Lana Del Rey Posed Nude For Her Original Album Cover

During her recent conversation for Interview magazine, the "Born to Die" singer told Billie Eilish that she was going to bare it all for her upcoming record Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvdbefore ultimately deciding against it.

“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 said, explaining that it was meant to be a visual metaphor representing the experience 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?,'" as she continued. "I never liked to do anything in response to something that’s fear-based or based on what people think about me."

Del Rey added, “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.”

In the end, the acclaimed singer-songwriter opted for a more demure cover featuring a blueish black-and-white photo of herself lying on her stomach, with the focus being on her contemplative expression in order to let the lyrics of her "songs do the talking for now."

Elsewhere in their chat, the two musicians connected over being a young female artist on the rise and what Eilish said was feeling "very hated and disliked," with Del Rey recalling the confusing mixture of online popularity and backlash she dealt with as the alleged "face of feminine submission and the pro-domestic whatever.”

"That was quite tough, because at the time, I was just trying to figure things out. Now, you hear a lot of singer-songwriters and rappers talking about how things really are in their lives, and a lot of it is super messy. And everyone’s like, 'The storytelling is amazing, and I love that they’re baring it all,'" Del Rey said. "I always felt with me that there was some catch-22 and I wasn’t sure what it was for a long time.”

She continued, “That was quite tough, because at the time, I was just trying to figure things out… For me, it was trial by fire. [But] it’s definitely a different era now.”

Did You Know That There’s a TunnelUnder Ocean Blvd will be released on March 24. In the meantime, you can read Del Rey and Eilish's entire conversation for Interview about Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, surviving public scrutiny and the foibles of fame here.

Photo via Getty / Kevin Winter