Ultraviolence is coming, single revealed on 14 April, and is expected to be played on Radio 1
Gaby Whitehill

11:21 11th April 2014

More about:

The lead single from Lana Del Rey's forthcoming LP Ultraviolence will get its first play on BBC Radio 1 on Monday (April 14).

As confirmed by a Guardian journalist on Twitter, 'West Coast' will be premiered on Fearne Cotton's show (which starts at 10am) on Monday, April 14. The news follows rumours that 'West Coast' will be released on iTunes over the weekend (which is obviously not going to happen now).

The single artwork to 'West Coast' was revealed by Del Rey on her Facebook today (April 11). The campaign for the single and forthcoming second album Ultraviolence seems to have kicked into gear in the past few days, with billboards promoting the record popping up in LA and New York.

The 'Ride' star will play her first live show of 2014 at The Chelsea, Las Vegas, tonight. She'll then head to Coachella to play the Sunday of the California festival this weekend.

Ultraviolence is rumoured to be released in May - but an official date is yet to be confirmed.

Below - 7 reasons why Lana Del Rey is pretty much the perfect pop star:

  • She is brilliant with her fans: Del Rey doesn't do much in the way of press, and interviews are rare. The star does, however, spend a huge amount of time engaging with fans, both online and in real life. Although she may have got the specifics wrong, she told fans the release dates of her Tropico movie and Ultraviolence album before anyone else, and held a special screening for fans in Hollywood in late 2013.

  • She knows exactly who she is as an artist: She has her style and image NAILED. When debut album Born To Die dropped, Lana Del Rey was already a fully formed pop artist, whose blend of hip-hop influences blended perfectly in both her image and sound. While other stars struggle to reinvent, shock and impress, Del Rey has kept it classy and iconic from day one. Why would she need to reinvent, she's got it sorted.

  • Her references are elegant, cool and intelligent: Ultraviolence is named after a reference in Anthony Burgess's iconic A Clockwork Orange. It certainly instill more of a sense of drama than, for instance, Prism or Artpop might suggest.

  • She keeps it classy and cool when it comes to her collaborators: Upping her game on second album Ultraviolence, Lana Del Rey has drafted in some big names for the record. But did she jump on the bandwagon with the biggest names in music production? Not a chance. The star worked with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach on her new album, which took the project in an exciting new direction.

  • Even when she gets it a bit wrong, it is still brilliant: Lana Del Rey released a short film at the end of 2013 called Tropico. It was a bit boring and was little more than a pretentious collection of music videos from her special edition Born To Die album. However, despite being made almost exclusively for her fans, it was a beautifully shot, forgivably pretentious project that showed many flashes of absolute brilliance across its 27minute running time.

  • She's developed her sound perfectly: Ultraviolence is unmistakably Lana Del Rey from the very first few seconds. And yet, it is by no means a carbon copy of Born To Die. Del Rey has taken her music in a darker, rockier, woozier direction, but she's retained the fundamental sound that made people first sit up and pay attention.

  • Her music is bloody marvelous: We might as well kick this off with the most important reason of all. If you don't get a shiver down your spine when you hear 'Ride', 'Young & Beautiful' or 'Shades Of Cool'. you simply do not have a heart (or are a jellyfish).

More about:


Photo: Press