Lana Del Rey

Chief art critic Mark Hudson reviews a flawed but possibly essential modern art exhibit at the National Gallery. TV editor Ellie Harrison celebrates the return ...

Purists are likely to be shocked and appalled, as Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has got the reins on this one and he’s sexed up the Victorian tale quite a bit. Succession is back for a fourth and final season, after a backstabbing series three finale in which the Roy children were pitted against their father and escort-turned-playwright Willa accepted Connor’s proposal with a brilliant “f*** it, how bad can it be?” In the new episodes, the sale of media conglomerate Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson moves ever closer, provoking more familial division among the Roys. Spanish artist Rosalía and her Puerto Rican boyfriend Rauw Alejandro, one of the pioneers of contemporary reggaeton, have teamed up for a new three-track EP titled RR. [Ones to Watch for 2023](/arts-entertainment/music/features/ones-to-watch-2023-music-predictions-b2249226.html), Charlotte Plank has been compared to Gen-Z star PinkPantheress thanks to the way she combines Nineties and Noughties grunge and R&B with jungle and electronic music. Paris Hilton: the first lady of “being famous for being famous”? (If you’ve yet to read the books, your life is not yet complete.) The series begins on the cusp of wartime, with a teeming cast of characters who are invariably posh, emotionally tortured and having either affairs or children. Sure, there are some recognisable Lana tropes here, like the LA bad boy encouraging dangerous habits on “A&W” (“American Whore”), along with visuals of palm trees and seedy hotels. There are just a few weeks left – extending over the Easter holidays – for this insightful overview of the great British sculptor’s life and work. The Bloomsbury Group’s rural hideaway makes an apt setting for a show on another 20th-century rustic utopian experiment – Antella, the Tuscan farmhouse of American artists Betty and George Woodman. And what more fitting way to spend a seasonal March weekend than by imbibing some of the best culture on offer. Not everything convinces, but there are enough superb works from Cézanne, Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse and most of the other usual suspects to Arts editor Jessie Thompson picks out Paris Hilton’s surprising new memoir, and talks about the unexpected start to the Barbican’s run of Olga Tokarczuk adaptation Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead.

Hear a companion to her sprawling new album, “Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.”

On “The Grants,” the album’s stirring, gospel-tinged opening number, she interprets the words of a pastor by likening them not to, say, a particular Bible verse, but to “‘ [Rocky Mountain High](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOB4VdlkzO4),’ the way John Denver sings.” Which reminds me: I’m still reading through your (many) great submissions from earlier this week, and I look forward to sharing some with you in Tuesday’s Amplifier. Del Rey’s homage speaks the language of digital-era listening (“his voice breaks at 2:05”), but her emotional connection to Nilsson is so deeply felt, it seems to transcend time and turn him into a peer. Today’s playlist puts some of its best songs in conversation with the other artists it references or, in the case of [Leonard Cohen’s famous lyric](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN7Hn357M6I) “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” echoes throughout “Ocean Blvd” like a cherished mantra. Del Rey’s music is both vividly intimate and highly referential.

Lana Del Rey's 'Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd' mostly stays austere musically, but emotionally, it's a powerful tour de force.

There’s one allusion to a social-media controversy over race a few years ago that is a sleeping dog she might have let lie: “I’m good in spirit, warm-bodied / A fallible deity wrapped up in white / I’m folk, I’m jazz, I’m blue, I’m green / Regrettably, also a white woman / But I have good intentions, even if I’m one of the last ones” who does, Del Rey sings, sticking up for her own sincerity. But she has been a scourge, in some circles, leaving the rest of the pop world rooting for the anti-heroine. That pertains when she starts getting more unapologetically horny, toward the end of the album, in “Let the Light In” — “Don’t be actin’ like I’m the kind of girl who can sleep,” she teases, making an early a.m. There’s a verse in “A&W” (which stands for “American Whore,” not the root beer stand) that suggests she might have experienced rape, but if she had, she’s not going to tell anybody, due to how it’d be misperceived or leave her open to greater attack. — and “Taco Truck/VB,” the second half of which is a full-on alternate version of a previous album favorite, “Venice Bitch,” now rendered “grimier,” in her words. Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem” comes up for consideration, too (as it does in a track on the Boygenius album that comes out next week). Even if, to get the full gist of things, it does call for research and multitasking — i.e., keeping Google Search or Genius.com’s fan-annotated side notes open if you’re a mere Del Rey dabbler who wants to actually learn who “Donoghue” is (a musician ex-boyfriend name-checked in passing in one song, in a positive context). The word “might” is advisable because claims to that kind of superiority can only be made after a lot of time and repeat listens have passed, of course, and “Ocean Blvd.” is such a dense set of songs to take in that your immediate response to its 16 songs might be to rise for a standing ovation… For any pop fans who are quick to use the word “solipsism” as a pejorative, this is probably not the album for you, although if you’re judgy that way, you probably jumped off the Del Rey bus long before we arrived at this stop. But for the bulk of “Ocean Blvd,” Del Rey is considering ostensibly meatier matters — starting, in the opening song, “The Grants,” with what both she and her loved ones will be thinking about after her death. Because if the former beau does stream the album, the ultimate kick in the pants for him might not be the billboard but the fact that little or none of the record seems to overtly be about him. [Lana Del Rey](https://variety.com/t/lana-del-rey/)’s new album, let it be noted that however well the record came out, it was foreordained to come in second among her artistic works of the past year.

