Lana Del Rey Working with Dan Auerbach on New Album
Lana Del Rey and the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach are working together on the singer's new album, Ultraviolence, with Del Rey tweeting a photo of the two and writing, "Me and Dan Auerbach are excited to present you Ultraviolence."
The pairing may come as a surprise, as Auerbach offered a strong critique of Del Rey to MTV during her breakout 2012 year. "On some level, we've seen that Lana Del Rey thing since we first started, like, all of a sudden this new band would be headlining festivals, and we're like, 'Wait, how did they get that? We've been here for two, three, four, five years and we're still working our way up,'" Auerbach said at the time. "But then they're gone. Just as quickly as they get up there, they disappear."
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Del Rey announced the title of her new album at the December premiere of her short film Tropico, though admitted a few months prior to that that she was struggling with the follow-up to Born to Die. "I don't want to say, 'Yeah, definitely — the next one's better than this one,' because I don't really hear a next one," she said at the time. "My muse is very fickle. She only comes to me sometimes, which is annoying."
The extent of Auerbach's role on Ultraviolence is unclear, as is what their work together might sound like. A spokesperson for Del Rey confirmed to Rolling Stone that the duo spent time recording in Nashville, but declined to provide specifics on the collaboration. The Black Keys frontman has become a reliable producer for an array of acts over the past few years including Dr. John, Hanni El Khatib and most recently Ray LaMontagne.
Despite the lack of a new album, Del Rey kept her momentum going through 2013, thanks in part to a chart-dominating remix of "Summertime Sadness" courtesy of Cedric Gervais, and her contribution to The Great Gatsby soundtrack, "Young and Beautiful," which picked up a Grammy nod for Best Song Written For Visual Media. Del Rey is scheduled to headline Maryland's Sweetlife Music and Food Festival on May 10th along with 2 Chainz and Foster the People.
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