Dive Into Lana Del Rey’s Album, ‘Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd’
Samra Adhanom
Lana Del Rey has been able to craft a universe so specific that items, places, emotions, and experiences can be characteristically Del Rey. Her symbols and motifs are recognizable yet they are somewhat of a double-edged sword causing many to see her words as an aesthetic and her life as a persona. For those that are blinded by the allure, her iconography often precedes her music. On her ninth studio album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, Del Rey grapples with her own imagery analyzing and dismantling the archetypes that have persisted in place of her ingenuity.
On “Fingertips” Del Rey rejects the most common critique as a result of her distinct themes and iconography: the belief that her music is a performance. The five-minute ballad focuses on her past and present struggles with family, death, and career, but it also contains her most direct response to her reception. “They say there’s irony in the music, it’s a tragedy, I see nothing Greek in it,” she sings. Often overshadowing her abilities as an artist, the critique of her simultaneous sadness and American opulence as an ironic persona is something that she has vehemently rejected. “Fingertips” pinpoints the reason for Del Rey’s objection to this narrative.
Her music is not mythology. There is no tragic hero or moral lesson, just her and her life.
She addresses the difficulty of her perception once again in the final lines of the song where she touches on the multiple parts of her identity that people grasp, and the expectation to always line up with the image that has been curated as a result of her work. “Call me ‘Aphrodite’ as they bow down to me sunbather, moon chaser, queen of empathy I give myself two seconds to breath and go back to being a serene queen I just need two seconds to be me.” Del Rey’s world-building has put her in a position where she is expected to be many things. Icon of beauty, the voice of sadness, the face of serenity. “Fingertips” serves as a plea. It is Del Rey begging for a break, a moment to take a breath, and just exist as herself.
Perpetual melancholy is another tag often attached to the singer. Catching a glimpse of her sadness and wrapping her whole identity in it is something that she is no stranger to. Sadness has become synonymous with her discography, and on “Fishtail” she speaks directly to those that do not allow her to exist outside of her sadness. “If you don’t really care you wanted me sadder” she repeats throughout the song. The line appears not only to speak to the individual that she is singing about but to everyone that has watered down her work to sadness. “Fishtail” encapsulates the opposition to being confined that is sewn throughout Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. Del Rey makes it clear that she is not just one part of her identity. She is not just, sadness, daisies, or the Southern California sun. She’s got things to say.
