Flipflopfan

You're passionate about Lana and I get that being there myself. A lot of the criticism thrown at Lana was abject misogyny but SNL wasn't that. It was a collective blunder fueled by greed for money and quick fame: Interscope wanted to cash in big and quickly, Lana's mangers, who btw did a miracle by putting her on the map with one good song but who were inexperienced at this level and wanted themselves to cash in quickly, and Lana who just wasn't realistic about her strengths and I think that she fantasized at that point about being a popstar. Every show prior to SNL hinted to anyone with ears and eyes that she is struggling on stage. She was stiff, her movements were awkward and her voice was wavering many times. It was obvious that she is not a natural performer and she needs extensive coaching ranging from live singing to stage movement. She has this pathological stage fright which makes her ridiculously self-conscious on stage which makes her losing her focus affecting her singing. It was a huge gamble and they lost. Her music was slow, kind of awkward, her voice is so distinctive and because of these issues they would have had to rehearse her presentation in the smallest detail even regarding her hand movements (which were btw ridiculous). The turning Lana meme was inevitable and was a cynical criticism of how unprofessional was the whole preparation for that HUGE opportunity. That was the other factor of the backlash: she was a noname singer starting her career practically on SNL for that her presentation had to be near perfect to be accepted by the critics and the media because anyone knew how big a SNL slot is. The mainstream media destroyed her and frankly the perfect storm was in the making because the indie press turned slowly against her before SNL questioning her authenticity and talent. It was just a huge PR blunder the whole late 2011 and early 2012 and all the parties above mentioned have their fault in it. They say that there is no bad publicity but we can see now how deeply she was affected by the backlash. I think that her sadness is mainly a result of those events and sometimes I have the feeling that they killed the joy of being an artist in her heart. She's plodding along in her career but she's clearly half the artist she could be. My only beef against Lana is that she didn't ambition herself after that moment doing everything possible to improve dramatically her live singing and presentation. She had many concerts since then and she sung fine in some of them but let's face it she still has huge problems when performing live and her career is in downward spiral mostly because of it.

Sadness, depression is a main theme in Lana's work and it's a serious issue. I think that besides some strange behavior she has a genuinely sad personality. I think that she will continue her trend of alternative/sadcore music and it would be a great opportunity for her to open up about her sadness, to give a more profound take on the issue than the overused sad girl trope in her work

There are less sever forms of bipolar disorder but I agree with you that, beside a diagnosis, these terms shouldn't be used lightly, so mea culpa. I don't think that Lana has some serious mental health issues, but she had a lot of ups and downs, quick mood swings (just look at her instagram) she gave me the impression that she has a mild form of bipolar disorder. I remember her strange behavior when she cancelled the promo events in the UV era, she stated many times that she is sad so she hinted that she battles depression and, if I remember correctly, she talked about anxiety and that she saw a therapist. There are many things in her behavior, public appearance, interviews that hints at some psychological instability. This adds towards her mystery aura and sometimes I have the impression that she is purposefully acting strangely in some situations. And what about that strange instagram post with the book? "I remember this was a good day" she wrote but somehow I could totally envision a flip out after that scene.

You're funny. She uses the same (out of fashion) shitty sandals for 2 years. Blue jeans, white shirt. She was horribly dressed at any red carpet event she participated in the last two years. She is a fixture of worst-dressed lists. She wasn't in the proper limelight for 3 years now. She didn't promoted her last two albums. She threw out HM and she is relaxing since then. About my entitlement. Why I'm following her? That is the question. Certainly not for her "deep" emotional statements, wisdom, or philosophy that came through her lyrics. But I like her face, voice, melodies and I liked her style sometime ago. She is an entertainer in my book but she never payed attention to that part of her job. Because, you know, she choose to have a job and I'm a customer who buys her shit. Maybe I'm a little entitled as a fan to see a proper performance of hers in 3 years and not just botched recordings of her subpar live shows? Poor Lana, I offend her existence with my stupid attention (and I have to admit that the amount of attention that I devote to her is an utterly stupid thing to do) by expressing opinions on a forum regarding her state of mind. Maybe I can get tired of her depressive/bipolar act which, in my opinion, gets embarrassing for everyone involved in her career (included fans).

