Lana Del Rey just dropped two singles for her upcoming ninth studio album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. One song is titled the same as the album, and another “A&W,” in typical Lana fashion. The title stands for American Whore and refers to the roadside root beer restaurant chain. While the title is explicit, it offers a non-filtered look at Lana’s life. 

Throughout her career she’s been known to have an iconic persona and makes frequent references to literature, various types of soda, old Americana lifestyles and films.This song is not exempt. She uses a doo-wap singing style, references a Marielle Heller film and, of course, there’s the title. She keeps that, and her persona, the same, but it’s much more intimate than previous works. Her growth is apparent through her discography, as if she’s slowly dropping this veil of what “Lana Del Rey” can be. She’s letting her fans in a little more, and it almost feels like you can form a bond with her just through her work as she even name drops a recurring person, “Jim,” in this song. He was mainly present in her album Ultraviolence, being depicted as a dark and violent cult leader with whom she had a romantic entanglement. 

The song lasts for seven minutes and thirteen seconds, and is not a minute too long. It starts off with her more recent folksy style, the lyrics telling the story of an innocent girl who has troubles with her mother, and then turns into a semi-experimental trap song about a violent relationship with “Jim” and how the public views her experiences with sexual assault. She builds up to a change with airy vocals and soft lyrics, and then hits you with the line, “It’s not about having someone to love me anymore.” The juxtaposition between the two styles is almost shocking, a wakeup call as to why she’s ‘like this.’ This turns the song into an art piece and a story. It could’ve easily become two songs, but I don’t believe they could stand on their own. Each side supports the other to create something that is perfectly her own.