Lana Del Rey

(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

maura says this is the worst thing yet. so, of course, i will read it now:

http://www.esquire.com/features/music/lana-del-rey-album-review-0212

aaaaaand i can almost hear the kanye collaboration now

― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Tuesday, January 31, 2012 11:41 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is an amazing concept and i for one cannot wait

randy newman sucks. everyone knows it. they just feel bad for him cuzza his shirts.

and if it takes two kent school grads to point that out, well, then it has to be done.

scotts worst nightmare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH9ZzrkLTDQ

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?

― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Tuesday, January 31, 2012 11:48 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

scheduled for letterman on thurs 2/2/12 but idk maybe it was cancelled?

Not to associate everyone who dislikes her with the creeps in newspaper comment threads but the angle of the creeps' complaints are revealing. They are already obsessed with the idea that the music industry is an all-powerful, many-tentacled conspiracy that is lying to them, bribing journalists for good reviews, etc. Add to that an attractive young woman with a rich dad and it's a perfect storm of impotent resentment whereby LDR becomes the symbol of all that is wrong with music, capitalism, the youth of today, and the comment creeps' own wretched lives.

i think i resent it way more if unattractive people (who also suck) get to be massive and successful. like, drake isn't EVEN hott so WHYYYYYYY :(

"attractiveness" is such a weird thing to base anything on though - it's just a totally nebulous, meaningless word, and it's often a stand-in for "visually striking" or "charismatic" or "willing to wear revealing clothes", because how we relate to celebrities visually is kinda more individual and complex than just reductive "sexual desire"

otm

LDR becomes the symbol of all that is wrong with music, capitalism, the youth of today, and the comment creeps' own wretched lives

to be fair about 90% of interviews with pop stars are seen as this BTL

i don't hate nina simone anymore! i came around. my brother-in-law played an album and i really liked it. see, i can learn.

haha just when i was gonna start a why does skot h8 nina simone and randy newman thread

You know this version, Scott?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHEPi_iK6jM

people who ascribe pretty female popstrels' popularity entirely to their hotness never seem to realise that for most of them, their actual active fanbase is mostly young straight women and gay men - the straight boys who fancy nicole scherzinger weren't exactly first in line for pussycat dolls music

i was just listening to the tamlins!

i've been listening to so much gorgeous gorgeous jamaican vocal stuff. i wish there was more stuff like that on the radio! just heartbreaking and beautiful and so powerful.

(probably why i was such a fan of that first massive attack album)

Tamlins' vocalist is awesome

That Tamlin's version of Batlimore is one of my all-time favourite records I think. (It's collected on Darker than Blue, right?)

Tamlins.

randy newman is awesome!

Beat-up little seagull
On a marble stair
Trying to find the ocean
Looking everywhere

tho i dont much care for his singing

Beat-up little seagull
On a marble stair
Trying to find the ocean
Looking everywhere
Video gaaaames