Lana Del Rey releases poetry album, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass

Lana Del Rey has released the audiobook of her new poetry collection, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass. Narrated by the singer, the audiobook also features backing music by regular collaborator Jack Antonoff.

The 33-minute audiobook features 14 poems from the collection. The 112-page hardcover and ebook versions of the poetry collection won’t be out until September 29, with CDs and LPs arriving later on October 2.

“Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass is the title poem of the book and the first poem I wrote of many,” Lana Del Rey said last month. “Some of which came to me in their entirety, which I dictated and then typed out, and some that I worked laboriously picking apart each word to make the perfect poem. They are eclectic and honest and not trying to be anything other than what they are and for that reason I’m proud of them, especially because the spirit in which they were written was very authentic.”

Del Rey first announced the book and accompanying ‘spoken word’ album as having a January 4 release date, but it got delayed following the theft of her sister Chuck Grant’s artwork. It’s the first of two new poetry projects that Del Rey has plans for this year – the other, titled behind the iron gates - insights from an institution, does not yet have a release date, though she shared “patent leather do-over” from that collection in May.

Lana Del Rey plans to donate some proceeds from Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass to Native American charities, previously stating that she was attempting to raise $1,035,000 for the Navajo Water Project over the coming month.

Check out the sample track “LA Who Am I to Love You” below. The full audiobook is available on sites like Audible and Apple Books.