Lana Del Rey

Just went to listen to National Anthem again (heard the album for review purposes a while back, haven't downloaded the leak). Not only is not on Spotify but it's been removed from YouTube. They really want those first-week sales.

But anyway that chorus is huge.

I don't hear any sneer in Blue Jeans. I do in Summertime Sadness but I thought she just sounded embarrassed by it. It's such a banal song - the worst on the album imo. Maybe I'll like it more when I hear the album again.

embarrassment might be key! i wouldn't use that word cuz it implies a lack of poise, and at her best on record LDR is very poised, but a definite undercurrent of intense dislike, directed at herself as well as the boy, for performing these roles (while still being fascinated by them) (fascinated enough to do a whole album about them in any case)

i like the line about telephone wires above sizzling like your stare in "summertime sadness"

original discoverer of del rey speaks

http://read.mtvhive.com/2012/01/30/lana-del-rey-first-album-5-points-records-interview

'I was excited. She was very original. I didn’t think she was the same as the other alt-indie girls. She also is a very intelligent and creative person. She would ride around on the subways all night sometimes, writing lyrics and stuff like that.'

lol this whole thing is so condescending and horrible

when i sing along to eg "blue jeans" and "summertime sadness" i feel my mouth curling into a bit of a sneer

I think I deserve recognition for avoiding a very easy joke here

Kind of off-topic here, but I thought was interesting with regards to how the "general public" feels about LDR. My wife, who rarely gets excited about new music, is really anxious to hear her new album and has been questioning me about her all week. I played her "Video Games" last year and she liked it, she also saw the SNL performances and in her words, "yeah, it was bad, but everyone sucks on SNL", but she remains really excited for the full-length.

Anyway, I thought it was really interesting to see LDR be the one new artist she's really interested in right now.

My wife too. She also has a general sense that the backlash is bullying which makes her double down on her LDR love. Helped by the fact that my 5-year-old daughter loves singing Video Games around the house.

i watched like 30 seconds of the snl video games and was so embarrassed i had to turn it off

Yeah, I think thats part of it from my wife as well, we talked a little bit about all the "authenticity" arguments last night and her bottom line was basically, "that's such bullshit, just because she's an attractive female?".

(xpost)

"that's such bullshit, just because she's an attractive female?" also has a lot to do w/ why she was on snl despite having a career that spanned all of two songs

Oh yeah, totally! I don't disagree with that in the least.

Do they usually restrict their guest artists to those who have had a long and productive career?

she was on the JRoss show over here, the performance was dull/lacklustre (I thought the SNL one was alright), but as my wife says "they always have awful sound on there"..

.. and they tend to limit their guest artists to "whoever has a single out that sort of fits in with the show style / remit"

I don't think they've ever had anyone on who didn't even have an album yet

there mustve been someone w/a hit single and debut album abt to drop on before

iirc, Jessie J was on SNL before he album came out in the U.S. Plus they are putting Karmin on in a few weeks.

putting us all on

LDR's had a album out, innit?

I'm guessing the season finale will be Pomplamoose.

Her album comes out today in the U.S. Mark G, she was on SNL a couple weeks ago.

LDR's had a album out, innit?

― Mark G, Tuesday, January 31, 2012 10:31 AM (25 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

eh kinda

my wife too!

Lana Del Rey, popular with ILM spouses since 2012!

yeah, maria really digs LDR. she even sent away for a picture disc single.

she hasn't been this excited about someone since death grips.

(I read that as Scott's wife has had an album out too at first)

With the topic of attractiveness can it be said to be two fold? People love to hate pretty girls while secretly wanting to have sex with them or be them. I don't find her attractive per se but I find the potential execution of her image appealing. I think bitching about singers who only get far on looks is tired by now because if people wanted "real music" then they should buy music by whomever despite looks (and not comment relentlessly on the Internet about their looks/clothes/surgeries they had, etc.). But since we are a vain stupid society who project assumptions and fantasies on strangers who sing that's not the case. I guess what I'm trying to say here is bitching about LDR while not supporting an "average or ugly" artist who songs are good doesn't make a person's argument valid. And if you do support artists despite looks then that's cool.

The other fold would be liking an artists mainly because he/she is attractive.

She also has a general sense that the backlash is bullying which makes her double down on her LDR love.

