Tropico named 2nd biggest flop of 2013 by VH1

[alidusi 70]

Tropico suffered due to delays and when there's delays, people assume it's to build hype.  Especially at the major label level.  Seems like it just got over-hyped, but Lana had to keep mentioning it to remind us that it was coming.  Seemed out of her control and she suffered for it.

 

Tropico would have been great as a giant teaser to Paradise.  I don't expect a video for everything off UV, but I think it'd be really cool to have a short film featuring a few songs off of it.  It would build excitement and also satisfy any artistic indulgence.  Also the visual element to any music I think always sways people positively that would be on the fence about a song.  But that won't happen,  too little time I think.

i didn't think about that -- it would be cool to use a film like this as a teaser for an upcoming album. i would love to hear some songs that will definitely make it on to UV. at the same time, i really do like the idea of using tropico to visually close her chapter. i love the idea of opening a new chapter of her career using a film because then we would get new songs, but at the same time using it as closure feels more right to me -- this is just my personal preference though. the teaser idea would probably get more views.

[ConeyIslandQueen262 1,067]

i didn't think about that -- it would be cool to use a film like this as a teaser for an upcoming album. i would love to hear some songs that will definitely make it on to UV. at the same time, i really do like the idea of using tropico to visually close her chapter. i love the idea of opening a new chapter of her career using a film because then we would get new songs, but at the same time using it as closure feels more right to me -- this is just my personal preference though. the teaser idea would probably get more views.

right. anyone who isn't a Lana hardcore fan wouldn't watch a short film just to see what Ultraviolence will sound like. Some teasers or a trailer could hit much more views and more people would buy the album. Although I'm sure Lana still doesn't really care about sales.

[Coney Island King 25,018]

 I must agree. I don't like TROPICO that much.

 

[National Anthem 9,896]

I think they got confused halfway through and thought they should list the best things of 2013. I mean ARTPOP is #1 so what else could it be

[alidusi 70]

I think they got confused halfway through and thought they should list the best things of 2013. I mean ARTPOP is #1 so what else could it be

exactly. if the biggest "flop" is topping the charts then the second biggest is an accomplishment 

[PinUpGaloreLana 1,397]

[naachoboy 7,977]

at least lana is with her friend Azealia lol , and gaga her best friend

[Wryta Thinkpiece 3,342]

This is why artists have to endure so much bullshit (because that's exactly what it is) when they share their projects with the public, because now it's all about success being defined by the number of views and monetary worth, along with the nitpicking and pointless comparisons of who-does-what-better, which leaves zero room for art to be appreciated for what it is.
 

First question: Why?

Because she can, and she wanted to, so she did.
 

Second question: No, seriously, why?

You mean, besides because she could, wanted to, and did? "Because fuck you, that's why."
 

Given the success Lana Del Rey had this year (earning Original Song Oscar buzz for “Young & Beautiful” and scoring her first Top 10 hit with a remix of “Summertime Sadness”), it really makes no sense why she released a 30-minute short film featuring three old songs other than to hold onto people’s attention as she makes fans wait for her next album.

"Summertime Sadness" is almost two-years-old, there's a contradiction here if we're going to talk about old songs being used for recent projects. So if "Young & Beautiful" and Cedric Gervais' remix of "Summertime Sadness" (keyword "remix" of a song that is, again, almost two-years-old, TWO-YEARS-OLD,) were to have been featured in Tropico instead, it would have validated Tropico's worth as a 30-minute film? It was a short-film, let's not over-exaggerate here like it was a grueling four-hour loop of the same songs over and over again.
 

 If the video had been good, then no one would be bothered but it wasn’t. The film was a bloated, awkwardly literal version of three less-than-stellar tracks.

On what basis are we comparing Tropico to that it can be fairly dictated that it wasn't good? Tropico wasn't meant to be a revolutionary short-film, it was simply a short-film telling the story of redemption with the intention of bringing the era of BTD to a close. Just because Tropico may have been a bit difficult to follow the first viewing, does not mean it wasn't good; just because Tropico was "awkwardly literal," doesn't mean it wasn't good (not to mention, it may have been "literal," but I want to know where it was "awkward.") And just because there wasn't enough dialogue between the cast, just because there was only one Lana-written monologue, doesn't mean that Tropico wasn't good. If anything, Lana's reading of an excerpt from Walt Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric" solidified and clarified the meaning behind "Body Electric". I look at that song in a totally different light after Tropico.

And Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" was a well-placed reading, as it helped smoothly transition between the final moments of Eden and the dead-paradise-reality Lana found herself in during "Gods & Monsters". Did we not read these poems? Did we not read a single poem from the likes of those two men? I'm trying hard to not say that this is a matter of appreciating Tropico more if we weren't so absorbed in the elements of mainstream artists' work, but seriously, let's not write off an artists' work just because we may not have understood it fully.

