Did You Know that There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, the ninth studio album from Lana Del Rey, is easily her most delicate and passionate album, as well as her best release since 2019.

Del Rey is a polarizing figure in pop music to say the least, yet she has found continual commercial success with her work since her 2012 album Born to Die. But when she released Norman … Rockwell! in 2019, she started to be taken seriously critically for the first time.

Since that release, though, Del Rey has failed to reach that level of sophistication and passion on subsequent projects. Chemtrails over the Country Club was a nice release, although forgettable at points, and Blue Banisters was easily her messiest record, even though it did have a few hits.

With this new album, though, Del Rey rediscovers the emotion that made her 2019 record special, while adding a sense of warmth that serves as a contrast to that primarily cold critical smash.

Opener “The Grants” adds a sense of wonder to Del Rey’s tracks that her previous two records desperately needed. Her vocals are fragile to make them distinct against the beautiful instrumental. 

Stunning string arrangements slowly fill the song in the latter half, and along with Del Rey’s passionate vocals, she makes the case that she is back to her best.

The title track is a wonderful ballad with a chorus that defies all odds to be catchy. Who would have thought that a sentence as long as the name of this album could serve as a memorable hook?

Easily the most advanced songwriting effort on the album, “A&W” is one of the best tracks of her entire catalog. Being a split song, the first half is a dark exploration of her life, while the second part is a catchy, upbeat, synth-filled journey of drug use.

Both halves manage to be distinct and memorable, yet they come together to create a whole song that functions as a reflection of Del Rey’s life.

“Candy Necklace,” which features Jon Batiste, is filled with an unending, pensive piano that, combined with Del Rey’s detached vocals, creates an eerie, ice cold experience.

“Grandfather Please Stand on the Shoulders of My Father While He’s Deep-Sea Fishing” earns the length of its title with its wonderful sentiments of self-reflection and family lineage. The track also begins the slow addition of warmth onto the record.

This warmth comes to a peak with “Let The Light In,” which has contributions from Father John Misty. This song, despite its themes of affairs and secrecy, contradictorily adds the heat of love and the glow of fond memories. 

Although the record is a wonderful return to Del Rey’s best, there are still a few missteps on the LP. 

The most notable offender is “Judah Smith Interlude,” a five-minute recording of the eponymous pastor giving a sermon. Regardless of the track’s potential greater purpose on the album, it brings the project to a grinding halt, ensuring that it will be skipped by most listeners every time.

Del Rey also featured an interlude on her last release, called “Interlude – The Trio,” and while it was questionably experimental and out of place, it wasn’t an annoyance to get through.

Moreover, Judah Smith is a notoriously bigoted and problematic figure. With many of Del Rey’s fans being members of the LGBTQ+ community, it is curious why she would include a pastor with a history of being non-inclusive. 

The only other notable issue with the record comes from the somewhat bland tracks in the middle and end of the project. They blend together and make the album seem a little longer than it actually is. 

Discluding the troublesome interlude and the dull tracks, Did You Know that There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd is an incredible return for Del Rey, placing the album firmly in the top quarter of her discography.

This story was originally published on Purbalite on March 30, 2023.