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A large part of Lana Del Rey’s early catalog felt uncannily like something from the Leonardo DiCaprio version of “The Great Gatsby” — not just because her single “Young and Beautiful” was literally in the movie, but because her persona gave off a grandiose noir opulence rooted in the American Dream.

Del Rey’s ninth studio album, “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd,” (DYKTTATUOB) takes a new approach on materialistic riches, choosing to focus on her family and love instead of an aesthetic perfection. As she moves away from vibrant scenes of flawless ballrooms and coastal convertible rides, Del Rey’s newest work longs to settle down and find emotional satisfaction. Her previous album, “Blue Banisters,” introduced this homestead sentimentalism in 2021, but “DYKTTATUOB” puts these ideas in the foreground.

Del Rey, born Elizabeth Grant, released the lead single and title-track to her new album on Dec. 7, 2022. The single was packaged with the album announcement, tracklist and release date, and it piqued interest not only due to the cryptic title, but because many fans wondered why Del Rey would be making an album about a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard.

The album’s title and centerpiece theme is the Jergins Tunnel, an abandoned Angeleno landmark which provided a safe way for people to get to the beach in the early 20th century. The tunnel was closed in 1967, leaving what Del Rey describes as a “handmade beauty sealed up by two man-made walls.”

On “Blue Banisters,” she was afraid that her banisters’ color would fade to gray and green. In 2023, Del Rey begs her listeners to never forget her, even decades after she is left to the catacombs, like the tunnel under Ocean Boulevard. Her imagery maintains a fatalistic fear of her Long Beach lifestyle’s ephemerality.

Before “DYKTTATUOB” was released, Del Rey gained buzz with the record’s breathtaking second single, “A&W.” On the track, Del Rey confesses her concerns as a sex addict, singing “It’s not about havin’ someone to love me anymore / No, this is the experience of bein’ an American whore,” before the dramatic piano arrangement decays into a demented trap breakdown and Del Rey delivers a playground rap reminiscent of M.I.A.

While a majority of the album consists of Del Rey’s signature style of dramatic piano and silvery shrieks amidst vacant atmosphere, the tail end transitions into trap collages accompanied by some wildly raw assertions. Del Rey fiends for a vape (“I need to take a puff”) and ambivalently concludes that her boyfriend gave her COVID-19 (“it don’t matter”) on “Taco Truck x VB” and “Peppers,” respectively.

Del Rey’s music continues to delicately portray devastation and desolation, coated with dark humor and maudlin sentimentalism. While she keeps her trademarked quippy cynicism —“If you want some basic bitch, go to the Beverly Center and find her” — Del Rey also achieves tender intimacy on the record. She recalls specific memories and speaks directly to her siblings and parents at times, and occasionally ponders hypothetical situations about lovers and children.

“Margaret,” featuring Bleachers, is an ode to frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff’s fiancé, Margaret Qualley — star of “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” — where the pair belt out “When you know, you know” over a vivacious orchestra. Most of “DYKTTATUOB” was produced by Antonoff, with help from Drew Erickson and Del Rey’s ex-boyfriend Mike Hermosa.

As Del Rey’s career continues, her music seems to have intentionally become more self-referential and convoluted. For the entirety of the fifth track, she laughs in the background as pastor Judah Smith delivers a four-minute sermon, concluding “I’ve discovered my preaching is mostly about me,” a sentiment that clearly resonated with Del Rey.

She samples herself three times over the record: “A&W” borrows guitar from “Norman F*cking Rockwell!”; “Taco Truck x VB” is a remix of “Venice B*tch,” hence the abbreviation; and “Candy Necklace” featuring Jon Batiste partially incorporates “Cinnamon Girl.” These vestiges of her Grammy-nominated album “Norman F*cking Rockwell!,” make “DYKTTATUOB” feel like a sequel to Del Rey’s magnum opus.

“Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” is another layer in Del Rey’s theatrical career, where she consummates her place as one of the best songwriters in popular music, shining in experimentation and maturing in expression.

Published on March 28, 2023 at 11:59 pm