Lana Del Rey’s Fifth Studio Album: Here’s Everything We Know
The long wait for Lana Del Rey’s new album is finally coming to an end.
Two years have passed since her successful last record, Lust for Life, which topped the Billboard 200 albums chart and even garnered the “Love” singer her fourth Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album. While the singer has definitely kept herself busy by appearing as the face of Gucci’s Guilty fragrance, sparking controversy with a planned (and then cancelled) performance in Israel, and writing a poetry book to be sold for one dollar (“because my thoughts are priceless,” she said on Instagram), fans have certainly become eager for a new release from Del Rey.
Over the last year, the self-proclaimed “Queen of Coney Island” has teased her upcoming fifth studio album through single releases, live performances, and social media teasers––essentially dangling the album above our noses. On July 31, 2019, she finally announced the record's release date and revealed its vintage-inspired album cover.
While we anxiously wait to hear it in full, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about Lana Del Rey’s fifth album.
- 1
The album has a title and release date
Del Rey revealed in a September 2018 interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1 radio that the album is titled Norman F--king Rockwell. While a March 2019 release was originally announced in the same interview, Del Rey updated fans during a June concert in Dublin, Ireland that the record is now set to be released in August 2019.
On July 31, she announced its official release date: August 30, 2019!
- 2
Her 2018 and 2019 singles are on the track list
The first two singles from the Norman F--king Rockwell era, “Mariners Apartment Complex” and “Venice B---h,” were released in 2018. In an interview with British radio DJ Annie Mac, Del Rey confirmed that the tracks were part of a “collection of songs” that was later revealed to be Norman F--king Rockwell. January 2019 saw the release of “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but i have it,” as well as a press release from Del Rey’s team that described the three latest singles as buzz singles, leading to speculation that they may not be included on the album. (Hope—a dangerous thing to have—wasn't lost for the tracks though: Del Rey described them in a March interview with Elle UK as her favorites from the album, and later announced their album inclusion.)
After a few dormant months on the Del Rey front, the “Summertime Sadness” singer released “Doin’ Time,” a cover of the Sublime track of the same name at the beginning of summer in 2019. Technically the track was released to coincide with a documentary about the California-based ska band, but the track will also appear on the artist's 2019 album.
See the full track list, below:
1. “Norman F---ing Rockwell”
2. “Mariners Apartment Complex”
3. “Venice B---h”
4. “F--k It, I Love You”
5. “Doin’ Time”
6. “Love Song”
7. “Cinnamon Girl”
8. “How to Disappear”
9. “California”
10. “The Next Best American Record”
11. “The Greatest”
12. “Bartender”
13. “Happiness is a Butterfly”
14. “Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman like Me to Have – but I Have It” - 3
The album’s production team is tighter than Del Rey’s previous albums
Alongside the release of “Mariners Apartment Complex,” Del Rey revealed that the album will be primarily composed by herself and Grammy-nominated pop producer Jack Antonoff. He was responsible for much of the production of Lorde’s Melodrama album as well as tracks on Taylor Swift’s 1989 and Reputation, and St. Vincent’s Masseduction. Though known for his massive pop production, Norman F--king Rockwell is expected to feature stripped-down guitar-filled production, as gathered from the three confirmed singles from the album.
Iconic record producer and longtime Del Rey collaborator Rick Nowels also worked on the record.
- 4
Many album tracks were previously performed and/or teased
Performing and/or teasing tracks doesn’t quite mean they’ll make it onto the album––Del Rey is known for her massive unreleased catalog, after all. In October 2018, she teased a track titled “Cinnamon Girl” in an Instagram video that included the lyrics, “There's things I wanna say to you / But I'll just let you live / Like if you hold me without hurting me / You'll be the first who ever did.”
Another track, “Happiness is a Butterfly,” was first teased on Del Rey’s Instagram page in March 2018, and then again in October, and again in January 2019. The track explores themes prominent in many of her signature hits, including getting high, feeling crazy, being hurt and living in Hollywood. It even features a direct reference to one of her best-known unreleased tracks, “Serial Killer,” with the lyric: “If he’s a serial killer / Then what’s the worst / That can happen to a girl / Who’s already hurt?”
On October 30, 2018, Del Rey performed at an Apple event in New York City alongside Jack Antonoff; the two performed “Venice B---h” and premiered a new track called “How to Disappear.” The singer confirmed at the event that the latter track will be featured on the album, and it’s since been performed live at many of Del Rey’s 2019 shows.
The final track she teased for the album was the title track, “Norman F--king Rockwell,” which was teased in an Instagram snippet in June 2019. She initially confirmed the track’s existence in the aforementioned interview with Zane Lowe, in which she said, "The title track is called 'Norman F--king Rockwell' and it's kind of about this guy who is such a genius artist, but he thinks he’s the sh--, and he knows it, and he won't shut up talking about it."
Luckily, all of the tracks above will appear on the upcoming album.
- 5
The album cover was shot by her sister
In a December 2018 Instagram live stream, Del Rey confirmed that the album cover had been shot, but that it was likely going to be reshot due to her manager’s disapproval. In March 2019, she tweeted: “Shooting our second cover this month #stevenklein,” leading fans to believe that photographer Steven Klein was shooting the new cover, marking a departure from her previous work with photographer Neil Krug (Ultraviolence, Honeymoon, Lust for Life).
On July 31, she revealed the official album artwork was photographed by her sister, Chuck Grant. The pop art-themed image features Del Rey posing next to Duke Nicholson, Jack Nicholson's grandson, on a sailboat