Lana Del Rey Reveals Poetry Book and Spoken Word Album Release Dates
Lana Del Rey has been teasing the release of Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass — a poetry book and an accompanying audiobook of poems set to music — since shortly after she put out her last album, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, in August 2019.
As of Thursday, the Violet project finally has official release dates: the audiobook will be out July 28th, and the hardcover and ebook editions will arrive September 29th. CD and vinyl copies will ship October 2nd.
Del Rey first announced the poetry project on Instagram back in December. In her video, she stated that half of the proceeds would “benefit Native American organizations around the country, whether it was for preserving their rights or trying to help keep their land intact.” This week, she detailed that the proceeds would benefit the Navajo Water Project.
View this post on InstagramDates for the release of the audiobook and the physical book tomorrow! Also you should know about – Navajo Water Project www.navajowaterproject.org 1 in 3 Navajo still don’t have a sink or a toilet. That means 1/3 of Navajo families haul water home every day. They pay 67 x more for the water they haul vs. piped water. Access to running water has become more important than ever during the COVID-19 crisis. In May, the infection rate in the Navajo Nation — at roughly 2,500 per 100,000 residents — surpassed that of New York. The Navajo Water Project brings clean, hot and cold running water to families across New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.The installation of a water and solar system takes just 24 hours from start to finish. The Navajo Water Project has a fundraising target of $1,035,000 for 2020 to bring running water and solar power to 230 families. and we plan on fulfilling that target in the next 4 weeks to bring it up to their million dollar mark, and we’ll be traveling throughout New Mexico Arizona and Utah to say hello and make sure it gets done. The Navajo Water Project is Indigenous-led, and registered as an official enterprise on the Navajo Nation. Their work creates meaningful, high-paying jobs, many with benefits like 100% employer-paid health coverage.
“The Navajo Water Project has a fundraising target of $1,035,000 for 2020 to bring running water and solar power to 230 families,” Del Rey wrote. “And we plan on fulfilling that target in the next four weeks to bring it up to their million-dollar mark, and we’ll be traveling throughout New Mexico, Arizona and Utah to say hello and make sure it gets done.”
In addition to Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, Del Rey has indicated that another album, Chemtrails over the Country Club, will be arriving this September. A second poetry book — reportedly titled Behind the Iron Gates – Insights From an Institution — is also in the works. Del Rey referenced both works in a controversial open letter this past May, in which her defense of “submissive” women in her work was read by some as a slight against mainly black pop artists, including Doja Cat, Ariana, Camila, Cardi B, Kehlani, Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé.
Lana Del Rey, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass Tracklist
1. LA Who Am I to Love You
2. The Land of 1,000 Fires
3. Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass
4. Past the Bushes Cypress Thriving
5. Salamander
6. Never to Heaven
7. Sportcruiser
8. Tessa DiPietro
9. Quiet Waiter Blue Forever
10. What Happened When I Left You
11. Happy
12. My Bedroom Is a Sacred Place Now – There Are Children at the Foot of My Bed
13. Paradise Is Very Fragile
14. Bare Feet on Linoleum
