Jump to content

PARADIXO

Members
  • Content Count

    7,271
  • Joined

  • Last visited


Reputation Activity

  1. DCooper liked a post in a topic by PARADIXO in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    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.
  2. MamaDelGhey liked a post in a topic by PARADIXO in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    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.
  3. shadesofblue liked a post in a topic by PARADIXO in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    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.
  4. GeminiLanaFan liked a post in a topic by PARADIXO in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    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.
  5. honeyslow liked a post in a topic by PARADIXO in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    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.
  6. bluechemtrails liked a post in a topic by PARADIXO in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    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.
  7. maysparkle liked a post in a topic by PARADIXO in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    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.
  8. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by honeymoon is alive in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    this was beautiful!!! @PARADIXO
    came here to say that anne hathaway was listening to fingertips while doing the photoshoot for her vanity fair magazine cover! she’s a true stan 
  9. honeymoon is alive liked a post in a topic by PARADIXO in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    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.
  10. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by honeyslow in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    Happy first birthday Ocean Blvd... I can very easily say this is my favourite album by Lana.
     
    It's funny but something genuinely shifted when I saw her sing the title track live 
     
     
  11. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by Fingertips in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    happy birthday to one of the best albums of all time no cap
     
     
  12. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by Britney Spears in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    Happy Birthday to our Queen!!! Ocean we love you so much!!! 
  13. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by Churchome Rep in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    Oh wow it's been a year? Her most impactful, heartfelt album <3 Singular in its ability to so gently explore the topics of family and life around it
    Thank you for writing The Grants, title track, and Fingertips because it's been guiding me through emotionally tough times.
  14. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by honey dew in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    Happy 1st Birthday to my favourite album by my favourite artist wow what a blessing to say that, to have been alive and have it coincide with my life in such a synergistic way. I could go on and on and on about it but Ocean Blvd has been the most satisfying and rewarding gift as a Lipster. After so many years of stanning we are blessed by this radically raw peak of songwriting, a naked exposition of her soul, the most gorgeous sound palette, randomness & humour, peppered with so many treats and some of her best songs ever. Every time with Ocean Blvd still feels like the first time  Oh Ocean Blvd......you amaze me
  15. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by blackenedrussianpoetry in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    “It’s a beautiful life… remember that too for me…” got to examine this woman’s 38 years of living and also the album that birthed the song… ocean blvd i love you
     
    Celebrating this baby’s first anniversary right on the day im confirmed as a Catholic..!
  16. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by shadesofblue in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    Happy bday to her best album <3 
    OB has it all & further solidifies her as one of the greatest songwriters 
  17. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by pin up galore in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    oh shittt its the year anniversary already? im gonna make a long post talking about my thoughts on each track later tomorrow after I sleep cause I love this record so much  truly top 3 moment for sure I think its her most satisfying listen as a long term fan 
  18. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by Daytona Beach Sparkler in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    Happy birthday to the phenomenal album that is Ocean BLVD 
  19. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by the greatest bitch in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    Very true.
     
    Also A&W was easily the best track released last year. 
  20. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by pin up galore in Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    I find it relieving how good this album is cause it allows me to comfortably admit that both COCC and Blue Banisters were both letdowns and I don’t really find myself going back to them, Blue Banisters less than Chemtrails, and still I deadass have bad associations with both eras cause of how Lana wanted to act during them  like Blue Banisters really does just reek of her being butthurt over her image and I think the themes that she wanted to discuss on COCC and Blue Banisters are done MUCH better on Ocean Blvd. I think mainly due to her not fucking herself over with imaginary deadlines she wanted to hold herself accountable to  But neway Ocean Blvd really was the next BIG lana album we got after NFR! and in many ways I consider this album the true successor to Norman and better than Norman YUP  I remember BOZ describing it along the lines of a diary of a woman who’s lost in life, and I feel like that really describes how the album reads especially with how many different sounds there are and how truthfully blunt she is with us for the first time about her personal life. I think as a longterm fan this album is the most satisfying listen because of how deep and forreal she gets mixed with her fun “im so crazy 🤪” moments. This album is definitely up in my top 3 Lana albums with Honeymoon and Ultraviolence like she’s just that girl.
    Track by track:
    The Grants:
    DYKTTATUOB:
    Sweet:
    A&W:
    Judah Smith Interlude:
    Candy Necklace (ft. Jon Batiste)
    Jon Batiste Interlude:
    Kintsugi/Fingertips:
    Paris, Texas:
    GPSOTSOMFWHDSF:
    Let The Light In (ft. Father John Misty)
    Margaret (ft. Bleachers)
    Fishtail
    Peppers (ft. Tommy Genesis)
    Taco Truck x VB:
    Whew that was a lot of writing and most of it is probably worded poorly but idc lmao 
  21. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by barttttender in Norman Fucking Rockwell - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    Her greatest album of all time no doubt. 
     
    I remember being on a plane to Tokyo and she had just about dropped Venice Bitch. I was on airplane wifi and came across an interview with her where she said the album will be called NORMAN F-ING ROCKWELL. I remember bursting out laughing at the brilliant title. Then I listened to Venice Bitch, and I just knew that it'll be her best album yet.
  22. PARADIXO liked a post in a topic by The Siren in Norman Fucking Rockwell - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    i wanna experience a lot of albums in holophonics tbh.
     
    Kesha - Gag Order (but also her whole discography)
    Gaga - ARTPOP
    MCR - May Death Never Stop You (i cant just pick one MCR album; so greatest hits it is)
    Lana - Honeymoon
    Too Close to Touch - For Keeps
    Taylor Swift - Speak Now (TV)
    Marina - Ancient Dreams...
    Demi - Dancing with the Devil
     
    and all of the Japanese SHM-CD releases i have (its only three right now lol)
    Evanescence - Synthesis
    Escape the Fate - Ungrateful
    Evanescence - Fallen (anniversary deluxe)
  23. Surf Noir liked a post in a topic by PARADIXO in Norman Fucking Rockwell - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    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.
  24. taco truck liked a post in a topic by PARADIXO in Norman Fucking Rockwell - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll   
    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.
×
×
  • Create New...