Lana Del Rey, “Honeymoon”

Lana Del Rey, Honeymoon (2015)
Interscope
Photographers: Neil Krug, Chuck Grant
Designers: Mat Maitland, Markus Karlsson

The art for Lana Del Rey’s fourth LP, Honeymoon, is also a clever use of marketing. The dreamy LP cover brings to mind vintage Hollywood, with Lana sitting in a Hollywood tour bus with big sunglasses and a sunhat gazing into the distance. The tour bus for Starline Tours has a phone number on the side of the bus. A phone number that was used to give fans a sneak preview of new songs from the album.

When fans called the number, they would play samples of tracks “Terrence Loves You,” “Burnt Norton (Interlude),” or would provide lectures chosen by Lana and weekly album updates. Some lucky fans even got to speak with Lana herself.

Initially, a different image was to be used for the cover of Honeymoon. Lana said in an interview that “the pictures were perfect but something was missing.” She went on to explain “Maybe it was the need for movement and motion or the search for a single frame that felt extra graphic.” Soon after this image shoot, she went out with Neil Krug and Chuck Grant on a Starline Tour, which resulted in the images shot in the album cover and booklet. The art direction was handled by Big Active artists, Mat Maitland and Markus Karlsson.

A second version of the album cover is available exclusively to Urban Outfitters. This version is a closeup of Lana’s face instead of the Starline tour image.