The Greatest

[necessary sacrifice 8,864]

Today’s the 36th anniversary of Dennis Wilson’s death. Idk I thought that was relevant since it’s referenced in this song. Anyway, stream The Greatest.

[West Coast 44,779]

Her best song

 

lmfao

 

This video exemplifies how he lacks the ability to produce a Lana album/song. 'The greatest' is lyrically great, besides the "culture is lit" lyrics which are very "hey how do you do fellow kids?" to my ears. But a beautifully produced song with properly recorded, mastered instrumentation and vocals it is not.

[Lanalouis1 2,510]

lmfao

 

This video exemplifies how he lacks the ability to produce a Lana album/song. 'The greatest' is lyrically great, besides the "culture is lit" lyrics which are very "hey how do you do fellow kids?" to my ears. But a beautifully produced song with properly recorded, mastered instrumentation and vocals it is not.

what's wrong with it in your opinion?

[Paris Hilton 8,973]

This song? A classic.

[Veinsineon 70,250]

Career highlight. One of the only Norman songs with comfortable mixing

[WilshireBoulevard 5,419]

what's wrong with it in your opinion?

 

Not OP (obviously) but to my ears the cheap sound Jack manages to give everything makes me cringe (as in physically cringe). The intro and the outro both exemplify this for me personally. The first few times I listened to it, I didn't pick up on anything (because I was still hyped to hear the song). After that I started noticing the cheapness of the instruments, the kind of snappy-rolly guitar at the start (if that makes any sense lmao), the drums that lead into the chorus sound atrocious, and the piano at the end sounds just... bad, and again, cheap. I know Jack plays many instruments, but honestly if I had to guess I'd say that he uses one of those keyboards that plays the sounds of different instruments well enough to be mistaken at first listen, but poorly enough to not have any depth. If these did have actual instruments then it's almost a feat he manages to make them sound so packaged and like something you'd hear in a fanmade instrumental.

[West Coast 44,779]

what's wrong with it in your opinion?

 

I personally don't like how Lana mumbles the lyrics in most of the song (though this is on her, not Jack). I don't like how when she she goes for the "nobody warns you before the fall", "I guess that I'm burned out after all" and the "I guess I'm signing off after all" the vocal mixing sounds especially flat and compressed during those specific parts, like hearing the song with the volume on high makes it sound like it's sorta sizzling/crackling a little (which is overall pretty off to me). As for the instrumentation, I find that most of the song lacks bass or strong percussions to create a more balanced sound, or create depth sonically. Also, I find that the instrumental "climax" after the "I guess I'm signing off after all" is somewhat lackluster, it sounds like it's a bit all over the place and gives me a "high school band" kinda vibe, the guitar is unnecessarily hazy and all the other instrumental don't mesh well together. Also, don't hate me, but the musical outro in 'The greatest', as a matter of fact all the musical outros on the album (maybe to the exception of 'Venice Bitch') are all forgettable and pretty pointless. Not saying every song needs a bridge, but I guess that when you can't write proper bridges you go for these outro that just don't add much to the song, to fill some type of void creatively speaking.

 

I'm probably being very nitpick-y here, but this is how the song sounds to me, but then again this is how the vast majority of songs on the album sound to me: very subpar instrumentation that sounds flat/dry and overall weak/off mastering. I would've honestly like to see Jack describe how he produced other songs on the record, how he explains why they ended up having such a subpar/anticlimatic sort of production for the record, but there's no way I'm paying 300$ for that web series. Because despite what I just wrote, I actually enjoy 'The greatest' for the most part, but there are songs on the album that sounds downright terrible to me (as far as production goes).

