Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[Eugene 26,669]

10 minutes ago, Weirdkowski said:

It’s funny how different everyone’s opinion on this album is. I literally thought that she should have excluded peppers and fishtail cuz they feel like filler songs that she wrote in 5 minutes while other songs especially kintsugi, fingertips and grandfather are her magnum opus (even tho I hate piano ballads most of the time), these songs are comparable to bjork’s “ancestress” or cohen’s or other singer-songwriter-ish geniuses works imo

I think the same. Those songs don't add anything to the album. I feel she should have included them as a bonus track on a special edition.

[ColdCashDivine 118]

Oh my …. held off on listening to the album until this morning so I can take it all in during my 20mile run. I got to fingertips and started BALLING. I absolutely love this song. It’s Elizabeth singing and opening up to us … it’s so raw and provides so much context to her “persona” that people have questioned over the years. I kept thinking of *this is what makes us girls* and other songs on BTD that critics tore apart. I believe that album was a mix of  songs based on personal hyperbolic anecdotes and escapism for a young girl who felt abandoned by the one person who should always be there. By learning more about Elizabeth we get to crack into the lure (and lore) of Lana. This is a beautiful album 

[Venice Jesus Whore 4,471]

Lana is one of the few artists that can release an album that’s an hour and 18 minutes long, and it still doesn’t feel long to me. 

[Rachel97 1,525]

Listening to the album again, I still love FIngertips but it feels like I shouldn't be listening to it

[Terrence Loves Me 72,696]

let the light in is definitely my least fav, just as i thought. also it sounds nothing like religion, it's too beatle-esque for my liking, hard skip 

[Manson 1,142]

My current thoughts...

 

Sweet - filler, melody is all over the place, don't like it
Candy - eerie, very BB-style, something's missing though, feels like it's building up to something, but it's not
Batiste Interlude - could've just been attached to candy? idg why it really needed to be its own track, nothing special (compared to what she used to do with "Burnt Norton")
Kintsugi - first: sounds like a piano demo for UV with the way the vocals were edited, we've heard this kind of vocals and melody runs since NFR, kinda meh at first, but: starts hitting after ca 3min, like the first half is a warm up for the actual song, second part of the song really, really amazing
Fingertips - cinematic, first melody on the album that feels new and fresh, very BTD era storytelling (could be the same "character" of National Anthem if you know what I mean), grainy noise from the mic very UV, 3:48 what's that?? Vocals fading out, almost like skip??

Paris - piano opening really lovely, she should let instrumentals speak more like this and be more melodic, got "Venice *****" vibes kinda, very Lizzy grown up, kinda cements the strong middle of album
Grandfather - melody ok-ish, storytelling on the stronger side, very NFR, similar to Fingertips and Paris but not as strong
Light - May Jailer goes big production, too much like "Tomorrow Never Came" tbh, the usual folk duet, lyrics really meh
Margaret - dreamy 60s folk country pop megastar ballad, "Beautiful People" vibes but much better, chorus one of the strongest (mixing and production wise), solo vocals around 3min stunning!! "waltz this out" finale amazing, beautiful 
Fishtail - thank god for the beat coming in, beginning of the track pretty whatever, feel like we had this kinda sound with "Summer Bummer" already and can't reach "High By The Beach" levels that feels like it went in a similar direction
Peppers - talk-singing much needed style on the album, vibey and catchy, something actual new, wish we got more of this style
Taco - very BTD, also much needed beat though it's more uninspired than "Peppers", "Venice *****" sample kinda weird to me (especially because VB is the much better song which just makes it more present)

 

So far, "The Grants", "Margaret" and "Peppers" would be my top 3 I think (and "Kintsugi" minus the first 2 min). None of the tracks on the album would enter my fav Lana songs for now tbh.

[CinnamonGay 10,527]

@Xenoblade 2 that's because norman was promoted om her IG with 18M followers. 

 

 

[Get Drunk 17,971]

Got the VB part of Taco Truck on repeat atm.. truly a classic song and I’m glad we got this little mix of it. 

[Get Drunk 17,971]

21 minutes ago, Xenoblade 2 said:

She’s not touching 100K with those numbers. NFR (song) did 2.1 million in 2019 on release day when Spotify had 50% less users. Spotify users have more than doubled and Lana has been gaining tons of streams recently. The highest track on the album in 2023 did less than 2 million. That’s a huge bomb. Keep in mind, NFR singles didn’t chart and did very poorly. But when the album came out, we saw big jump in numbers.

 

I was expecting 3 million plus for the best performing songs. All of the singles charted and did very well before the album, I was expecting a big jump like her previous releases. A&W did 2.5 million. Release day should be over 3 million for that song alone. Something is seriously not right. Even COCC and BB had increases when the release day came.

