Lana Del Rey announces country album: ‘It’s happening’
The singer confirmed her next LP, 'Lasso', during a pre-Grammys event in LA.
By Emily Zemler
Lana Del Rey has confirmed she has a new album in the works and this time it’s a little bit country. The singer announced the LP, Lasso, at Billboard’s pre-Grammy event in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
During the event, Del Rey took the stage to fete producer Jack Antonoff, who is her collaborator on the new album. “If you can’t already tell by our award winners and our performers, the music business is going country,” she told the crowd. “We’re going country. It’s happening. That’s why Jack has followed me to Muscle Shoals, Nashville, Mississippi, over the last four years.”
Lasso, out in September, will mark the singer’s 10th studio LP and third in the past four years. Her album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd? dropped last March and netted the her five Grammy nods, including Album of the Year and Best Alternative Music Album. Her song ‘A&W’ is nominated for Song of the Year and Best Alternative Music Performance, while “Candy Necklace” with Jon Batiste is up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
During the Grammys event Del Rey also recounted her original meeting with Antonoff, who she said was “born under one of those talent, lucky musical stars.” She praised the producer as “one in a million,” adding that his “instincts are unique. And apparently award winning.”
Del Rey has been testing the country waters onstage over the past year. In September, she stopped by Robert’s Western World in Nashville to showcase her recurring cover of Tammy Wynette‘s 1969 crooner ‘Stand By Your Man’. In November, she performed a moody rendition of Elvis‘ 1977 song ‘Unchained Melody’, originally performed by the Righteous Brothers, for NBC‘s Christmas at Graceland and in December she took on John Denver‘s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’.