Lana Del Rey’s new album Norman F*cking Rockwell is being hailed as one of the best (perhaps the best) of her career. Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next will surely place at least near the top of the upcoming year-end best album lists. Now those two forces have come together: During Lana Del Rey’s recent stop at BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, she delivered a cover of “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored,” effectively applying her brand of nostalgia-soaked alternative pop to Grande’s hit.
Del Rey said before her performance, “I thought about sending her a screenshot a couple days ago where they gave me a list of preferred covers, of which she had like seven songs that were listed, so that she wouldn’t just think I was a mega fan, but I didn’t do it.” After the performance, Lana said she “tried to bring a little bit of earthiness into it.”
Grande herself was clearly a mega fan of the performance, as she reacted on Twitter, “oh my god @lanadelrey i love u so very very much.”
https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/1171057492123688963
“Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” wasn’t Del Rey’s only cover of the session, although she has already put her stamp on the other one: Sublime’s “Doin’ Time.” Of course, her rendition of the song appears on her new album, as well as in a documentary about the band.
In June, Del Rey and Grande (and Miley Cyrus) teased that they had a new song together, and portions of it could be heard in a trailer for the upcoming reboot of Charlie’s Angels. There hasn’t been much news about the track since then (even its title is still unknown), so it’s unclear when the full song will be released.
Listen to the Grande cover here (beginning at around the 2:08:00 mark) and read our review of Norman F*cking Rockwell here.
