"A&W" by Lana Del Rey // Song Review
"A&W" is one of the greatest songs Lana Del Rey has ever written. It was featured as the fourth track of her incredible 2023 album Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, which overall is an intimate and diaristic portrait of her life thus far. When talking about the process of writing the album in 2022, she told W Magazine, "I've been practicing meditative automatic singing, where I don’t filter anything. I'll just sing whatever comes to mind into my Voice Notes app. It's not perfect, obviously," she said. "For this new music ... It's more just like: I'm angry. The songs are very conversational ... It's a very wordy album. ... It's almost like I'm typing in my mind." That method is present throughout the entire album, many of the songs are long and often with heavy subject matter at hand, in which she doesn't hold back at all. There is a lot of symbolism and depth in every single track.
"A&W" in particular is one of the most important songs narratively on not just that album, but of her entire discography. It is a seven-minute rollercoaster that takes the listener on such an emotional journey, the first half being some of her most raw and confessional lyrics she has ever written. It kind of feels like she is taking back the narrative of what people have called her throughout her career, in the media or otherwise, and telling her side of the story - "Do you really think I give a damn what I do after years of just hearing them talking?" she sings. In the chorus Lana continues, "It's not about having someone to love me anymore, this is the experience of being an American whore".
In this case, the title "A&W" isn't just in reference to the root beer brand and fast-food chain, which is very on theme with the classic Americana aesthetics that flow throughout all of her work. It also stands for "American Whore", which was actually going to be the original song title, as her collaborator Jack Antonoff once revealed in an Instagram caption.
In each verse, she opens up about some of the darkest moments she has experienced in her life, from tumultuous, abusive relationships, to her often being portrayed negatively in the media. It sparks an important conversation around the way women are far too often negatively perceived and scrutinized, especially looking at it through the lens of her experience in the music industry. In the first verse Lana sings, "I'm a princess, I'm divisive, ask me why, why, why I'm like this"
"A&W" flips the script of what people's perceptions of her are and the reality behind the scenes of the persona she crafted for herself at the start of her mainstream career. The third verse is the most heartbreaking, I didn't even pick up on the weight of the words she was singing the first few times I heard the song because she almost whispers them. She sings, "I mean look at my hair, look at the length of it and the shape of my body, if I told you that I was r*ped, do you really think that anybody would think I didn't ask for it? I didn't ask for it, I won't testify, I already fucked up my story" - after of which she reveals, "on top of this, so many other things you can't believe".
A song like "A&W" showcases the strength she has an artist to be able to write lyrics that are so thought-provoking and poetic, while also being brutally honest with the reality she has faced. No one else is on her level in that regard.
Unexpectedly, "A&W" turns into a completely different song for the second half. It has one of the most iconic transitions since Lorde's "Hard Feelings / Loveless" (thanks to Jack Antonoff for producing both!) After the emotional first part of the song, it was so unexpected to hear the turn it takes - which is something that happens more than once throughout this album. Jack talked about that "...weird whiplash of not knowing what you’re supposed to feel," in an interview with Rolling Stone UK. "That sensation is across the album: you could dissect the tone of whether it’s hints of gospel or bringing back some of the 808s and the fucked-up side of things. But in the studio, it was just about finding what is shocking in the moment," he continued.
The second part, which is unofficially called "Jimmy", reminds me of some of her unreleased songs from early in her career. It's so fun and has a level of loose spontaneity that shines through in her voice as she sings, "Love me if you love or not, you can be my light, Jimmy only love me when he wanna get high" and my favorite line, "Your mom called, I told her you're fucking up big time!" This part of the song also interpolates the 1960 doo wop standard "Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop" by Little Anthony and the Imperials, but Lana puts a twist on it by singing, "Jimmy, Jimmy, cocoa puff".
"That song sat in Jack Antonoff's mailbox for nine months," Lana said in a 2024 interview with Vogue about "A&W". "It was supposed to be a ballad, and when I was done making the album, I asked him to listen to it. I had already put down the instrumental, and it didn't include the 'Jimmy Cocoa Puff' part that it transitions into. He felt really, really strongly that it should." In another interview, Jack also talked about how the "Jimmy" part of "A&W" was originally written during the Norman Fucking Rockwell! writing sessions, but was eventually reworked to be a part of Ocean Blvd in such a cool and unexpected way.
"I wasn't sure, because I had written the Jimmy part 13 years ago, and I had recreated it with him two years ago," Lana continued in her interview with Vogue. "So I re-recreated that, and I did a different interpretation that was a little more bouncy. And at the time, I wasn't really sure if the transition diminished the song's point, or if distracted from it in a good way—it took it from one place into a better place. Ultimately I was like, I would prefer for this song to transition into a happier place; I don't want it to land in this sad spot. So, it's interesting: When Jack has a really strong opinion, I've definitely learned that it's very worth trusting it. Sometimes we're so differently inclined musically, but with this one, I'm really glad that we went with our inclination. If you asked me, I would not have thought that this song would gain any traction. But I am really happy about it; I think it's cool."
There are so many layers to this song and so much meaning behind every word she says in it. It's impossible to fully cover it all, it is such a stunning masterpiece in every regard. An artist like Lana Del Rey is truly a once in a lifetime kind of talent and I love to see her continually evolve with each new release. Her influence is truly immeasurable. "A&W" is among her most masterfully written songs to date, as well as her most autobiographical.
If you are interested in reading more about Lana Del Rey's music, check out my full review of her incredible album, Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, as well as my review of the special festival edition of the album on vinyl. I have written many more in-depth reviews about her work through the years, all of which are linked here and below. "A&W" was also ranked at the top of my favorite songs of 2023 list, along with Ocean Blvd at the top of my favorite albums list - be sure to check those out too for more musical highlights from that year.
I also highly recommend watching Jack Antonoff's 3 part series with Mix with the Masters if you are looking to find out more about "A&W" directly from the people who made it. I loved watching how he broke every element of the song down.
Thanks for reading! Check out more from my song of the week series here.
Photo Credit: Interview Magazine, Nadia Lee Cohen, Lana Del Rey
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