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

[Embach 21,103]

Time really fucking flies!  Happy 1st Anniversary to dear and THE amazing album Did You know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd!!!!! One of the greats for sure, a very complex, huge and mountain moving album!

[Disx 13]

happy birthday to ocean blvd i have such specific memories of listening to the singles for the first time n being so excited for it... top 3 lana for me. so gorgeous all the way thru specially the grants/grandfather/a&w <333

 

now wouldn't it be nice if a certain outtake that starts with z leaked on the anniversary

[love divine 4,145]

i remember this day so vividly. listening to kintsugi and fingertips back to back for the first time was truly an experience. happy birthday ocean blvd 

[spinmeround 1,175]

i remember where i was when i first listened to it  happy birthday to one of lana's best albums

[rosemeadexclusivebbnewyorkcity 2,753]

And to think, not too long ago, none of us knew that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. 

[marcodelrey 1,434]

Happy Judah Smith Interlude day everybody 

[barttttender 3,055]

Just now, marcodelrey said:

Happy Judah Smith Interlude day everybody 

 

[Rust Dress 37,586]

ugh happy birthday OB! All the tracks are still fresh and haven't aged a bit... (paris, texas is still my least fav but im lying because that's song is great). 

[Without You 1,035]

happy bday to my 3rd fav album

i enjoyed every track  i thought i wasn’t gonna like ltli but once i heard that first “ooh” i exploded 

[caughtuboy 426]

Just gave tunnel another listen on a sunny afternoon in my room with a glass of wine and incense burning  Truly such a magical album, her vocals and lyricism on this one are as beautiful as ever. Perfect delivery, gorgeous visuals/vinyl variants and the whole record was cohesive while covering her different sounds. Will always love this one to death

[pin up galore 17,841]

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:

Spoiler

I remember this being probably my least fav single b4 release but within context of the album this song just HITS different, and definitely grew on me since release I can’t recall another Lana song that has moved me to tears recently besides A&W. The idea of your memories being the only thing our souls take with us after we pass is really powerful and instantly puts me in a mood. And it seems like the “do you think about Heaven? Do you think about me?” Starts to open up the theme of her wanting a man thats gonna stay, like on Kintsugi when she’s like “you think about who would be with you, then there’s Donoghue”  I love when albums have these connecting ideas between tracks. Neways I really love this track now she has so many INSANE openers its hard to decide where to rank it its like I wanna rank it high but when they’re all classics I think there’s a certain threshold where two songs are too good to be ranked against one another

DYKTTATUOB:

Spoiler

WHOOOOOOOOOOO we all remember where we were when this came out. I still remember when the demo snippet leaked and just hearing the title “There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.” was crazyyyyyy and the full title was even crazier than the Pearl Watch Me on Ring a Bell Psycho Lifeguard is just batshit I love her so much who else can come up with word salad like ha  with someone with like 2 friends, I also feel like the tunnel under Ocean Blvd. waiting to be forgotten about  and what a powerful statement for her to be like NO I deserve to be remembered. The writing on this song is just tew good the Harry Nilsson line? How tf does she come up with that Ive never heard a writer point to a specific timestamp of a song to describe how she’s feeling in a song buts its still so relatable to have certain moments in our favorite songs that strike us emotionally for different reasons and for her to conceptualize that on this song is so wild. I love how this song builds up to the end it kinda has that same windy quality that COCC title track has seeing this live was so good and I think its badass as fuck as an album title when it came up at the Grammys next to all the other nominee’s names it was just like look at the level of artistry? Bitches be too scared to name their album anything longer than 3 words

Sweet:

Spoiler

One of my favorite modern Lana ballads it took me a second to get it but there was a period of time in like August-September when I played this song CONSTANTLY in my car like I was obsessed. And rightfully so this song is gorgeous I mean look at her. The wait for life melody sample is so good such a timeless and haunting melody and I love how this song is just her yearning for that good ol’ off the grid up in the pines not all those who wander are lost untamed small town life and I get it. I think the marathons in Long Beach by the sea line is a lil weird still like I don’t know Lana but if there’s one thing I doubt she likes to do its run  and like period girl its the worst form of cardio

A&W:

