Flipflopfan

I met Lana randomly, at the Beverly Hills Hotel Cabana Cafe on Thursday May 12.
I was in LA for a few concerts for my favorite singer, Lights, and it turned into a vacation. On that Thursday, May 12th, my friends and I had breakfast at the Beverly Hills Hotel Fountain Coffee Room. It was reaalll nice. Then I asked the front desk if someone could give us a tour of the hotel, so we could take pictures by the most scenic spots. Since I'm an architecture student, I just mention that and they happily show us the architectural highlights.
 
We saw the Frank Sinatra suite, which is about $15,000 a night and I saw a bag of weed on the table inside...it was beautiful. I said out loud, I bet Lana would love this room.
We went down by the poolside and I took some polaroids and photos and we hung out for a minute just to enjoy.
 
&
 
Lana Del Rey walks past us and I immediately recognize her and say "Lana!" and my legs were just shaking. My friend Rachel did not even notice until a few seconds later (and she didn't hear me say Lana, so either Lana ignored me or she didn't hear me) and I was just SHOOK. I could not believe that this is where I would meet Lana. Our tour guide told us he was responsible for us so that it would be inappropriate for me to go talk to her under his supervision, but he left us a couple minutes later and told us we could do whatever...haha.
 
We sat at a table 20 feet from LDR, drinking lemonade and eating chips and salsa. I didn't take any creeper photos because I thought that would be weird and she was just having lunch with her friend. On the polaroid I took of the pool and cabanas, I wrote "swimming pool glimmering darling... We'd love to take a polaroid with you" and asked the waitress to pass it off to which she said no, they can't do that. So we waited for Lana to finish her lunch, and then she took a picture with her friend.
 
When Lana got up, so did we, and as she walked towards us, I gave her the polaroid and said it had been a dream to always meet her. She looked so beautiful and so sweet. The manager (restaurant manager) then came and interrupted and said he was responsible for her and that he needed to protect her and she kept brushing him off. The first thing she said to us was "I'm not really taking pictures today." That was kind of weird because she had just taken one with her friend. This other girl and her mom tried to take a picture of her and the manager got in front of the camera, and Lana said no pictures again. She asked me if I wanted her to keep the polaroid still and I said um yeah it's for you lol. She hugged me and my two friends, as well as this other girl and asked us where we were from, where we had seen her... So she showed some sort of interest but she didn't really engage in any conversation, at all. Like "Where are you from?" "Chicago" "Oh cool" Since we couldn't take any pictures with her, I showed her a portrait I had drawn of her way back, and her friend said I was very talented and I don't know if Lana really said anything besides that it looked good. We hugged her again and then she asked us "Are you leaving?" when we were already on the stairs and on our way out.. haha
 
A few minutes later she passed us in the hotel hallway and said "How are you?" and kept walking without stopping.
 
Overall it was kinda bizarre and I have no pictures to show for this encounter, but hey, I met Lana Del Rey in LA. This experience was so authentic and strange I loved it tbh. I am glad I got to meet her, and hug her twice, it was surreal. She looked beautiful, with her chipped tooth and she smelled so sweet.

The lyrics are cringe-worthy. Utter silliness, she seems like a lyrical xerox sometimes.

These leaks are getting more embarrassing than interesting tbh. Comapare these recently leaked songs with her cover of Daniel Johnston's "Some Things Last A Long Time" which she sung gorgeously. One thing these leaks made clear for me she has no place in pop, she needs to go full alternative and she needs a change of topic asap. I hope that I never hear a song about boys from her

Rihanna and Lana are "peers" as are the panther and the fraidy cat

I think that she's much more in control of her stuff than some people think. Not Nowels was the problem on HM, Lana was. Nowels is more of a yes-men than Auerbach, so Lana's will came through and HM became as lethargic as it is. For me HM's problems are the lyrics and the lack of passion. Caramanica of NYtimes nailed it in his review when he said that Lana is like a "dog that, when its leash is tugged, simply lies on the ground and shuts its eyes: basking in the sun, feeding off its warmth, never giving an inch". When you come out with music that slow people will focus on your lyrics and message. Hm has no message, is just a slow burning melancholy record fucked up by some really poor lyrical choices and by the relentless monotony. Still it's better than 25 for me but that is not enough to save Lana's career because Adele can sing live and put some hits out

I think that she's much more in control of her stuff than some people think. Not Nowels was the problem on HM, Lana was. Nowels is more of a yes-men than Auerbach, so Lana's will came through and HM became as lethargic as it is. For me HM's problems are the lyrics and the lack of passion. Caramanica of NYtimes nailed it in his review when he said that Lana is like a "dog that, when its leash is tugged, simply lies on the ground and shuts its eyes: basking in the sun, feeding off its warmth, never giving an inch". When you come out with music that slow people will focus on your lyrics and message. Hm has no message, is just a slow burning melancholy record fucked up by some really poor lyrical choices and by the relentless monotony. Still it's better than 25 for me but that is not enough to save Lana's career because Adele can sing live and put some hits out

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

I think that she's much more in control of her stuff than some people think. Not Nowels was the problem on HM, Lana was. Nowels is more of a yes-men than Auerbach, so Lana's will came through and HM became as lethargic as it is. For me HM's problems are the lyrics and the lack of passion. Caramanica of NYtimes nailed it in his review when he said that Lana is like a "dog that, when its leash is tugged, simply lies on the ground and shuts its eyes: basking in the sun, feeding off its warmth, never giving an inch". When you come out with music that slow people will focus on your lyrics and message. Hm has no message, is just a slow burning melancholy record fucked up by some really poor lyrical choices and by the relentless monotony. Still it's better than 25 for me but that is not enough to save Lana's career because Adele can sing live and put some hits out

We became the fans of a fan. I'm happy for her going out to concerts but her career is in the pits and I would like to see her a little bit concerned and maybe doing something (interesting) about that. 
 
"She looks amazing" - no, she looks as usual: simply dressed (jeans) with horrible shoes. The only thing that always gets me is her smile.
 
I hope that she finds someone good for her

Rihanna and Lana are "peers" as are the panther and the fraidy cat

Rihanna and Lana are "peers" as are the panther and the fraidy cat

We became the fans of a fan. I'm happy for her going out to concerts but her career is in the pits and I would like to see her a little bit concerned and maybe doing something (interesting) about that. 
 
"She looks amazing" - no, she looks as usual: simply dressed (jeans) with horrible shoes. The only thing that always gets me is her smile.
 
I hope that she finds someone good for her

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Video Games. This song made her a star and it's arguably one of the most relevant songs for the 2010's
 
It's very much the essence of LDR without the annoying bad boy trope