I don't use spotify often but can you explain where you get your data from? This is a huge number taken in account that HM was also out and has aprox. 145 mil. streams. Anyway, my point was that commercially she fed off from the BTD era which had diminishing returns with every new release. From this perspective, her next album will come out on its own terms and it won't be pretty. Also, I think that some of her stans cared way more about her success than she ever did. I came to a point where I'm not interested anymore about how much she sells or streams

It's not that easy. She cast a spell on us. I really love her voice on record and I'm still curious with what happens in her career. I think her next major career move (album) will be the turning point for me. If she comes out with another HM then I will have to admit that I overstated her talent and I will probably move on. I think that she needs a major shift in her topics to gain/maintain artistic credibility. Her peculiar solipsism it's exhausted, she needs to come out from her bubble but I'm not very optimistic about that tbh

Those BTD streams are a thing from the past. She's done commercially, people moved on, we are the last suckers to follow her bipolar-depressive ass. Her only realistic target it's to maintain some of her former fandom with a good album (which has to be much better than HM) Her recorded voice it's her only strength tbh, it's no matter if we call her songs singles or otherwise, she needs better lyrics and more passion in her music

From her latest outings I see her as depressed as ever, single and entrenched in this urban-trash, second-hand clothing "couture" for what depression and self-loathing are the only explanations I could come up with. It's sad to see that she cannot break this circle of depression in her life because it's affecting her career and music (and not in a good way anymore). Someone here depicted her situation very aptly by saying that her fandom is "rotting" away. She kind of reacted to it lately with some activity on instagram which will never stop the decline btw. I'm worried for her headlining so many festivals where she was booked based on her former appeal I'm afraid. I hope that she will take seriously these appearances because there will be less hardcore Lana fans in the public and she has no room for major flops in her career. Some people are starting to question her headlining status and tbh if she'll not spice up her show significantly it will be very easy for the haters to take her down. (Grimes for example is getting a much better press while Lana's presence is usually ignored and certainly I didn't see any excitement about her show)

I don't like her Nina covers because it just not suits her singing style in my opinion. But she sings TOW>>>>DLBMM Regarding that ”she will be misunderstood no matter what she does” I have to say that I'm starting to get annoyed with her victimization and with the songs depicting it like MPG, FMMTT, GKIT, DLBMM etc.. which I cut from my playlist. I think that she had many opportunities to clarify her controversies but she kept fueling the ambiguity around her with even more useless controversies. Some say that it was a strategy from her but I think that is more a psychological thing, she seems to me that she wants to be (perceived) as a victim or the other woman. I cringed when she said to J.Franco that it's better if he writes "around" her. Like WTF? In my experience it's better to let things go if you don't explain yourself immediately and forcefully. People will believe what they believe anyway and it's better to focus on your life and art instead of taking jabs at them through music. I hope that on her next album she stops the misguided namedroppings and the covers no matter how prestigious those artists are. She's so overtly accused with appropriation by so many people that it takes a true troll heart to persist in these things. She needs to step out from her fantasy bubble and rely on her own reality, it won't be pretty and dreamy, it will take effort and time to adjust lyrically but it's the only way I see her going forward and become a respected artist.

I feel the same. HM is one of her strangest record and I start my UV+HM playlist with it.

I think that UV and HM ought to be an album with 10-12 songs. They are different sonically but I bet that Dan would do no wrong with the best material from HM. There would be a lot of good songs that would be left out from both of the albums but the final result would be a masterpiece (with no Nina covers and unnecessary jabs at her critics). My UV+HM playlist: 1. Honeymoon 2. UV 3. BB 4. Religion 5. Freak 6. SoC 7. CW 8. WC 9. Art Deco 10. TBD 11. TLY 12. SwanS

