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Lana Del Rey announces release date for poetry book and spoken-word album

Roisin O'Connor
·3 min read
Lana Del Rey at the Grammys on 26 January 2020 in Los Angeles, California: Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Lana Del Rey at the Grammys on 26 January 2020 in Los Angeles, California: Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Lana Del Rey will release a book of poetry and its accompanying spoken-word album – set to music by her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff – later this month.

Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is scheduled for release on 28 July, it has been announced. Hardcover and ebook editions of the poetry book will come out on 29 September, with CDs and vinyl shipping on 2 October.

The project was announced by Del Rey in December last year. She said that half of proceeds from the book and album will “benefit Native American organisations around the country”.

Earlier this week, Del Rey revealed she is supporting the Najavo Water Project, and that money for the book’s advance will go to “different Native American projects”.

“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. “We plan on fulfilling that target in the next 4 weeks to bring it up to their million-dollar mark, and we’ll be travelling throughout New Mexico Arizona and Utah to say hello and make sure it gets done.”

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Dates 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.

A post shared by Lana Del Rey (@lanadelrey) on Jul 8, 2020 at 12:27pm PDT

Del Rey’s latest studio album, Norman F***ing Rockwell, was released last year, and received a nomination for Album of the Year at the 2020 Grammy Awards.

An Instagram post announcing her next album was the subject of controversy as she defended lyrics she said had been criticised for being about women with “sometimes submissive or passive roles” in relationships.

Del Rey compared how she is treated by the music industry compared to artists including Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Cardi B, Kehlani, Nicki Minaj and Doja Cat, women she said had achieved number ones “with songs about being sexy, wearing no clothes, f***ing, cheating etc”.

“I’m fed up with female writers and alt singers saying that I glamorise abuse when in reality I’m just a glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing are very prevalent emotionally abusive relationships all over the world,” she wrote.

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