Spoiler

It’s like what do I even say about this song that hasn’t been said before like this is literally the best song to be released in the 2020’s EASILY I’m still not over this. I remember driving home from the gym listening to this for the first time and I just barely made it out the parking lot before I started crying at the “I say I live in Rosemead, really I’m at the Ramada” line because this song reached a new level of good fucking food that I feared she lost the ability to make again. And going back to the beginning the intro with that guitar and piano Is one of my favorite intros to a Lana song ever it’s so fucking moody!!! Pitchfork said A&W is like a storm cloud that looms over DYKTTATUOB and that is so fucking true like there may be sadder songs on the record but the haunting and bleak atmosphere that she paints in these verses is crazyyyyy mixed with the brain rot trap at the end like this is some real ass esoteric Lynchian virgin suicides shit right here

Judah Smith Interlude:

Spoiler

I think a lot of fans, especially the younger and TikTok ones, failed to stop and think for maybe 30 seconds about why Lana put this track in the record and it makes me disappointed because even in reaction videos I’ve watched where the person live-streamed themselves listening to the record, this track rolls around and everyone in the chat is spamming SKIP! Which instantly puts this negative impression on the person and they never get to have a deeper discussion about the track cause they go into thinking its shit and try to move on as fast as possible and its like damn  cause like someone else said A&W - Judah Smith - Candy Necklace is the most Lynchian thing she’s done and its not even like the pastors message is anything bad a lot of y’all need his advice honestly  and especially the last three lines “I used to think my preaching was mostly about you, an you’re not gonna like this but I’m gonna tell you the truth, I’ve discovered my preaching is mostly about me” is like the MOST VBBOTG era Lana shit ever Iike bitches wanna do the most over this interlude when this is the same girl that wrote “my life is my poetry, my love making is my legacy”

Candy Necklace (ft. Jon Batiste)

Spoiler

Imagine if this song WAS replaced with Zodiac and Jon Batiste Interlude was his only feature and our first snippet of the album was scrapped like that would’ve been weird af honestly. Neways I go through phases with this song where I play it a ton then forget about it for a lil but it’s like a mid tier lana song I loveeee the sitting on the sofa feeling super suicidal! Hate to say the word but hand on the Bible I do, feel like its you, the one who’s bringing me down” like WOW I love how it flows and I love how she’s like yeah you make me wanna kill myself so what? AND the lore with her posting all those photos on the sofa in Jack Donoghue’s apartment like wowww she’s so life imitates art and I think opens the door to showing how her relationship with him is like? and I love Jon Batiste at the end their voices go together very well it reminds me of Riverside with his low ass voice

Jon Batiste Interlude:

Spoiler

OKAYYYY avant garde queen! This is always a fun listen I never listen to this except when playing the whole album but there are some GORGEOUS melodies from Lana on this it makes me want an actual track inspired by this. i love his jumpscare vocals and how the productions builds into the crashy wave like swells its just a very pretty track not much to say

Kintsugi/Fingertips:

Spoiler

I pretend I do not have trauma. I do have trauma. Im gonna talk about these together because in my mind these are both two sides of one 12 minute trauma dump and holy fucking shit are these two songs just so emotional. She’s never been this unfiltered and forreal before on a song and for her to have two back to back on one album is very fulfilling to hear as someone who’s been a fan for so long. She honors these people she’s lost so beautifully on these tracks while still filling out these gaps we had in her pre-fame life and describing why certain things in her life happened like the boarding school/Spain trip, her mom, and her uncle like I just know these two song had to have been hard to write let alone release for everyone to hear and im proud of her being comfortable enough to finally set the record straight on these things. The opening lines to fingertips that she revealed in W mag are just tew good as well “as I look back, tracing fingertips over plastic bags, thinking I wish I could extrapolate some small intention, or maybe just get your attention, for a minute or two” and people say Taylor Swift is the best female writer of our generation  like look at the fucking material. Also I had never heard of telomeres before Lana but since then ive heard of them everywhere like in Emergency Intercom and stuff and shits crazy! We live in a weird world

Paris, Texas:

Spoiler

THANK YOU TIKTOK and thank you to whoever first said it sounds like a Coraline song cause I know a lotta white bitches got put onto this song by that one sentence alone. And they were right it def gives Coraline I like that it seems Lana took SYML’s song title “I Wanted To Leave” as inspiration when writing the lyrics I think its cool that her version still keeps the original idea of the song intact while still making it her own  Love the Venice, California! Backing vocals when she talks about going home very cute. It’s a pretty simple song I feel like there’s not much to talk about lmao she’s good tho!

