Lana Del Rey Shares Uncensored New Single, 'A&W'

Lana Del Rey has unveiled a new single from her upcoming album, Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, in the form of A&W, a seven-minute epic.

Instrumentally, the song is sparse until electronic drums enter at the four-minute mark, turning A&W into a synth-pop number. Lyrically, Del Rey explores her childhood ("I haven’t done a cartwheel since I was nine") before entering adulthood. She delves into femininity and sexuality, or as she describes it, "the experience of being an American whore," per Consequence Of Sound.

As the song approaches its hook, she sings, "Call ’em up, come into my bedroom / Ended up, we fuck on the hotеl floor / It’s not about having someone to love mе anymore / This is the experience of being an American whore."

Initially due for a 10 March release, the album has been pushed back to 24 March. Last month, Lana Del Rey revealed Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd's tracklist and explicit album art.

On her private Instagram account, the Video Games singer shared album art that shows her bare breast, accompanied by several alternate album covers. View a censored version of the album art here.

Her new album is the follow-up to her 2021 records Chemtrails Over The Country Club and Blue Banisters. It's produced by Jack Antonoff, Drew Erickson and Zach Dawes, engineer Laura Sisk, and will feature guest vocalists Jon Batiste, Father John Misty, and Tommy Genesis. 

Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd contains 16 tracks, some with wordy song titles, including Grandfather Please Stand on The Shoulders of My Father While He’s Deep-Sea Fishing.

Del Rey announced the release of her ninth album in December and shared a preview with fans by unveiling the title track.

Known for cinematic musical scope, dream-pop vocals, and critiques of contemporary pop culture from the 1950s and 1960s, Del Rey has developed a cult base of listeners and critical acclaim for her eight albums.

A few weeks ago, Del Rey's team were behind placing the sole billboard promoting the new album in her ex-boyfriend's city of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In a photo she posted to her private Instagram account that's now circulating on Twitter via screenshots, Del Rey took a picture of herself in the car in view of the billboard with the caption: "There's only one, and it's in Tulsa," accompanied by a skull emoji. In the comments, she wrote, "It's. Personal."

Her fans quickly responded to the tweet shared, noting that Del Rey announced the release date of her ninth album on her ex-boyfriend Sean Larkin's birthday (7 December).

Listen to A&W below.