People have been retweeting her official line about the release being top 10 'in spite of the haters' so yeah this is a good marketing strategy that she is pretty wise to embrace.

Well, it worked for the Sex Pistols.

The More I Listen to Lana Del Rey’s Album, the More I Like It
By Jonah Weiner | January 30, 2012

god man stop listening to it then ffs!

The More I Look at Lana Del Rey’s Album, the More I Like Her

People have been retweeting her official line about the release being top 10 'in spite of the haters' so yeah this is a good marketing strategy that she is pretty wise to embrace.

oh god

it's the "Miranda Sings" strategy of marketing

the more i think abt ripping lana del reys top off and making alienated dystopian animal love to her the more i just dont know abt life any more you know

She's had so much shit in the past few months that I would be stunned if she didn't try to make hater-defiance a selling point. With some people you think "Who exactly are these haters you keep whining about?" but I think LDR has a solid excuse.

In fairness, I have no real idea of exactly how bad it is for her because I had never seen her mentioned outside of ILX until her SNL appearance, after which point I mostly studiously avoided mention of her outside of ILX because, well, I kind of hated her.

do you find her annoying

lol no

I guess if she'd ignored the internet entirely she'd have been sheltered from the backlash until SNL, but she doesn't strike me as an ignoring-the-internet kind of person.

As a side note, I really wish people would stop mentioning Brian Williams in their album reviews.

my overall reaction was "there's a voice there, why isn't anyone helping her figure out how to use it"

I don't think they've ever had anyone on who didn't even have an album yet

i think i saw some people say ms dynamite was on snl before her album was released back in the day?

She's had so much shit in the past few months that I would be stunned if she didn't try to make hater-defiance a selling point. With some people you think "Who exactly are these haters you keep whining about?" but I think LDR has a solid excuse.

aaaaaand i can almost hear the kanye collaboration now

Me too. She's a Kanye hook waiting to happen, especially since the album is already in MBDTF territory.

And if Kanye starts weighing in on the real-v-fake debate LDR's lyrics are going to sound like Randy Newman by comparison.

Randy Newman's lyrics already sound like the "Left foot/Right foot/Left foot/Right foot" parody from Family Guy so I can't tell if that's a plus or minus for LDR

I guess if she'd ignored the internet entirely she'd have been sheltered from the backlash until SNL, but she doesn't strike me as an ignoring-the-internet kind of person.

the backlash really is a byproduct of the internet age. used to be somebody had to fuck up the national anthem at a sporting event to get this type of exposure.

one of the most memorable SNL performances I've seen was everclear doing "santa monica" in '96. the bassist and the guitarist were out of tune and it sounded horrible, they didn't even come back to play a second song. if that happened today it would get blogged to hell and back.

can you imagine if cat power had done SNL early in her career? yikes.

Yeah, I think thats part of it from my wife as well, we talked a little bit about all the "authenticity" arguments last night and her bottom line was basically, "that's such bullshit, just because she's an attractive female?".

(xpost)

― Gonjasufjanstephen O'Malley (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, January 31, 2012 7:14 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"that's such bullshit, just because she's an attractive female?" also has a lot to do w/ why she was on snl despite having a career that spanned all of two songs

― iatee, Tuesday, January 31, 2012 7:16 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

people like attractive people. we like to give attractive people careers in attractiveness so that we can look at them and fantasize about them and consider purchasing the products they endorse.

we also enjoy hating them. the latter tendency i'm much less sympathetic with, especially when the attractive people in question are young women. you want to like attractive people and buy their records and watch them on E! Entertainment Television? fine. that's your business and no harm done. but the inverse of that, the desire to disparage pretty young women simply because they seem to "get by on their looks" kind of disgusts me.

oh i just remembered, wasn't LDR supposed to do a few other US chat shows around now? ellen, and another one? have those happened yet?

Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under the Bridge" on SNL was a trainwreck.

its pretty memorable when someone doesn't suck on snl.

Well, it was one of two times I saw SNL! Just thought I'd chime in like I knew something.

Randy Newman's lyrics already sound like the "Left foot/Right foot/Left foot/Right foot" parody from Family Guy so I can't tell if that's a plus or minus for LDR

― I spend a lot of time thinking about apricots (DJP), Tuesday, January 31, 2012 11:46 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

omg stfu u monster