Music

Nikki Lane + Lana Del Rey’s Might Have More Collaborations Coming

Nikki Lane co-wrote and sings with pop-rock artist Lana Del Rey on her new song “Breaking Up Slowly,” but the new collaboration might not be their only music together. In a new interview, the outlaw singer-songwriter shares that she and Del Rey have some other songs in the works, too.

To Rolling Stone, Lane reveals that she and Del Rey have been “writing songs driving around in an F-150 in Texas,” and that fans “can expect to see the fruit” of those writing sessions.

“I obviously want her to be able to have control with the way her art plays out. But knowing that we’re working together on these projects, I was like, ‘What are we gonna do with that other song?’ And she’s like, ‘Well, we’re gonna do more!’ She wants to lean in,” says Lane, who notes that Del Rey’s voice “naturally works so well in that country space.”

“And I think what you’ve seen with Lana, with her records across her career, is that she likes to lean into all of those characters, or all of those different genres, different producers that she’s worked with and sounds that she’s worked with,” Lane adds. “So I think she wants to lean into country, and I love that.”

Lane and Del Rey wrote “Breaking Up Slowly” — which appears on Del Rey’s new album, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, released on March 19 — before a show in Wichita, Kan. The two first toured together in 2019, but have been friends for “a long time,” Lane shares.

“I hadn’t seen her in a long time, so it was literally as simple as a catch-up,” Lane recalls of their songwriting session. “We sat down in a hotel room and talked about what had been going on in the past few months. And I had carried my guitar up to practice … And I kind of said out loud, ‘Well, someone says I’m breaking up slowly’ … So she sings, ‘Breaking up slowly…’ And I’m like, ‘Oh s–t, yeah.’ And so we wrote the song just hanging out before we went downstairs to get ready for the show that day.”

Del Rey, too, recently hinted that there may be more country music in her future: In a recent interview, she said that she’s planning to further embrace her rootsy leanings by putting out “a cover album of country songs,” and has another batch of “other folk songs” ready to go as well.

“I’m not going to have pedal steel guitar on every single thing, but it is easy for me to write,” Del Rey says.

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