LDR: "I always want to experiment" (Interview with dpa)

[PinUpCartoonBaby 1,017]

New interview and I already translated it for you.

Source

 

TRANSLATION:

 

 

Your songs on „Ultraviolence“ sound like time almost stands still. Do you have an inner slow-motion function?
Yes, I think that I have a calm nature. I like hypnotic music even though I also like Grunge and Rock’n’Roll. But I’m also into jazz. My heart has a slow tempo I guess.

 

You referred to your music as “real narco swing”, what does it mean?
Well, when I produced the album with Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys the choir always drifted into that half time rhythm and Dan thought that it sounded like Swing that is influenced by drugs. You hear it in West Coast. Everything drifts into the surreal.

 

“West Coast” also deals with the topic of alcohol which once used to have an influence on you too…
Now when I was at the West Coast I had the feeling of breaking free. I met many people who were real “dudes” who lived at the beach and had a lot of fun. They said: “If you’re not drinking then you’re not playing”. That’s where this line came from. I didn’t drink, but I wanted to… I wanted to relax at the ocean, at the beach, in the heat.

 

So it’s an album that was inspired by the lifestyle of the US-west coast?
Yeah, it’s a homage to underground jazz, to that idealized sense of freedom in the seventies, to the Eagles, the Beach Boys and to the looseness and the great melodies of that era.

 

Nevertheless the whole album has a melancholic undertone. Why?
I actually have a quite peaceful and happy disposition but everything that happened in the past years, things that I couldn’t affect/control, they as well influenced the tone of the record. It’s not a true sadness but a certain heaviness (of spirit). I’m impressed and sometimes ask myself how I’m able to retain control. In the past I had the feeling that my life belongs to me. When I got famous lots of things were written about me before I even had the chance to comment on it. I didn’t have the feeling of being the driver anymore but only sitting on the backseat. Success and recognition/appreciation actually are something sweet but the circumstances ruined a lot of it.

 

So success has a dark side?
Not for everybody. But for me it didn’t feel good. The compliments were double-edged. The reviews sounded good but had negative adjectives in them. It was weird.

 

Some artists would just shrug their shoulders and say: I don’t care what they are writing about me…
But about many other artists those journalists don’t write such personal things. But when it’s about your family, about things like your state of mind, your health and your private life, it isn’t that easy to ignore it. It’s not possible to empathize before you have experienced how it feels if someone tells others how you allegedly are but it isn’t true at all.

 

You say that you get inspiration from meeting other people. But that’s difficult when you aren’t sure that you can be open.
I also want to be open in interviews but I just made those bad experiences. Things are often twisted. When I say that I like a song from the fifties than many interpret it as a reference to Hollywood and high polished things. But that isn’t necessarily true. I like Elvis’ songs but not automatically the person.

 

So let’s let the music talk to us. The whole album sounds very hymnal like a huge orchestra…
I have a rather alternative background but I don’t restrict myself. When I have wrote a variety of songs then all of them have a certain reference – to beauty or to God. Well for me personally God isn’t important but maybe the big/huge that stands behind everything. I’m glad you picked it out.

 

It seems like you could sing everything, all lyrics – even words that other artists would never say or even think about using them…
Exactly! (laughs)

 

But it doesn’t come across as aggressive…
In interviews I often have this problem that I want to answer honestly but I don’t dare to…It’s similar for the songs that I don’t want to express some things directly. Then I use allusions and metaphors, for example when it comes to autobiographic things.Formerly I used to see my songs more like a diary and I also expressed things that might have been inappropriate or political incorrect.

 

In Germany the song title “Fucked My Way Up To The Top” is written-out fully while in the US there are often asterisks instead of the F-word…
It’s funny, in Europe you are freer, here it’s more like ‘live and let live’.

 

You say that you are documenting or dreaming something in your songs. Now you’re approaching more serious things like living in a cult…
You want to know if it’s true?