The food van appeared near King's Cross station, seemingly in reference to the song 'Taco Truck x VB', which appears as the final track on Del Rey's ninth album ...

it’s unfathomable to me to headline the second stage of Glastonbury. “I’ve been excited to tell people,” Del Rey told the station. The songs cross-reference each other, looping back to earlier thoughts and feelings, making it feel like you’re with her in her day-to-day as she muses on these weighty topics.” [March 24, 2023] It also includes collaborations with [Father John Misty](https://www.nme.com/artists/father-john-misty) and [Tommy Genesis ](https://www.nme.com/artists/tommy-genesis)and the previously announced song ‘Margaret’, which is is [dedicated to producer Jack Antonoff’s fiancée, the actor Margaret Qualley](https://www.nme.com/news/music/lana-del-rey-reveals-new-song-margaret-is-about-jack-antonoffs-fiancee-3398418). In a four-star review of ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’, NME wrote: “On ‘…

The lyrics on “Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” Lana Del Rey's new album, are full of classic Lana-isms. Here are the best lyrics from ...

[On “A&W,”](https://www.vulture.com/2023/02/lana-del-rey-sodas-ranked.html) she’s still dealing with man-children, now so bad that she needs to bring Mommy into things. [her infamous tiff](https://www.vulture.com/2020/05/lana-del-rey-doja-cat-stan-culture-essay.html) with the revered critic Ann Powers and she still hasn’t let the media off the hook. Clearly not the Beverly Center, though — because if you haven’t heard, she’s not like other girls. This verse comes at the end of a song about death, mental health, and generational trauma that Del Rey said “explains everything.” Earlier on, she reveals she once tried to drown herself when she was younger; instead, like Aphrodite, she was (re)born from the sea. (“A&W”) Bonus points for the way she whispers “Texas” like it’s printed in the tiniest, lightest font possible. As of late, Del Rey has enjoyed using her songs to respond to misconceptions that have dogged her career. Here, she sings about the perception that she was performing as a boardroom-crafted persona rather than being herself. (“Margaret”) But what is Lana Del Rey if not a preacher, preaching mostly about herself? The rest of Del Rey’s ninth album is full of reflections on her family, her relationships, and her past, between some more mundane details of her life. That can mean many things, from canny observations about the state of America to silly details about the banalities of Del Rey’s life.

The 37-year-old songstress originally set the album release date for March 10, but in early January, pushed the date two weeks to release on March 24.

it was about world-building, whereas this was straight vibing.' Another form of promotion she did was sharing a post on her private Instagram account of a selfie of her and the [released the title track](/tvshowbiz/article-11514683/Lana-Del-Rey-announces-release-date-ninth-studio-album-shares-cover-art-debuts-title-track.html) of her album as her first single on December 7, 2022, which has already amassed over 38M plays on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/5HOHne1wzItQlIYmLXLYfZ?si=nTOdHKWXRAmXB1k0FsFZgg) alone. I want to write a song for him." She continued: 'It’s funny, this album felt totally effortless. 'I was like, "You know what?

'Ok we will be skipping “Judah Smith Interlude” from now on,' one tweeted.

“Ok, we will be skipping ‘Juda Smith Interlude’ from now on,” a third declared. A second argued: “I think the ‘Judah Smith Interlude’ is gonna be an issue to some later on or rn as we speak.” ‘Ok we will be skipping “Judah Smith Interlude” from now on,’ one tweeted