The cinematography was beautiful all throughout Tropico, and if anything, the short-film shed light on the inner-workings behind Lana's work, we got insight to how and where she finds her muse, we had a-chance-a-minute for a half-hour to open our minds and go on a small little adventure with Lana; it was beautifully strange and strangely beautiful. And this is coming from someone who didn't entirely care for "Body Electric," "Gods & Monsters," and "Bel Air," and I still think that Tropico is being seriously underrated, whether it was meant to cater to the masses or not. For what Tropico is, it is very beautiful, and it's not being given a fair chance (which seems to be a reoccurring theme with the general public when it comes to Lana.)
 

Gaga she’s not and considering Gaga’s year, LDR might want to channel someone else in 2014.

Well, this answered my question when I asked on what basis we were comparing Tropico to, if not indirectly, since this seems to be a biased comparison between two artists who, aside from starting out in New York, have hardly anything in common as far as sound, personality, influences and delivery go. If you had not spent the half-hour thinking of all the "very Gaga/not-so-Gaga" comparisons you could've came up with instead of letting yourself be immersed in Tropico, maybe you would have seen both Lana and her short-film in a different light. Not to mention I hardly see any element of Tropico that is even closely similar to Gaga's projects, so...is this because you're bored and had a quota to reach?

But never mind that, it's quite pitiful that comparisons like this are pretty much what structures art today. So much effort is invested into finding likeness in art that we forget to appreciate art as it is; a multi-dimensional form of expression that does not need to be compared to the likeness of another artist's expression to dictate its worth. Had you been around when Picasso was, all his art would've been Tropico to you just because it wasn't Da Vinci or Michelangelo.

You didn't care for Tropico not because it "wasn't good" or because it was "bloated and awkwardly literal."

You didn't care for Tropico not because the songs were "old" and "less-than-stellar."

You didn't care for Tropico not because it was a poor-shot at "being Gaga."

You didn't care for Tropico because you misunderstood Lana, but most especially, because you misunderstood art.

Besides that, comparing female artists to the likes of Gaga is very 2010, so "for 2014," you might want to find another artist to set your unreasonably supported expectations for other artists to or just stop with the comparisons altogether since it's as old as it is unfair, and hardly what art is about.

And with that, I call this whole listing a flop.

[technicolor 241]

The American media treats her like shit, so this is not terribly surprising, I don't get how some people can say she's overreacting and being butthurt regarding the US. It'll still probably make her feel sad so I wish the fuckface who wrote it plays in traffic.

[rways 405]

Tropico, ARTPOP, Azealia Banks and Britney Jean flops? excuse u not

[Chalamet Eyes 2,099]

.

[Heaux 1,396]

Tropico, ARTPOP, Azealia Banks and Britney Jean flops? excuse u not

Azealia and BJ did flop tho..

[slang 1,509]

I agree with everyone about the wonderful company she keeps on this "flop" list. As to whether or not Tropico makes sense as a career move, whether you like the video or not, it's hard to believe Tropico will hurt her relative to her accomplished grammy nominations or her oscar consideration (keeping fingers crossed). The short film seems well timed for those and hopefully it will help. 

[alidusi 70]

I agree with everyone about the wonderful company she keeps on this "flop" list. As to whether or not Tropico makes sense as a career move, whether you like the video or not, it's hard to believe Tropico will hurt her relative to her accomplished grammy nominations or her oscar consideration (keeping fingers crossed). The short film seems well timed for those and hopefully it will help.

[alidusi 70]

yea it doesn't even make sense to put tropico on a list of flops because even if it was commonly disliked it wouldn't be much of a flop seeing as it wasn't made to be some huge success

 

on the topic of her oscar nomination, i have to bring it up, i thought i read it was all cleared and she has the nomination? no?

 

when are the oscars anyway

those last two things were supposed to be as one oops the mobile version is confusing

[lola 6,616]

yea it doesn't even make sense to put tropico on a list of flops because even if it was commonly disliked it wouldn't be much of a flop seeing as it wasn't made to be some huge success

 

on the topic of her oscar nomination, i have to bring it up, i thought i read it was all cleared and she has the nomination? no?

 

when are the oscars anyway

those last two things were supposed to be as one oops the mobile version is confusing

she's nominated for a nomination along with 74 other songs. the final nominations will be announced on january 16 (4 days after the golden globes) and the awards are on march 2. i think it's likely she will be nominated, she won't even have to compete with adele since she won that award last year and lana's song is probably the soundtrack song that was the most successful in 2013

[VegasBaby 895]

shouldnt be 2nd but it was a flop imho but im glad lots of others found things they liked about it 

[TakeYouDown2Paradise 70]

lol how did this flop

it had a premiere event and everything

i mean what

[Miguel3Zero 202]

How can a free gift from Lana "flop"? So you don't like it? well, that's ok. Personally I enjoyed watching how beautiful Lana is, and how well the scenes fits with her lyrics. You can skip to the scene that you like if you think the whole film is too long ( to view it as three separate music videos works fine).  The VH1 journalist has the same mindset as the persons on this board who writes that "Poolside is better". So sad to see such spiteful comments. As the soup-nazi used to say " no soup for you".

[RiverColaLight 94]

I'll pray for you VH1- you and that disgusting mouth of yours. God bless.