 

Not OP (obviously) but to my ears the cheap sound Jack manages to give everything makes me cringe (as in physically cringe). The intro and the outro both exemplify this for me personally. The first few times I listened to it, I didn't pick up on anything (because I was still hyped to hear the song). After that I started noticing the cheapness of the instruments, the kind of snappy-rolly guitar at the start (if that makes any sense lmao), the drums that lead into the chorus sound atrocious, and the piano at the end sounds just... bad, and again, cheap. I know Jack plays many instruments, but honestly if I had to guess I'd say that he uses one of those keyboards that plays the sounds of different instruments well enough to be mistaken at first listen, but poorly enough to not have any depth. If these did have actual instruments then it's almost a feat he manages to make them sound so packaged and like something you'd hear in a fanmade instrumental.

 

 

I agree with everything that's been written here. Jack just makes me cringe as a producer. He thinks he's all that, but he's not even there. Go back to producing TSwift records and leave other producers to properly record and master Lana records and actually give them depth and interest.

[Lanalouis1 2,510]

Not OP (obviously) but to my ears the cheap sound Jack manages to give everything makes me cringe (as in physically cringe). The intro and the outro both exemplify this for me personally. The first few times I listened to it, I didn't pick up on anything (because I was still hyped to hear the song). After that I started noticing the cheapness of the instruments, the kind of snappy-rolly guitar at the start (if that makes any sense lmao), the drums that lead into the chorus sound atrocious, and the piano at the end sounds just... bad, and again, cheap. I know Jack plays many instruments, but honestly if I had to guess I'd say that he uses one of those keyboards that plays the sounds of different instruments well enough to be mistaken at first listen, but poorly enough to not have any depth. If these did have actual instruments then it's almost a feat he manages to make them sound so packaged and like something you'd hear in a fanmade instrumental.

All the piano on the record is "real" acoustic piano - unsure of its quality or whether mixing is an issue. 

The majority of tracks use the Mellotron - an instrument in its own right that replicates the sound of other instruments which has been used prolifically on all of Lana's albums. 

If you check the credits, then sax, flutes and violin are credited on The Greatest as well as the obvious guitars, synths, piano etc. 

If the production or instruments don't sound right it's probably an issue with mixing and engineering, not production per se

 

I personally love the sound of the album and the direction Lana went in and it was totally her intention to go for a more organic sound as opposed to the clean polished sound of BTD 

The Greatest is a highlight for me in every way, a career-defining song imo 

[PARADIXO 31,445]

All the piano on the record is "real" acoustic piano - unsure of its quality or whether mixing is an issue. 

The majority of tracks use the Mellotron - an instrument in its own right that replicates the sound of other instruments which has been used prolifically on all of Lana's albums. 

If you check the credits, then sax, flutes and violin are credited on The Greatest as well as the obvious guitars, synths, piano etc. 

If the production or instruments don't sound right it's probably an issue with mixing and engineering, not production per se

 

I personally love the sound of the album and the direction Lana went in and it was totally her intention to go for a more organic sound as opposed to the clean polished sound of BTD 

The Greatest is a highlight for me in every way, a career-defining song imo 

 

yes!

[PARADIXO 31,445]

Wow I woke up feeling very emotional regarding the global situation we're living... I was hearing a British reporter explaining what's going on over there and it hit me hard. And I instantly thought of this song, Lana's so called "post-apocalyptic anthem"... and it really is post-apocalyptic.

 

If we put 'the greatest' as a song about a pandemic, it would be about that moment right before the end of the world. "Don't leave me, I just need a wake-up call." "If this is it, I'm signing off." "Miss doing nothing the most of all." Everything was better when we were in quarantine, doing nothing. Now it's too late. We're gonna die.

 

So powerful.

[VeniceBambi 1,303]

The greatest is political? I thought it was saying her greatest loss was her passion and drive to continuing being a singer

[Kommander 3,260]

The greatest is political? I thought it was saying her greatest loss was her passion and drive to continuing being a singer

That and "the end of the world" as alluded by the final verse, meaning the greatest loss is herself as her identity and herself as a living individual on the planet. Or at least the final disappearance of her era.

[sjatib 5,028]

The greatest is political? I thought it was saying her greatest loss was her passion and drive to continuing being a singer

 I'd say it's about what you are highlighting, also about the breakdown of the narratives she made her artistic vision grow towards. Lyrically, in the same vein of "There's a new revolution/ a loud evolution that i saw/ born of confusion and quiet collusion of which mostly I know", yet not even near to be as well executed as that.