GPSOTSOMFWHDSF:

Spoiler

Like HOLY FUCKING SHIT. What a song. the true successor to Norman’s sound this song feels so monumental. The way her vocals just SOAR in with the three white butterflies lines it was so off putting my first listen I never thought of her opening a song with song strong vocals like that  and nawt this one song addressing her thoughts on the critics/general publics opinions and beliefs about her better than she was able to articulate on COCC/Blue Banisters combined like wow the benefits of giving yourself time to get your thoughts together and and plan the album before setting a deadline. Her Alan’s Moritsette moment before the second chorus that just HITSSSSSSSS the way the song just opens up with those distorted saxophone?, synths?, mellotron? Probably all 3? Come in and it sounds like the fucking titanic is creaking by while the song is playing like wowwwwww I saw the vision she seems so enlightened and triumphant on this song its one of my favorites

Let The Light In (ft. Father John Misty)

Spoiler

YUPPPPPPPP yup. instant classic like when I hope Lana mentioned making simpler songs for Lasso she meant shit like THIS because THIS. this is music. my new favorite “people pleaser” Lana song I think its literally impossible to dislike this track we need to start its campaign to be added to the national registry YUP  the melody is perfection so many catchy moments it makes sense why TikTok ate it up the “cause I love to love to love to love you” is tewwww good their vocals sound great together I think its best that on FJM/Lana collabs they don’t write their own verses and instead just do vocals  they both have great pen game but I think next to one another on the same song just wouldn’t work too well lmao. But this is just incredible it never gets old

Margaret (ft. Bleachers)

Spoiler

This is probably my least fav non-interlude track on this album and I feel confident saying that because I still really like this song. Its obviously not taking itself seriously and doesn’t but its just bursting at the seems with heart and genuine love for Jack and Margaret and the idea of them making this song together and her releasing then performing it at their wedding is just tew muchhhh im emo now. Its so sweet of her to make this and AGAIN with the simple catchy ass “when you know you know, when you know you know” that TikTok ate up her success with this album on that app is probably the wildest part of this album. “I mean join the party 🤪, by the way, the party’s December 18th” is too corny to work as well as it does in the song

Fishtail

Spoiler

This and Peppers were the only two songs that I heard the LQ leak of before I listened on release day and what a wild two songs to hear before release I wasn’t really sure what to think of either  and I did not get this song for a WHILE after release this was prob the last one for me to come around to but once I realized she captured that perfect Miss Daytona Collection 2007/2008 Unreleased Pin Up galore - 1949 - Trash Magic vibe like the “palm trees in black and white reference???” CRAZYYY SHES CRAZYYY I fell in love with this song and ive been obsessed ever since like this climbed all the way from like 12-13 on my ranking to like top 6 the beat drop HITS its got this kinda early 2000s metro noir vibe LMAO I dont know how else I would describe it this song is very purple to me

Peppers (ft. Tommy Genesis)

Spoiler

Listening to this in the LQ leak was crazy I could barely hear her vocals and the sample coming in sounded so trippy and weird and it still does in HQ but like in a way that makes sense? This song is so fucking crazy idk how Lana even began putting it together but this is like top 2 on this album EASILY. Some of my fav lyrics on the album I love the edgy more character based lyrics it reminds me of BTD with the jackets and knives and bikes. Even though its surface level and kinda brain rot she does it so well and in a way no other pop girl has the range to do tbh. The covid line is one for the history books too  And the messy ass ending with the wipeout convo and surf vibes its just tew good

Taco Truck x VB:

Spoiler

Lana proving once again that bitches be wack but she’s wacker. Bitches be crazy but she’s crazier. Bitches be wild but she’s wilder. Love the no fucks given performance at the beginning “pass me my vape im feeling sick I need to take a puff” again another instantly classic lana line for the books. The chorus is so good here too I can’t believe she actually canonized Lanita as her name in this song like that she’s too much sometimes  I wasn’t expecting the VB remix to sound the way it does based on what the leakers were saying but now that we’ve had the track for a year ive come around to it and it pretty vibey  I definitely like it as a closure to the record like we went through some deep ass shit like 20 minutes ago but like is crazyyyyy

Whew that was a lot of writing and most of it is probably worded poorly but idc lmao 

[ulttraviolenncee 1,720]

a deluxe to celebrate this bday would go well, just saying!

