A&W

*TW: This article may contain themes that some readers may find distressing.

 

“A&W” is the second single from Lana Del Rey’s upcoming ninth studio album “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd”, which is due to be released via Interscope and Polydor on the 24th March 2023.

“A&W” is a folk-trap track that was released on Valentine’s Day. Written and produced by Del Rey and frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, the song is split into two parts that sound completely different – both sonically and lyrically. The song is a total of seven minutes and fourteen seconds long.

The first part of the track sees Del Rey discuss her childhood, leading up to her adulthood where she becomes a sex addict, taking listeners through a journey. The title of the track does not in fact reference the American root beer company, but is an abbreviation for “American Whore”, which Lana refers to herself as and states: “This is the experience of bein’ an American whore”.

On the third verse (which is still in the first part of the song), Del Rey admits that she has been sexually assaulted, and discusses and critiques rape culture, and the notion that women should control how they appear physically to avoid being assaulted.

The second part of the track is more trap focused, with the 1959 R&B song “Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop” by Little Anthony and the Imperials being interpolated in this part of the song. The track is about a man being entranced by an exotic women and her dancing, which further adds to the sexual themes of A&W. Del Rey also confirmed on TikTok that she is saying “Jimmy Jimmy cocoa puff, Jimmy Jimmy ride/ Jimmy Jimmy coca puff, Jimmy get me high”. This could be a nod to a cocoa puff, which is a colloquial term used to describe a cigarette that contains some sort of powder drug – typically cocaine, and sees Del Rey wanting to feel a high with a lover named Jimmy – who has been mentioned in past tracks (such as her 2014 song “Ultraviolence”.

The audio video for “A&W” was released via Lana Del Rey’s YouTube channel on the 14th February 2023. As of the 21st February 2023, the video had almost 2 million views.

Read the lyrics to “A&W” here.

*All information accurate at the time of publishing.