Lana Del Rey

Uploaded by LanaDelRey on May 27, 2011
www.facebook.com/lanadelrey
HOLLYWOOD SADCORE

hopefully the attention del rey gets will give me an opportunity to wave fiona apple in people's faces again, at least

This song is beautiful...

Also liking this a lot, with bernard snowy on the excellence of that first line.

Bah. I get that vinyl fits her aesthetic, but eschewing CD will be a cruel blow to those of us who don't own turntables but do care about sound quality.

― Vast Halo, Sunday, August 7, 2011 9:54 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

I don't know if there won't be a CD, but at least there will be an mp3 and vinyl.

So chuffed this is getting love here!

i can't remember the last time i kept having to come back to a song so much on the first day i heard it

<3

Me too. Tirelessly repeating it.

just got in and literally the first thing i did was go to my computer to play the youtube video - my groceries are still sitting on the floor

I like this song but I'm getting a promotional street team vibe off of this thread...

I'm as unnerved as anyone by the seemingly unanimous consensus (+ as lex aptly put it, "residual suspicions about what i suspect is a shtick")... but at the same time, it really *does* feel like this totally unique, amazing, timely song that just... appeared from nowhere.

I've only ('only') played it like a half-dozen times today tho, and am trying to balance my desire for further listening against my desire to adopt a more critical and self-aware position in said listening (I get suspicious when something seems "too good to be true"). not that I'm rushing to be the first one to burst the internet echo chamber's bubble of irrational exuberance; just that I'd like to deconstruct my own and other people's reactions to this (very very good) piece of music in order to understand *why* it's hitting us all so hard.

off the top of my head, start with
—the ever-present mystique of the total blank-slate unknown artist, who is doing
—a well-done pastiche(?) of a much-loved style that is not especially popular or prominent at the moment, coupled with
—a strikingly original video that supports the aesthetic of the song (i.e. doesn't just feel like a gimmick), while also giving it
—an unmistakably contemporary 'twist'; all topped off with
—a hot girl, who is
—singing about video games, but also
—love,
—love,
—glorious bittersweet terrible love

I really hope this gets released as a one-sided 12" single that plays on 45rpm, because I'd buy the shit out of that.

Don't really wanna be friends with anyone who could hear this song and not melt.

This is great and I did melt. But I composed myself enough to play it again. Four times in a row.

http://radioexile.com/2008/10/27/spotlight-on-lizzy-grant/#more-75976

Kill, Kill: http://www.spinner.com/2008/12/18/lizzy-grant-kill-kill-video-of-the-day/

nice find! song's not bad either

http://coxy.co/post/8443458829/i-recently-posted-a-music-video-for-video-games-by

Will be released in October on vinyl and mp3

or you can get the instrumental karaoke version right now

fucking awful video

Just wanna put it out there that I posted this video to WS back in early June to no fanfare.

Also I heard a joke:
Q: how'd the hipster burn his mouth?
A: he ate pizza before it was cool.

^^knew i'd seen it before

It’s hardly a shock that her music so far is so diverse given all the people she’s been in the studio with over the past year, some of whom include Eg White (Adele, Duffy), Chris Braide (Cheryl Cole, Paloma Faith), Guy Chambers (Robbie Williams, Katie Melua), and newcomers Robopop (Neon Hitch, Gym Class Heroes).

I’m not sure if Miss Del Rey has landed a major label record deal yet (I’m sure she probably has and is just waiting to announce it), but she’s under the same PR company in the UK as Adele and Bjork, so the wheels are certainly in motion.

none of those names she's been in the studio with are remotely promising :/

Digging through other songs - none as mesmerising as Videogames, and a lot more obvious schtick, though all good so far. I see her triggering the same kind of responses as Nellie McKay and Janelle Monae but I'm not sure how deep this goes and whether it will lead to a great album (feel free to step in here and say McKay and Monae didn't make great debuts either, and I will disagree). Working with Guy Chambers or Eg White is a bad sign.