 

That would be a bit flat. Maybe I should ask it like that: How much did this period of your life influence your artistic evolution?
I prefer this question too. It was a period. I was looking for people who were like me but also people who seemed to be connected with bigger things like supernatural. I was influenced by visionary people. I wanted more than just writing and live from one day to another. But I found out that this didn’t work for me. I thought I could live together with others as an idealistic artist’s commune, so that you inspire each other.

 

But artists always have to look for something new. That’s also why so many are receptive to alcohol and other drugs.
Absolutely. It depends on who you are and how you’re experimentally inclined. I always want to experiment, make the most of my life and experience everything. But I’ve decided against drugs and I’m trying to benefit from encounters with energetic people. That’s also wild sometimes.

 

Meeting people also is much healthier than experimenting with drugs.
Yes, I think so too! (laughs)

 

 

As always keep in mind that it my translation of a translation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found two other short "interviews" with dpa. I'm not sure if they belong to the one I already posted but as all of them took place in Berlin and were made by dpa I guess that it's actually one interview and those questions that I've found now are just outtakes or idk.

I translated them for you too but I did it very quickly so there might be some tiny mistakes in it.  (Translation in spoilers)

 

Here's the first one where she talkes about past eras. Source

 

 

Berlin. The US-songstress Lana Del Rey could very well imagine living in former times. “The 60s and 70s would have suited me well in terms of trying new things”, she told the news agency dpa. “I’m not longing for another era but I’m interested in it.”

Many things still used to be new back then, says the 28-years-old: “Rock’n’Roll was born, Jazz and Blues were developing…and America still had hope. There was the promise of a new, enthusiastic era due to Kennedy.” For her as an artist it’s sometimes difficult to deal with the postmodern time, she emphasises: “Everybody already experienced everything, everything has already been done.” That’s why it’s not that easy to find an own place as an artist.

 

 

And the other one (about soccer/ football and a bullfight). Source

 

 

 

Berlin. US-songstress Lana Del Rey thinks it's cool that soccer recently became famous in the USA.
“When I’m in New York I spend a lot of time with my friends and their families who originate from Italy. And they are so crazy about soccer!”, she told the news agency dpa. “The other Americans just recently took notice of soccer, but they really like it.”
She would really like to take part at a public viewing of a match: “I like the energy that can come from a crowd of people. I like it to be right in the middle of it.” In Spain she once was at a bullfight: “Even though it was frightening and we already left before the end of the fight it was impressive. The whole arena was shaking like in the middle of a wave.”

 

Edited June 25, 2014 by PinUpCartoonBaby

[trayertrash 7,210]

I always want to experiment, make the most of my life and experience everything. 

 

She should experiment with someone who loves her so much they named their kid after her 

 

 

[Alicia 182]

Thanks for translating

[Trash Magic 26,723]

Good job, for once a translated article actually makes total sense

[DeadAgainst 1,514]

"Well for me personally God isn’t important"

 

"I feel a strong relationship with God and I feel my ties are with him"

 

[Dazed 94]

lol God isn't important to her anymore?

[lafleursauvage 323]

Thanks for the translation!! 

[NamiraWilhelm 5,031]

Lana's interviews give me whiplash

[Nastja 15]

lol God isn't important to her anymore?

 

haha I thought the same! I just don´t understand her, because she says something different everytime...

[GirlAfraid 33]

With each interview that she gives the less I seem to understand where she's coming from or what message she wants to convey. She's the most mercurial artist I've come across in a long time, which is not necessarily a bad thing (the complexity of her emotions and views), just highly disorienting. Every time I think I pin down a part of her personality or belief system she switches it up so fast I'm left spinning. I think the one thing I know for sure about Lana is that she defies a concrete definition and does not submit to pedestrian conventions.

Lana's interviews give me whiplash

My sentiments exactly !

