Lana Del Rey

I have given this album several goes and I cannot get into it for the life of me. The only tracks I could sing bits of from memory are Salvatore and High By The Beach. Maybe three years from now I'll sit crying after a breakup I did not instigate and put it on and finally get it.

Honeymoon the track is really striking and beautiful imo, esp once I clipped the first like 2 mins of it off

that & freak (has become prob 1 of her fav tracks of mine ever) & blackest day are the only tracks I listen to

http://m.tmz.com/#article/2015/12/02/lana-del-rey-fan-arrested/

Shades of Cool still sounds soooooo boss to me

actually the whole Ultraviolence album is \m/ \m/ imo

"Ultraviolence" is her best album.

New song

http://pitchfork.com/news/71155-lana-del-rey-returns-with-new-song-young-and-in-love/

new song is great, but the video is...odd? her smiling creeps me out. maybe it's meant to.

yea the song is good

it's good but it's more directly pop than usual for her

ultraviolence is easily her best yeah, i'm still hoping she'll do something similar to that with some jazzy ambience someday

Love this song and video, gorgeous

I like this. My favorite thing by a long shot on Ultraviolence is "Fucked My Way to the Top."

Is the original video for "Video Games" still on the internet anywhere?

(Or maybe the one online is the original? Thought I'd read her edit got pulled)

She's bored me for years, and I like the new song a great deal.

This statement, from a BBC interview, fills me with dread.

I started out thinking that the whole record was gonna have a ’50s/’60s feeling, like some kind of Shangri-Las, early Joan Baez influences. But as the climate kept on getting more heated politically, I found lyrically everything was just directed towards that. So because of that, the sound just got really updated, and I felt like it was more wanting to talk to the younger side of the audience that I have. I guess it’s just a little more socially aware. It’s kind of a global feeling.

eep

yea thats not good

tbf though she has always been terrible at describing her own music iirc

album will probably sound exactly like the last two

although, 'younger' sound was exactly what the Born to Die had (and the last two didn't) and I know a lot of people who really love that about that album.

i have a hard time imagining her doing anything explicitly political, although it would be amusing if she put out a fugazi album or something. her videos have often had a kind of running commentary on american culture anyway.

http://pitchfork.com/news/71868-yes-lana-del-rey-is-promoting-an-anti-trump-witchcraft-ritual/

of course she is

I was a bit underwhelmed with this song at first, but the video has made me fall in love with it. It is very odd to see her smiling so much. I guess she's not really done a lot of that in her videos before.

I have a hard time deciding between her albums. They're all pretty equal for me. Honeymoon was a massive grower.

Also, I've just realised that Love has a hint of Joy Division's Atmosphere about it.

The new song (which is excellent BTW) prompted me to spend the last several days digging into the expanded version of her debut (that is, Born to Die: The Paradise Edition). I've always had a bit of a thing for artists before their "find their voice" -- i.e., when they are trying out personas and styles to see how they fit. Obviously, the hit/miss ratio is going to be greater. But I also think they tend to take greater risks.

BTD alone has several songs that I count among her best -- yes, "Video Games," "Blue Jeans" and "Summertime Sadness," but also "National Anthem" and "Radio" (*huge* earworm). I'm also fond of "Dark Paradise" (which is, uh, dark), the title track and "Off to the Races." As for the EP, "Ride" is generally excellent -- but its bridge is positively thrilling. "Cola" is a complete fave of mine -- kind of "Blue Jeans Part II" musically. Johnny Fever's comment upthread that it was "absurd and terrible and great" was spot on. It's kind of LDR in a nutshell.

Now, are there clunkers? Absolutely -- sometimes within these songs as has been pointed out. I'm still not sure why a line like "Take this party downtown" shows up in multiple songs -- it's almost as if LDR has a McCartney-esque thing for placeholder lyrics that she never swaps out. And the production is, perhaps, a bit glossy in places -- the beats in general sound kind of overly polished.

But on the last few records, it's all sluggish tempos and quaaludes. I get why she did them -- records like Ultraviolence and Honeymoon have helped her mature a bit and, yes, find her voice. They've also positioned her less as a big pop star than as an artist on the fringes, which is where I think she derives a lot of her inspiration. And in general, I love the panoramic sound of these records -- Ultraviolence in particular has a great "Scott Walker as filtered through a Space Echo" sound to it.

Still, on most of her recent material, I've missed the tunes ("Young and Beautiful" excepted), the diversity and even the slight hip hop touches that made her kind of exciting to me. I'm hoping "Love" is a sign that she's moving back in that direction.

good writeup, agree w a lot of it - yea the chaff in born to die is kindof striking considering its peaks

Yeah, you make some good points there. You've pretty much picked my favourite songs from Born To Die. I'm surprised that Radio was never released as a single. I thought it was the obvious hit as soon as I heard the album. Nice to see you mention Dark Paradise which was always the most underrated song on the album. I'd add Without You from the deluxe edition as another highlight. One of her best vocals. Diet Mtn Dew and Million Dollar Man are the only songs I'd say sound like filler to me. Neither of them are terrible songs, they just seem a bit flat. As for Paradise, I couldn't get into that beyond Ride which is one of her best songs and Bell Air which is so beautiful. The rest of it leaves me cold.

"Gods and Monsters" is an underrated track from Paradise. I like in the song "Ultraviolence" where the backing vocal sings "Lay me down tonight with your diamonds at pearls" is awesome when repeated later as part of "Fucked My Way To The Top".

^ Sorry for the terrible formatting of that post. Should be "diamonds and pearls".

For all the guff she (for the most part, deservedly) gets for her live performances, this is straight up amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWWX-y3oIk

(also, +1 for the Audrey Hepburn look -- but -1 for ending the song before the bridge)

Fuck yeah

http://pitchfork.com/news/69503-lana-del-rey-announces-new-album-lust-for-life/?mbid=homepage-more-latest-and-video

That trailer is very ridiculous and very amazing. I am so excited for this album now.

afraid of Weeknd guest spot but I believe in her

Loved Born to Die when it was released (I was in high school) but now it sounds a bit ridiculous. Her subsequent material has fewer cringeworthy lines (there are still a couple: "Oh that face makes me want to party"; "Baby you're so ghetto, you're looking to score"). As a whole, though, Ultraviolence and especially Honeymoon are great. Looking forward to the new album.

what does your username refer to btw

lol it's just my twitter name. which is just my name with "handsome" attached to it.

phew, I had feared the second bit was some ghastly ilxian claim to literary interest/prowess

know what you mean. English teachers always used to expect a lot from me in high school. name=self fulfilling prophecy, i suppose.

as for 'handsome'...well, nothing wrong with claims to beauty but observe sexyDancer as a cautionary tale...released several acclaimed noise-rock records and stopped posting to ilx. you have been warned

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p480x480/17883940_1516739251701853_4736089270494339133_n.jpg?oh=26219d3755ed8de23633601e00fc3b46&oe=598650A5

Weird (but cool!) to see her smiling on a cover. I'm stoked for this.

Not only did she cop Iggy's album title but his cover concept for said album as well?

the smile is weird. I love her but I don't think she should smile.

i like it

i want her to just glower at me

Is there a release date for this yet? This is one of my most anticipated albums of the year right now.

Young And In Love reminds me of a Heather Nova ballad, the 90s are truly back.

wiki sez the release date is 5/26

the smile is weird. I love her but I don't think she should smile.

― akm, Tuesday, April 11, 2017 6:08 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Are you for real? Wtf.

I am in fact for real. Her smiles seem forced like she's being told to smile by the photographer (here) and videographer (in the Love video)

I'm happy she's smiling