That's a weird selection of producers considering the styles of music that I've heard on the youtubes.

Purple PR iirc? Where's that quote from Lex?

I am still pondering on a reply to the wonderful and interesting comments left by Bernard Snowy. I don't think I'm ready yet to go into speculation or unravelling the whole marketing thing, if any. I do deeply dread the h*pster word has already shown up on this thread...

Yeah Bernard's being v smart. I'm still taking that song in - I haven't had time to develop any critical thoughts.

Whatever's going on with the marketing, and may go wrong en route to the album, doesn't take an atom of marvellousness away from Video Games.

bateau - it's from some blog that i'm not gonna link cuz the last time i encountered them they were calling me a bitter bitch, lol. first page of google results if you google lana del rey, though.

i've heard two other songs and i think i enjoy "diet mtn dew" almost as much as "video games", but the latter has that extra something about it that just stops you in your tracks...

i don't think del rey is as invested in being funny or weird as mckay or monáe. i did really enjoy that first nellie mckay album though.

Ok understood Lex ;) Thanks.

I found the album she recorded a couple of years ago under her real name, Lizzy Grant. I'll make it available here tonight when back from work, if people are interested. I've not heard everything from it, but I agree with Lex that while Video Games takes the cake, the other songs aren't particularly filler, they all wave something about them. On the whole there a lot of interesting things about her music and I think she's definitely got a great album in her, too. Especially the song 'Yayo' is very, very good.

I need to check out the Nellie McKay album now, too, don't I?

wave=have

Just wanna put it out there that I posted this video to WS back in early June to no fanfare.

Also I heard a joke:
Q: how'd the hipster burn his mouth?
A: he ate pizza before it was cool.

― jaxon, Monday, August 8, 2011 3:17 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

that's interesting, tho—do you remember where/how you found the video?

also, one more thing to add (and only because somebody called me "smart" <3) — for me, thinking about this kind of industry/marketing/PR stuff in no way takes away from the music. especially because, as y'all so quickly discovered, this is very much a 'relaunch' of a talented artist who failed to make a splash 3 years ago, given higher production values and a new name and a makeover.

I mean, the most widely-voiced complaint at this point seems to be "ewww ridiculous ducklips, what possessed you to do this to yourself???"; which is true, but does nothing to take away from the heartbreaking emotion of a song that goes "it's you it's you it's all for you / everything I do / [...] / go play your video games".

also, lol@her (self?)description as "hollywood sadcore" and "gangster nancy sinatra"

also also also I need a bigger vocab

aw Bernard <3

"ewww ridiculous ducklips, what possessed you to do this to yourself???"

i was going to post this exact complaint.

I think her lips are cute.

aye i love disfigurement.

But anyway, we don't have to rehash the youtube comments section here.

The thing that struck me about the three Lizzie Grant songs I heard was how much they sorta harkened back to the early 2000s for me, sonically. I mean, Video Games, the way I'm hearing it now when it's fresh, sort of shimmers out of a timeless ethereal pool. Gramma, Yayo, and Kill Kill just really hit me the way they would have blended in well with what I was listening to back then (a lot of Dan the Automator-type, downtempo/pop shit, basically).

(that opinion being formed from just one listen though - I don't know exactly what I'm getting at with it)

The string arrangement is the secret weapon of Video Games, love it so much.

Does anybody know what the videogame clips in the video are?

Gramma, Yayo, and Kill Kill just really hit me the way they would have blended in well with what I was listening to back then (a lot of Dan the Automator-type, downtempo/pop shit, basically).

― kkvgz, Monday, August 8, 2011 7:54 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

otm

I'm pretty sure Nancy Sinatra is the gangster Nancy Sinatra.

lol, i thought that when i first read the 'gangster nancy sinatra' thing

I found the album she recorded a couple of years ago under her real name, Lizzy Grant. I'll make it available here tonight when back from work, if people are interested.