I agree with a lot of stuff you said but I disagree about Lana's popstar potential or that she wants to achieve that status in the future. We all agree that Lana is an extremely good looking woman if she wants to be. So, she got the looks to be a popstar but little else I'm afraid. I came at peace with one thing regarding Lana: she will always be a sub-par performer. And it's not about her inability to dance or to do elaborate movements on stage but it's the lack of emotional involvement, expressiveness and the inability to sing constantly at high levels. She seems sometimes as she doesn't want to be on stage or that she doesn't take very seriously her live presentation. She's the only artist that I know who doesn't do encores and her shows are notoriously short. We forgive her for this shortcomings because we like her records, her voice and we look up her on the net just to see her pretty face. But I can't envision Lana anymore as a confident performer who can please a varied audience with her show. "I'm overly shy" and "I'm crippled on stage" cannot be accepted anymore as excuses at this stage of her career. She had all the time needed to change her game, to improve her live presentation. But sometimes I have the feeling that she isn't that interested in that. Halsey is talking about a huge show at Coachella and what exactly did Lana there? She came out in a simple floral dress, took selfies with the first line of fans and smoked on stage. And still it was a success because there was a lot of hardcore fans who sang her songs more forcefully than she did (at Glast and GovBall she just fell flat). I think that she came to the realization that she just doesn't have the abilities and the drive to be a true popstar. Moreover, she is still very divisive, if she would raise her profile again in the mainstream media she will be attacked again and she's afraid of that. The real problem is that she is not Nina Simone either as you said. Lana's carreer is suspended between popstardom expectations and quality singer status which she fails to achieve yet. Let's face it, she needs to work on the quality of her music because a lot of people (even fans) don't consider her music as "quality music" despite her soaring scores on metacritic. That is why I said that she needs to take her time with the next album: she needs to come out with a quality album. In line with what I said earlier, I think that it would be a huge mistake from her to come out with a commercial album. She will not promote it properly as I don't think that we'll see ever Lana on TV or doing big oscar, mtv type of shows. She is older now and she is naturally losing her appeal to teens who are the main staple of commercial success. Simply put it, Lana as a pop star was killed and buried under UV and HM, albums that seemed like were designed to diminish her appeal to the GP. She lost a lot of her charisma by her insistence on subjects like death and she came out sometimes as ungrateful for her success. Moreover, she lost the fashion icon status she build up in 2012 and she's practically out from the conscience of the GP as she eschewed the mainstream media in the last 3 years of her career. So I don't see anything in her behavior pointing in the direction that she wants to be again in the limelight and to be frank even if she wants it she cannot be a successful pop star anymore in my opinion. As a fan I hope for a quality album from her with interesting lyrics and invested singing and not a misguided attempt to popstardom.

Regarding the abundance of Lana's posts I have to say that she's not in panic mode yet but I think that she started to understand that her career will not happen without her being more involved

She's so adorable. What's the world coming to, my dream-girl seems to be single! From what I know, little golden boy Fran dumped Lana which is kind of a poetic justice after the way she dumped Barry's depressive and lazy ass. I hope that her life brightens up quickly because I couldn't handle another depressive album from her tbh (btw my fav song from LedZepp is How Many More Times)

I still hope that she isn't that much into plastic surgery. Maybe it's just the effect of the tan. She looks like she's dressed straight from the flea market.

I hope that she waits at least till January 2017. 2 lps a year really? What is music for you anyway? I like Lana's voice as any on this forum but I want to listen to something interesting from her again. HM is a good album, different sound-wise from UV and BTD but what was all about? She sang lethargically and sometimes beautifully about what may I ask? UV was a breakup-moving on album and HM was in the same mold but without the passion. She cannot repeat the same thing through 3 albums in my opinion. And it's not about sales this time around, after HM she cannot go back the commercial route for several reasons I don't want to dwell on now, but she needs to stabilize her career as a quality artist who can have a strong following years to come, a more mature fanbase because she cannot appeal anymore to the teenagers who already moved on to Halsey, Martinez and other singers who are younger and more relatable to them. A more mature fanbase needs lyrical consistency (without namedroppings, overused tropes, clicheistic cultural references and ridiculous verses like "stranger than stranger"). She is not a hit maker, she's an album artist and she needs a fresh concept to write about and that takes time. I always come back to VG as an example of good lyricism from her and I hope that she can achieve that level again because she has the talent to do it. For a while she needs to tour, to perform her damn songs that are already out (I would really like to see a passionate performance of TBD from her)

Insecurity as a phase in what you question your self-worth and that makes you question even deeper things around you. You can leave in your fantasy bubble all of your life but its better to face the truth about yourself, it's like breathing cold fresh air in your lungs, at first it hurts a little but afterwards you can feel better about everything.