[TrashMagiq 55,292]

Not rlly related to COCC but I feel like a lot of people saw the Kanye namedrop as her being shady and dragging but I saw it more as her just naming everything that's going wrong at the moment. LA's in flames, Hawaii got a missile alert and one of the greatest artists of this generation is wearing a MAGA hat and is saying stuff like that slavery was a choice. It wasn't really a jab at Kanye, it was more just her being disappointed. It fit the context of the song very well imo.

[bored 7,829]

I don't see the issue with the Kanye reference tbh... Like she name drops Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Springsteen, James Dean... I know they're nostalgic and fit her aesthetic but like in years and years to come Kanye will be nostalgic etc. Am I making sense, like rather than pining for history, she's referencing things that will effectively become part of her own history which I found refreshing

[Flowerbomb 65,555]

I don't see the issue with the Kanye reference tbh... Like she name drops Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Springsteen, James Dean... I know they're nostalgic and fit her aesthetic but like in years and years to come Kanye will be nostalgic etc. Am I making sense, like rather than pining for history, she's referencing things that will effectively become part of her own history which I found refreshing

 

Namedropping people like Elvis, Marilyn etc makes sense for Lana because these are people who she genuinely admires in general, and they're actually legendary status. 

 

Kanye on the other hand...he's just a man who Lana has beef with. Completely diminishes the art when you namedrop someone over a petty feud on Twitter.

[Miss Doing Nothing 1,663]

Namedropping people like Elvis, Marilyn etc makes sense for Lana because these are people who she genuinely admires in general, and they're actually legendary status. 

 

Kanye on the other hand...he's just a man who Lana has beef with. Completely diminishes the art when you namedrop someone over a petty feud on Twitter.

She also sang at his wedding so that and the twitter fight are the feeling with that lyric

[house of balloons 12,770]

petty feud on Twitter.

i'd like to think she'd name drop him even if the feud never took place, the 'culture is lit' lyric is her disappointment as a hiphop fan (   ) over his political stance, him being a pioneer in the genre and all 

[Venice Bitch 681]

Not rlly related to COCC but I feel like a lot of people saw the Kanye namedrop as her being shady and dragging but I saw it more as her just naming everything that's going wrong at the moment. LA's in flames, Hawaii got a missile alert and one of the greatest artists of this generation is wearing a MAGA hat and is saying stuff like that slavery was a choice. It wasn't really a jab at Kanye, it was more just her being disappointed. It fit the context of the song very well imo.

exactly! we all know lana isn't that type of person who's gonna beef w someone for the sake of it, it's what azealia likes to do not her

this namedropping argument is the same with the Question for the culture -- as if she mentioned artists just to drag them, um no

 

14 tracks

 

Manifesting

 

For some reason I also feel like she might actually do a deluxe version with two more songs

i actually never understood the concept of deluxe ediltions -- why if you can just release everything as a whole project? ITH and Flipside really fit UV for example, and i think lana thinks that as well and was just pressured by her label

 

Namedropping people like Elvis, Marilyn etc makes sense for Lana because these are people who she genuinely admires in general, and they're actually legendary status. 

 

Kanye on the other hand...he's just a man who Lana has beef with. Completely diminishes the art when you namedrop someone over a petty feud on Twitter.

it wasn't really a feud? iirc she just commented under his MAGA post and that's all. let's not forget kanye was also her inspiration and that she felt it was her job to address his 'behavior' idk

[Flowerbomb 65,555]

 

it wasn't really a feud? iirc she just commented under his MAGA post and that's all. let's not forget kanye was also her inspiration and that she felt it was her job to address his 'behavior' idk

 

To me, her calling out Kanye was for shock value more than anything. Let's be real, it she truly cared about him supporting Trump then why is she dating a cop who supports Trump too? It doesn't add up