[MamaDelGhey 2,119]

23 minutes ago, pin up galore said:

its not even like the pastors message is anything bad a lot of y’all need his advice honestly  and especially the last three lines “I used to think my preaching was mostly about you, an you’re not gonna like this but I’m gonna tell you the truth, I’ve discovered my preaching is mostly about me” is like the MOST VBBOTG era Lana shit ever

fucking THANK YOU holy shit, the hate that interlude gets is so tired and undeserved 

[NikoGo 52,052]

Happy birthday to a top 3 Lana album 

 

This album got me through such an exciting year, and it’s still one of my favorites to go though!

[The Stargirl Pinky 67,004]

I will NEVER get over this album not winning album of the year - not because I’m a Grammy purist but because the sheer content, artistry, instrumentals, visuals, lyrics, delivery, compositions, etc etc were truly unmatched. Lana outdid herself with this album and tbh it’s tied with UV for my favorite album. Just when you think she can’t top herself she really sneaks up on you and creates something so incredible that continues to age like a fine wine. Happy birthday Tunnel 

[the greatest bitch 649]

1 hour ago, pin up galore said:

Ocean Blvd really was the next BIG lana album we got after NFR!

Very true.

 

Also A&W was easily the best track released last year. 

[Daytona Beach Sparkler 2,660]

Happy birthday to the phenomenal album that is Ocean BLVD 

[jimmorison 6]

Happy birth ocean blvd!! One of her best albums to date imo.

[Party Favor 10,037]

been a judah interlude stan since the beginning, the switch up some of you have is crazyyyy (not in relation to the post by pin up galore) 

[American Whore 47,563]

Was listening today again, just throughout my day and man, what an album to release at this stage in your career. She did bops, she gave us internal monologue, she gave us surfy hip hop, she served us interludes and laughs, she gave us american fucking WHORE

 

this album is probably my second favorite, it fits right between UV and HM for me. There's always gonna be a special place for UV for me and HM too, because they're just such special albums, but man, the way i didn't think i'd like this album from the minute it leaked till the time i got all of the vinyl pressings, candy necklace's video, the merch, man. this was a good era to experience and i'm really sorry for the n00bie b00bies who'll discover lana in the next 10 years and not know what all we went through when we heard this for the first time. we're lucky to have lana at this stage in our lives (i'm in my mid to late 20s), we're lucky to have lana in this stage of her career, we're lucky that this was the album lana wanted us to hear and know, especially after she got so much hate before NFR and then again, after NFR. some people in the industry know what they're doing, lana is one of those people. other people just do it because they don't know what else to do or they have no other talents or skills. that couldn't be lana, especially after she's been around for so long and she's somehow managed to do it yet again, knocking it out of the park

 

sometimes i feel like this album isn't one for me to know, like it's meant just for Lana herself, not for me. not for the fans, not for anyone else, but solely as therapeutic for a person who has gone through so much, but i listen anyways because it's just so fucking good for me.

 

"it's because she's in a world preserved, only a few have found the door" this line hits so hard and hurts so much and idk why, it's just... so fucking good.

 

i could dissect this album in so many ways, with so many words, but there's not enough words to say - lana truly released an album of this caliber in this stage of her career and i'm so happy to be able to turn it on during the day, even if there's parts that make me uncomfortable. there's so much honesty, reality, it's just so fucking good and i appreciate lana's ability to reach into her story, her truth and tell the world what she wants them to know, even if it makes her AND us uncomfortable. sometimes there's something about discomfort-ability that's vital. this is one of those times and she knew what she was doing her.