Lana lurking on the flea market. Now I know from where she grabs her clothes. They didn't just look second hand, they are second hand clothes! Wait..isn't Lana a wealthy singer? Is this some form of fetish of hers, wearing other people's clothes? She looks great btw

Not for the better...she became an obsession. I didn't became obsessed with her music per se but with the whole package (looks, music and story). She kind of made me more insecure about myself and strangely this is not a bad thing for me. Slowly the obsession is fading away tho and this is definitely a good thing for my real life relationships

I really liked your post. But I have to say that I don’t take seriously Lana’s interest in philosophy because besides some religious references and quoting some philosophical poetry she didn’t showed any interesting philosophical ideas in her work. Yes, she studied metaphysics but for me it’s more a misguided and superficial orientation from her, because, as she put it, she abhorred the idea of being involved in a regular boring activity, job. I respect Lana, she’s smart and talented but I don’t see her reading Kant, Hegel, Heidegger tbh. She’s more in the Rider Digest level of pseudo-philosophy, mysticism (she took out the RS journalist who interviewed her to a fortune teller). So a “philosophical manifesto” from Lana would be totally misguided as she would regurgitate all of these nonsenses in a burst of clichés burying her career for good (she’s not known for her lyrical subtlety). I have a slim hope for something close to the VG lyricism from her. Sound wise I just hope that she finds some energy, passion again in her singing. Depression and detachment is hard to listen to especially on several albums.

Justin Parker I think that the Justin Parker photo is older (but VG>>>). Haynie it's pretty talented and I bet that they will do something different from BTD next time around. She's has grown out so much of BTD's sound and lyrics, it would be silly from her to come out with a BJ type of song

Oh, don't bring that traiblazer bs up please. It's too little and too Late from BB, they should have acknowledged her for BTD when it went platinum, after all BB is about the charts and BTD longevity is legendary. The only way I can see her as a trailblazer it's that she stood her ground despite the pile of shit that was thrown at her but she didn't revolutionized music with her sound or lyrics and she had little social commentary. She influenced some female artists because some things she does really well but she's no Grateful Dead, Dylan or Springsteen yet and I doubt she'll ever be. These are artists who are not afraid to express themselves on stage and she's just way bellow that mark. Headlining some festivals is nice, but these are not Coachella or Glast. From what I heard and read she was kind of good at Coachella but she kind of flopped at Glast and at the Gov Ball. She still has problems as a performer and I don't think that festivals are suited for her style: she has a small voice and she doesn't have the stage presence to engage a varied audience. But she needs a huge tour, it's the only thing that she can do to kind of maintain her fanbase which is still in decline. She needs to tour extensively in Europe, Australia, South America and after that she can do some concerts again in the US and Canada. I would really like to see her go back to the more stripped back version of her show. When you have a small voice it's better to sing in more intimate venues

I don't like the outfit. It's better than some of the horrible outfits that she wore before but it's still basic and unsexy (despite squeezing her boobs). She needs a new stylist asap

So she is a flip-flopper too. I kind of started to like Gaga again anyway, she's a great performer, I wish Lana would learn from her

I listened accidentally to Adele's live performance of When We Were Young at the Brits. I respect Adele, she seems nice and she has a strong voice but I cannot believe how generic her music is in relation to the amount of hype she generated. I imagined Lana sitting there in the audience. What was she thinking? A classy beauty queen with a voice like no other in the business, who has beautiful songs, sits and listen to Adele screaming annoyingly eurovision type of songs. Maybe she was satisfied that she trolled again the fashion press...what a waste, damn that pathological stage fright of hers