CatchTheBreeze

She well deserves this award!

I don't know if you guys ever heard of Gemma Ray - I think her music bears some resemblances to Lana (and not because of the "Ray" ). She's pretty cool live too.
 

I don't know if you guys ever heard of Gemma Ray - I think her music bears some resemblances to Lana (and not because of the "Ray" ). She's pretty cool live too.
 

I know this article is quite old (it's from January 2012) but I think it's an entertaining read for Lana fans and an essential read especially for all those Lana haters out there – "Deconstructing Lana Del Rey". Pretty interesting stuff.
 
http://www.spin.com/articles/deconstructing-lana-del-rey

I translated Lana's parts of the itw :
 
Lizzy and her chameleon soul
 
 
 
When her parents sent her to rehab
 
 
 
Alcohol is bad
 
 
 
Artist's community she wanted to found
 
 
 
About his community work
 
 
 
About the Vogue AUS itw drama
 
 
 
Personal life
 
 

I know this article is quite old (it's from January 2012) but I think it's an entertaining read for Lana fans and an essential read especially for all those Lana haters out there – "Deconstructing Lana Del Rey". Pretty interesting stuff.
 
http://www.spin.com/articles/deconstructing-lana-del-rey

I know this article is quite old (it's from January 2012) but I think it's an entertaining read for Lana fans and an essential read especially for all those Lana haters out there – "Deconstructing Lana Del Rey". Pretty interesting stuff.
 
http://www.spin.com/articles/deconstructing-lana-del-rey

I know this article is quite old (it's from January 2012) but I think it's an entertaining read for Lana fans and an essential read especially for all those Lana haters out there – "Deconstructing Lana Del Rey". Pretty interesting stuff.
 
http://www.spin.com/articles/deconstructing-lana-del-rey

Here's what the meanest US reactions were (according to the website below), as well as a counter from the same website with some nice reactions (including one from hipsterrunnoff, probably misinformed on that one, but the quote is nice).
 
http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/26-meanest-quotes-from-reviews-of-lana-del-reys-n
 
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lindseyweber/13-nicest-quotes-from-reviews-of-lana-del-reys-ne
 
I think we all agree she worked hard enough after her hype disaster that she can not be dismissed from pop music. I would say that some of the nasty reviews qualify as poor quality reviews (more about extra-musical issues than the music). Her response of letting the fans/marketplace defend her and not getting in the fray was the most appropriate. I don't think critics went as far as character assasination, but I do think personal attack is an appropriate description (I think she used those words in the recent German interviews, there are now two). Other than illuminati influence on the critics (LOL), I can't explain such reviews.
 
Some other thoughts:
 
The group of anti-fans is shrinking in number. The Paradise EP did not get dissed much. Both CDs are, in fact, charting right now.
 
Touring is a complicated. At least in Europe she's touring with her boyfriend and travelling to exotic places. I don't think her not wanting to tour the US is a reaction to bad press. More like limiting an activity that is taxing. Also she did perform in the US before her "World" tour; she just didn't do it everywhere. Praise be to Youtube (and the fans that uploaded) for letting me experience some of it.
 
Major pop artists seem to like/respect/recommend/tolerate her. They are on her side, not the critics.
 
SNL performances were controversial and not bad. Saying they were bad, like it's a fact, isn't objectively true because at least as many people liked as disliked them. I for one went back to the SNL Blue Jeans (LanaDelReyVevo?) many times because I enjoyed it. Some critics even recognize this. 
 
A possible overreaction on her part, maybe, was changing her mind about re-releasing "... aka Lizzy Grant". If critical reaction did play a role, that would be a major bummer to me. I wish she would re-release that, and release May Jailer, and also put a dent in her unreleased/leaked catalog. It's the surest way to flip the bird at reviewers, who would get brain hemorrhages trying to figure out how to review them.

I know this article is quite old (it's from January 2012) but I think it's an entertaining read for Lana fans and an essential read especially for all those Lana haters out there – "Deconstructing Lana Del Rey". Pretty interesting stuff.
 
http://www.spin.com/articles/deconstructing-lana-del-rey

Invented beauty
Decadent Hollywood star, ingenue little posh or hoochie from the periphery, all of that fits in the persona Lana Del Rey created for herself. – By Harold Von Kursk
 
One video made with a collage of images on Youtube made her a sensation of the alternative music. And a super critized performance on TV turned her into an overnight pop star. If you think the path that Lana Del Rey, 26 years old, made until she came to the top was a little bit weird, you're very right – her universe is very strange, indeed. In the beginning of 2011, Lana was Lizzy Grant, a singer with bleached blonde hair (and lips way thinner) who circulated around the record labels seeking a contract. Until that, in june of that year she put on internet the ballad Video Games, along with nostalgic images she chose by herself. With her new name, lips and trendy retro look, she caught the attention of bloggers and journalists and her course started to change. Everything almost went down the drain in January, when her performance on the TV show Saturday Night Live, from NBC network, was crushed down by the critic. But the effect was the opposite: 15 days after, her album Born to Die, a collection of glamorous and dark songs, came to the stores and went right to the first place in charts of seven countries. She just released her 6th video from her album, Summertime Sadness (Lana now makes superproduced videos). And she is the face of the new campaign of H&M. Full of tricks or talented? GLOSS saw one of her shows in New York, in June and assures: both things. Fake, fragile, beautiful, bold, modern – she is all of that. Just not a conventional singer.
 