If those NFR stats are true, I’m kind of surprised as well. I thought this album would absolutely bang. Especially since CN had second placement on New Music Friday. 
 

BUT it is an album full of longer songs, and it has been leaked for like two weeks (idc what anyone says, that DOES impact streams). So not totally sure what’s going on. 

[CinnamonGay 10,527]

Streams will go up on Monday I think.  

 

Don't forget Miley with 80M spotify listeners, with shit ton of promo, Disney+ stuff and MVs only debuted with 27M first day.

 

I think it's a huge achievement for Lana to get 18M debit with as little promo.

[The Missing Shade of Blue 2,400]

9 minutes ago, Rachel97 said:

Listening to the album again, I still love Fingertips but it feels like I shouldn't be listening to it

Same, it feels really intrusive. But it's so gorgeous omg

[cherrytropico 11,076]

currently listening to the best song on the album  can you guess 

[Delete NOW 2,326]

16 hours ago, Get Drunk said:

If those NFR stats are true, I’m kind of surprised as well. I thought this album would absolutely bang. Especially since CN had second placement on New Music Friday. 
 

BUT it is an album full of longer songs, and it has been leaked for like two weeks (idc what anyone says, that DOES impact streams). So not totally sure what’s going on. 

 

16 hours ago, CinnamonGay said:

@Xenoblade 2 that's because norman was promoted om her IG with 18M followers. 

Ok but the pre-release singles all flopped. Doin Time (the hit) was averaging 500k per day same as A&W. I mean I’m kinda repeating myself here, but COCC and BB weren’t promoted either. COCC and BB singles all rose to their respective debuts or higher on release day that usually happens with an album release. In case of Norman, on release day the songs did better than they were first out. No songs cleared more than a million before the album came out (didn’t chart on the global chart either) but title track did 2.1 million debut at #21 in the US on release day. Multiple album tracks charted. Mind you, this was in 2019. She would have cleared 30 million now.

 

A&W can’t even match its 2.5 million debut. I don’t know something is just not right. No songs above 2 million when Ocean debuted higher.

[revadece 1,435]

people often criticise drew’s production, but on this album, personally i think his work is better than jack’s in some cases:

 

like if you compare fingertips and kintsugi: both songs with lana’s innermost thoughts and untypical song structures, one produced by drew and one by jack, i think drew did it better. kintsugi has some nice production elements like the whistle, but to me it sounds a bit dull, whereas fingertips has this beautiful orchestral arrangement throughout the whole song. i like both songs, but for me fingertips was love from the first listen, and i had to take some time to warm up to kintsugi

 

with ‘love songs’ (and also least liked songs) of the album: sweet and margaret, i prefer sweet more than margaret (which possibly is unpopular opinion?). i just really dislike production on margaret, especially that “if you know, you know” part, it reminds me of taylor swift music  and sweet, whereas is not the strongest song of the album, it has a very pleasant and cinematic feel, which feels more ‘lana del rey’ to me, and suits her better than jack’s production (at least on margaret)

 

and songs with, i guess more conventional song structure: grandfather and let the light in; i prefer let the light in much more than grandfather. because although grandfather has some parts that i like, the production reminds me of taylor swift music again.. and let the light in is honestly one of the best songs lana has released recently, it feels so fresh, and has the same fun and warm feeling that unidentified flying bill has

 

however, i’m not hating on jack’s production overall, like it’s shit. a&w is very innovative, i like production on interludes, and even with the songs i like less, i don’t think they’re genuinely terrible. i just wanted to show this contrast to show why i prefer drew’s production in some cases

[CinnamonGay 10,527]

Just now, cherrytropico said:

currently listening to the best song on the album  can you guess 

Candy

[Eugene 26,669]

1 minute ago, cherrytropico said:

currently listening to the best song on the album  can you guess 

Candy Necklace 

[Thats why they call me Dita 9,765]

So was listening to the record in the car and Judah smith interlude came on.. my 3 year old shouted.. that’s captain America! Shouting on the song!

 

he’s fully tapped in to lanas mind 

[Three White Butterflies 27,477]

Me and my bff drove around last night and listened to the album (and got stoned), she respects Lana but isn’t a regular listener. She said that Lana put her whole pussy into this album 

 

I fall more and more in love with this album each listen. It brings back so many memories and makes me feel nostalgic. It’s truly magical. 

[cherrytropico 11,076]

4 minutes ago, CinnamonGay said:

Candy

 

3 minutes ago, margaret soty said:

Candy Necklace 

ding ding ding 

(but also paris texas is a close second)

[Venice Jesus Whore 4,471]

Let the Light In is the Tomorrow Never Came of this album.