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Early in Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Lana Del Rey highlights a sermon from megachurch pastor-to-the-stars Judah Smith. In the most Del Rey fashion, it was clearly recorded on her phone during a service — you can hear her and a friend’s giggles bump up in the foreground, above Smith’s projecting voice and a piano instrumental that keeps it moving. Smith proselytizes about love and lust, reading from the Book of Psalms. His presence feels strikingly superfluous in the context of Del Rey...

Lana Del Rey has shared “The Grants,” the latest single from her upcoming ninth studio album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.

On the track, Del Rey (born Elizabeth Grant) appears to pay tribute to the memory of her late uncle David Grant, who died in 2016 while climbing the Rocky Mountains. “I’m gonna take mine of you with me,” Del Rey sings. “Like ‘Rocky Mountain High’/ The way John Denver sings.”

“The Grants” was co-written with Mike Hermosa and features backing vocals from singers Melodye Perry, Pattie Howard, and Shikena Jones, who all appeared in the 2013 music documentary 20 Feet from Stardom.

Listen to Lana Del Rey’s new song “The Grants” below.

The single follows the album’s title track and the seven-minute epic “A&w,” the latter of which we named Song of the Week. Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel...

Lana Del Rey’s soothing vocals over the soft sounds of a piano. It’s the type of sonic beauty we’ve come to expect from the beloved songstress. On Tuesday, Del Rey surprise-released “The Grants,” the opening song of her upcoming album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, which features a nod to some of music’s greatest background singers.

“The Grants” — named after Del Rey’s own family — opens with background singers Melodye Perry, Pattie Howard, and Shikena Jones recording the backing vocals...