Le Bateau Ivre - was this more than just the three songs I mentioned above?

Also want to note that I'm beginning to get a troubling feeling that beyond all the songwriting and vocal tricks and cool collage videos, that I actually like this because I'm some kind of flippin' creepo perv or something.

Yes, nearly 20 songs! No-one responded though and therefore I forgot about... If you're interested I'll hook you up tonight.

far out. I definitely want to hear more of this. thanks!

IDGI. It just sounds like slowed down Mazzy Star with harp samples on it. It's just so... nothingy.

I dunno, maybe I'm not in the right place emotionally to be listening to music like this, but tired, sleep deprived, emotionally completely strung out... no. It's not hitting anything for me right now.

But I don't know that anything could.

kkvgz, and others interested: http://www.mediafire.com/?tx7lgwnd84874z4

this is fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPIJk0MKSWM

Interview with some interesting (if somewhat vague) remarks on her career, etc.: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/lana-del-rey-billie-eilish-olivia-rodrigo-critics-waffle-house-1235593189/

I bought Lust for Life on CD (I’ve only ever streamed her first four albums)… I enjoy listening to it in the background while I work, so I thought it may be a good candidate for really bumping in the car.

It’s not, unfortunately… for all its 2017 chart-pop affectations (Max Martin on one track; features by The Weeknd & ASAP Rocky (twice)), the album’s almost as dreary a listen as the two before it.

There are a few bright spots, particularly the Sean Lennon duet (I really like that song). But the songwriting’s not strong overall, and Lana’s still singing in that voice that sounds like she’s half-awake… zzzz

In that interview I linked to above, she credits Antonoff as the driving force behind her artistic shift that started w/NFR! —

I give credit to Jack Antonoff. I think that his production style has such an intelligence to it that vocals have a better chance of being read correctly. There’s a little more room to process it. It was that record (Norman Fucking Rockwell!) where all of a sudden things were really different.

(To be more precise, she credits Jack A. with her change in critical fortune… although it seems like Lust for Life was pretty well-received)

Blue Banisters is her (un?)intentional Joni Mitchell masterpiece.

it's odd that BB holds together as an album as well as it does considering it's mostly (all?) outtakes

It’s about half outtakes, and yeah it’s still my absolute favorite (even allowing for Tunnel’s greatness), and speaks to the power of serendipity (or whatever). As a side note, Antonoff didn’t happen to touch that one…

yeah I think he deserves some credit but she's selling herself short, she also became a better singer and songwriter by the time NFR happened.

The interviewer in that THR piece brings up songwriting in the next question, but Lana sort of brushes it off…

Big new Harper’s Bazaar feature (I haven’t read it yet)

She released music first under her own name, as Lizzy Grant. But when that failed to chart, she chose a stage name and a new look

this isn't quite accurate, but whatevs

Blue Bannisters is an underrated album

Huh, I guess she's not engaged anymore(?) It sounds like she's not in a relationship. Anyway, not much about music in the profile.

Pretty poor article, all ‘what is her game, this is all a facade type bs”. She looks great in the photos though.

It’s a little funny how much the writer frets about Lana’s house being “stage managed” (or whatever), when she straight-up says in that Hollywood Reporter interview from September: “I bought this fucking couch for this photo shoot. It’s fire.”

is Lana single why because her new photos look intersting

I think a dozen years in folks would stop trying to be suspicious of her and her persona, I think it's really not much of a mystery anyway. Finally bought Ultraviolence on vinyl yesterday, think it might be a lesser pressing but it sounds good nonetheless.

Great photos imo

goodness her “take me home, country roads” cover is amazing. talk about a song she was born to sing…

Yeah it’s really nice

thanks for that, missed it somehow. amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muWEOXE5zeQ

Great photos imo

Hmm …

https://open.spotify.com/show/0Hop2v5dxE4EPBifmGQHml?si=ZXFYJcDRT5SC1quA8IGIWQ