[COLACNT 5,169]

i'm telling you this bitch feels nothing but undercurrents of abstract emotion every now and then, and everything else is ruled by her head 

 

i think there has to be some kind of inverse relationship with emotionality and incisive eloquence in communication. she's so good at articulating herself, but most of that is an intellectual process. i think she's confusing because there's such a vast disconnect between what she feels and what she thinks, whereas with most people, the two processes are more intertwined (rather than paradoxical) 

 

a lot of elements probably factor into the outcome of the interview too. how her day is going, the vibe of the interviewer, whether she feels more emotional or more numb, etc on that particular day. maybe her connection with god is more spiritual (abstract) but detached (mentally); and on this particular day she decided to share her more rational perspective on the matter? who knows with her bipolar ass 

[veniceglitch 375]

When you're building an enigma, I suppose mixing your messages and giving conflicting viewpoints within the space of a week is fine. But, humorously, I was just in a brand identity meeting for work and I ended up thinking about how disastrous Lana would be at managing any brand other than her own. When businesses contradict themselves in a message or presentation, people jump ship. Only an artist can get away with it, and as we know, even most pop singers nowadays are afraid to go "off-brand." Everything is curated and planned to a painful extent; this is why media training is now standard for stars-to-be. For Lana, everything in her world is art directed, but in interview form, when she's not in full control, it all goes scattershot. Her mind really is made of mercury, and it's both fascinating and frustrating.

[litewave 519]

 

a lot of factors probably factor into the outcome of the interview too. how her day is going, the vibe of the interviewer, whether she feels more emotional or more numb, etc on that particular day. maybe her connection with god is more spiritual (abstract) but detached (mentally); and on this particular day she decided to share her more rational perspective on the matter? who knows with her bipolar ass 

 

Yes and with her philosophical curiosity and studies her view of God is probably more complex and open than an average Joe's. In this particular interview she leans toward an impersonal concept of God, the Greatness that stands behind everything. But she also mentioned in the past that she values tradition and considers herself Catholic. She is trying to reconcile a lot of things, which may sound contradictory.

[GangstaBoy 3,930]

Guess she was right when she sang Her mind's like a diamond, her thoughts vary between interviews so fast it's both enigmatic and frustrating, as someone said above me. But not only her mindset is as glimmering as a diamond, it's also like a rough one to me: she has so many things to say but cannot find the proper way to express them so she ends up being both dramatic and controversial...

[LanasPrettyBaby 1]

Yes and with her philosophical curiosity and studies her view of God is probably more complex and open than an average Joe's. In this particular interview she leans toward an impersonal concept of God, the Greatness that stands behind everything. But she also mentioned in the past that she values tradition and considers herself Catholic. She is trying to reconcile a lot of things, which may sound contradictory.

 

I think *she thinks about religion alot but that doesn't mean g-d is important to her. She brings him up in a lot of songs though!

 

Lana and I have are a lot alike, I can totally relate to being so scatterbrained that it's hard to explain in words what goes on in your brain. She just lets things speak for themselves. Her actions not her words.    I also like how she says that she won't say something bluntly, she will use hidden words so you have to read between the lines to understand what she's actually saying, which you'd really only be able to do if you knew her really well. which none of us do, only through her music. I understand her though   " if you don't get it then forget it, so I don't have to fuckin explain it " - Brooklyn Baby

[COLACNT 5,169]

"me and god we don't get along" 

 

i.e i acknowledge my relationship with him; he's a part of my existence, but i don't necessarily have the ~healthiest connection with him at every moment of my life? he looms over, and i feel him with me, but i don't do his bidding or impose his beliefs on myself or on others 

 

she seems like she would be buddhist tbh  

[trayertrash 7,210]

My mother told me I had a chameleon soul

No moral compass pointing due north

No fixed personality 

Just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide & as wavering as the ocean

[COLACNT 5,169]

the world is grey and so is she !

 

[trayertrash 7,210]

My mother told me I had a chameleon soul

No moral compass pointing due north

No fixed personality 

Just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide & as wavering as the ocean

[Coney Island King 24,920]

She seem so...............bipolar lol.