Lana Del Rey Says Her New Album Cover Was Originally a Nude Photo: 'I Got Nervous'

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Lana Del Rey almost bared it all on the cover of her upcoming album Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.

The "A&W" singer-songwriter spoke to Billie Eilish for Interview magazine's latest cover story on Tuesday and revealed the artwork for her new record, shot by Neil Krug, was originally going to be a nude photograph.

"My original cover was nude, then I thought about it, and I was like, maybe not right now, because there are some other things I want to do where I feel like that could get in the way," Del Rey, 37, told the fellow superstar.

She then recalled nearly elongating the album's title to Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd Watch Me on Ring a Bell Psycho Lifeguard before deciding it contained too many words.

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"That was a really psychotic day because I was like, 'Am I willing to literally burn everything down to the ground by having some strange, nonsensical title?' But that's a really good lesson because even with the nude photo, it was like, I might not have used it, but there's definitely something there," said Del Rey.

She explained, "The idea behind it was, instead of being exposed for things that weren't true, I wanted to reveal something about myself that I actually thought was beautiful, but in the end, I got nervous about doing that because I was like, 'Is this an artistic inspiration that came to me or is this a reaction to something I feel is critical about me?'"

Del Rey noted that she doesn't like to "do anything in response to something that's fear-based or based on what people think about me," which led her to scrap the nude album cover.

"I don't know if that'll ever come out, but if it did, I would just want to make sure it came out when I thought it was super fun and not because I had to show something to people," she said. "That part of the process was a little tumultuous, because I was feeling open, but then I closed down again and wanted to play it safe."

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However, she still wants fans to take the same message away from the record despite its more buttoned-up artwork. "But the good thing is that the songs are so wordy that if you listen to them carefully, they're revealing in the same way the photo would've been," added Del Rey. "I was like, 'OK, I'll let the songs do the talking for now.'"

The "Born to Die" performer released the album's title track in December, and this week, she dropped its second single, "A&W."

Featuring collaborations with Judah Smith, Jon Batiste, SYML, Riopy, Father John Misty, Bleachers and Tommy Genesis, Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd will be released on March 24.