of the only happily romantic Lana songs. And I know this is actually unpopular, but I absolutely love Jack's verse. Also the chemistry between them is amazing.

this is so so musically relevant

I can't believe people used to trash her for lyrics like these... mastermind.

Yes, honestly releasing UV and not repeating the formula that changed her life (BTD sound and aesthetic) was such a powerful move. Everything she does is ahead of its time.

Ultraviolence is such a genius rock album. The way it stood the test of time is proof of it. If you listen to other popular rock albums from 2013-14, most of them sound straight out of that time; Ultraviolence still sounds fresh and intriguing and still has as much fire as it did one decade ago. Pretty When You Cry is even better than West Coast btw.

I like Breaking Up Slowly

Some are here for country rap, some are here for country rock, some are here for orchestral country while others are here for Hey Blue Baby -- but I'm here for dark post-country psych-folk with lots of banjo and drums

I personally do not want this because then she'll be doing that medley for the next two tours

Definitely all her nautical references

The GLOBAL DOMINATION

They hate money

are you going?