Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell (2019)

as a leftist I really REALLY wish leftists would stop trying to do hip contrarian pop culture takes for attention. they're almost always bullshit (see also basically any Jacobin pop culture piece)

my pussy tastes like praaaaaaaxis

i can't think of a culture-critic who more often seems to try to speak with wildly more critical authority than he actually has than clover.

Clover created a tweet thread attacking the hippie-punching in OUATIH

Couple of glasses of wine in, I read this as OU812.

Ann Powers's take: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/04/757545360/lana-del-rey-lives-in-americas-messy-subconscious

What’s that opening paragraph, some kind of cod Joan Didion?

yes

there was another review somewhere that explicitly drew a comparison between del rey and ...play it as it lays maybe? can't recall.

Piece is a little shaggy but has lots of individual observations I really like

She's good.

When’s someone gonna release a concept album about the San Fernando Valley? All we have is the Karate Kid soundtrack.

Isn’t the entire No Doubt discography a multi-volume concept album about the Valley?

Here’s a little sidenote on your piece – I don’t even relate to one observation you made about the music. There’s nothing uncooked about me. To write about me is nothing like it is to be with me. Never had a persona. Never needed one. Never will.

— Lana Del Rey (@LanaDelRey) September 5, 2019

Looks like Lana didn’t like Ann’s article

So don’t call yourself a fan like you did in the article and don’t count your editor one either – I may never never have made bold political or cultural statements before- because my gift is the warmth I live my life with and the self reflection I share generously.

— Lana Del Rey (@LanaDelRey) September 5, 2019

And speaking of not understanding how criticism works...

Also how the hell is she going to write a whole ass article without even asking you a single question like ??? There is no quotes in it at all

— angel of radiant excellence (@Allison_Perezz) September 5, 2019

“never had a persona” ok

honestly that might be the most radical thing about lana del rey i’ve read this album cycle

personally I prefer not to ask questions when writing ass articles

this instance is particularly frustrating because it happened to a genuinely excellent piece of criticism; there are some cases where artists get upset over a review where I can see how they have the tiniest kernel of a point, in that the article could have used a redraft to address certain things [I include some things I've written in that], but the npr review was best-of-the-decade material

i'd thought she seemed fairly self-aware about her persona but i guess not?

lol you don't wanna get interpreted then don't make 1 art, artist

I'm not a huge fan of AP's work a lot of the time but that piece was really good. I'm actually baffled at what LDR could have found objectionable about it (beyond the Trumpian "anything short of worship renders you an enemy" mindset, which is really beneath her, or anyone with a functioning frontal lobe).

im honestly baffled by her assertion that she, LANA DEL REY, doesn't have a persona.

there's nothing wrong with having a persona, i mean, ask robert zimmerman, or david jones, or james osterburg

im honestly baffled by her assertion that she, LANA DEL REY, doesn't have a persona.

Yeah, there's kayfabe and then there's that.

Isn’t the entire No Doubt discography a multi-volume concept album about the Valley?

― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, September 4, 2019 11:06 PM (yesterday)

No doubt was from Orange County

also, to be fair, this isn't lana-related, but there's something deeply unsettling about a bunch of 15-year-olds gleefully shouting "YES END HER CAREER MAKE HER UNEMPLOYED" in this late capitalism-scape

i guess she took offense to her lyrics being described as 'uncooked' in comparison to joni mitchell's because that's the part of the review she most directly singles out, but the next paragraph then goes on to basically say "these lyrics are still good though, just in a different way to mitchell's" so it's less unfavourable to her than it initially reads

the ann powers review really articulates basically everything i feel about the album, except i like it less than she does. it reads like a rave, this is not a good look.

What LDR did was monstrous.

send out the Twitter hordes!

It amazes me that in 2019 artists regard a persona as inauthentic.

She should name her next album "Persona Non Grata."

i guess she took offense to her lyrics being described as 'uncooked' in comparison to joni mitchell's because that's the part of the review she most directly singles out, but the next paragraph then goes on to basically say "these lyrics are still good though, just in a different way to mitchell's" so it's less unfavourable to her than it initially reads

― ufo, Thursday, September 5, 2019 10:37 AM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

sure, but they also are uncooked in comparison to joni mitchell's. most lyrics are! any songwriter, besides maybe fifteen people, who has a reasonable sense of one's skills, if someone said "this isn't as good as joni mitchell," should think "yeah, it probably isn't."

maybe she knows that Persona is a video game & that gives her mixed feelings

yeah i agree katherine, i wasn't saying that powers was wrong, just trying to figure out what ldr's issue with it was

I'd guess just the fact that another person was mentioned at all -- at some point it became accepted wisdom that comparisons to other artists were bad, rather than a sign that you've engaged enough with a record to contextualize it within your inner world

If that were the case she should be tweeting about the Pitchfork name-drop-a-rama review.

Seems like a powers-conducted interview would defuse this p quick, assuming anyone cares 24 hours from now

it's also especially strange that she's taking such offense to that review when she really should be no stranger to critics saying much worse (actually negative) and weirder things about her, you'd think she'd have learned not to take the things reviewers say too personally with the sort of treatment she's gotten before

didn't LDR describe herself as a "gangster Nancy Sinatra"? I guess she has actual mob ties

there are some cases where artists get upset over a review where I can see how they have the tiniest kernel of a point, in that the article could have used a redraft to address certain things [I include some things I've written in that], but the npr review was best-of-the-decade material

― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Thursday, September 5, 2019 4:26 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, exactly this. Baffled by why she felt the need to lash out after this.

beyond the Trumpian "anything short of worship renders you an enemy" mindset, which is really beneath her, or anyone with a functioning frontal lobe

Baffled by why she felt the need to lash out after this.

Combining these two points because it occurs to me that there's potentially another Trumpian connection -- the need of an enemy. ANY enemy. And if she has to go find one, she will.

Tbh i find this level of self sabotage and needlessly getting in yer own way pretty relatable

I don’t agree with LDR’s tweet and think it’s very short-sighted, but I agree even less with calling her Trumpian or “monstrous”.

I said this before, but “all that musicians need in order to create a rich body of work for their entire lifetime is endless praise, what is so hard to understand about that?”

how many reviews did she read before she pounced on that nothingness?? reading reviews of your art seems like a very bad not good idea but what do I know

Tbh i find this level of self sabotage and needlessly getting in yer own way pretty relatable

― Simon H., Thursday, September 5, 2019 6:10 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

So do I! But I'm not sure this is what this is.

I don’t agree with LDR’s tweet and think it’s very short-sighted, but I agree even less with calling her Trumpian or “monstrous”.

Inciting your fans to attack a writer is monstrous behavior.

man, Twitter is worse than usual today

As an old Suede lover, this long instrumental jam part in "VB" reminds me of the long version of "Let's Stay Together"...
And to stay on Britpop references, there's a part in "Love Song" that reminds me of... Oasis' "Wonderwall"
― AlXTC from Paris

Haven't done a direct comparison so it may be faulty memory, but I can't play "Mariners Apartment Complex" without hearing Verve's "Lucky Man."

Also, if LDR is catcalling writers who are doing nothing but heaping praise upon her work, then there’s another point of common ground wrt Joni