GLOSS: You became a celebrity overnight. How do you see this so immediate success?
LDR: I'm surprised! I didn't expect this, specially after being ignored for 6 years. I couldn't get my songs to be played and I had a lot of difficulty to settle shows. Everybody was complaining that my songs were too long and dark and that it would be impossible to commercialize them. They said that the video of Video Games was weird and scary [laughs]. It's very funny that now I have a contract [with Universal Music] and a team working with me.
 
GLOSS: You moved from Connecticut to New York at age 18 and went to study at Fordham University. How the experience influenced your music?
LDR: Being in New York was a very lonely experience, but also very stimulating in many ways. I met weird people, others wonderful and some not very nice. All of that enriched my music and what I wanted to say. I had to struggle to have my rent's money and to be able to afford others expenses. I know this sounds kinda cliché but that is what happened.
 
GLOSS: Do you still feel alone nowadays?
LDR: No, I feel better. I believe that, when someone finally has a success and people feel touched by your music, the sensation of satisfaction appears. But some of my songs still talk about the disappointment of finding an incredible person and things not working out. Being alone and not feeling deeply connected to no one isn't something easy to deal with.
 
GLOSS: By your lyrics, it seems that you lived some complicated break-ups.
LDR: It's hard to be with someone, waiting for something pretty to be born and then, suddenly, everything going wrong. I was with a person who I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. We were clean and sober, and I needed someone who would respect that. But it didn't work out. When I thought I've had found someone who could take care of me and that I could take care too, I saw everything fall apart.
 
GLOSS: Are you shy?
LDR: I'm very introverted. I don't feel easily comfortable with people when I meet them and I get nervous when I start to talk.
 
GLOSS: Is that a problem when you sing live?
LDR: I think my shyness and my nervousness already became visible in some of my performances. I'm still learning how to deal with that. I keep telling myself to relax on stage, try to feel the music and not to think in what is around me.
 
GLOSS: Why do you think that, in a time of Lady Gaga and so many overstyled artists, people are critizing you so much for inventing a certain image for yourself?
LDR: Thanks for the observation! [Laughs.] I don't think I put a big effort on creating an image besides using dresses rather than exotic costumes. Sometimes the clothes are kinda retro, what matches my music and videos. And it's just that. I think my voice and and lyrics are provocative. But I don't get the rage level of some critics about me.
 
GLOSS: The music video for Video Games was the great responsible for the turning point in your career. Did you expect the material would have the impact it did?
LDR: I thought the images would catch attention and help me to have more followers on the internet. And that maybe it would be good when seeking a contract with some record label. I never thought it would be so watched [the video has today more than 60 millions of views]. I dedicated myself a lot to the material and it gave me a great creative satisfaction. So, I'm proud of people liking it so much.
 
GLOSS: Many people invented thousand of theories to interpret what the images of the video are meant to say...
LDR: The truth is that I had no money to make a video, then I started to make experiences with the images. I think it increased the impact of the music, but when I see the music video nowadays I feel like changing a lot of things, specially the images of myself. Now that I have a contract with a record label and money to produce, I'm very happy for not having to make my self videos. I participate in the process, but I love the fact of being able to work with real professionals. I prefer to concentrate in the songs.
 
GLOSS: Why is "Born to Die" the title of the album?
LDR: In childhood, I kind of freaked out when I realized that my mom, my dad and everybody I knew would die someday. I think that, somehow, this philosophical crisis stayed with me and reappeared in the time I had to give a title to the album.
 
GLOSS: In some interviews, you said that music isn't the most important thing in your life. Is that true?
LDR: I like music and composing, it's just that it's not the fundamental point for me. I have interest in many things and I don't see my life only spinning around music, although I'm super-involved with that at the moment. But I'm very happy with my album and even more to know the amount of people that like my songs. I guess I should think about that and don't worry about nothing else. I would like people to think about me as a good person. Maybe it's ingenuity of me saying that, but that's what I am.
 
Building Lana
Where the singer went to find inspiration to create her cool visual
VERONICA LAKE
From the femme fatale from the 40's, Lana took the attitude and the hair
BRIGITTE BARDOT
The thick and slightly open lips are the mark of the french actress
AUDREY HEPBURN
Lana adores eyes well contoured with black eyeliner
PRISCILLA PRESLEY
Every now and then, Lana appears with the hairstyle that Elvis's ex used in the sixties
MORTICIA ADDAMS
One more embellishment of a femme fatale: huge nails!
KANYE WEST
Necklaces, rings and sneakers complete the visual

Btw especially Die Zeit not that often does inteviews with "pop stars", they like to focus more on "high culture" like jazz, classic, literature... So I think it's pretty cool that Lana's music obviously has enough depth to catch the interest of these guys. :-)
 

Actually Der Spiegel and Die Zeit are pretty important magazines in Germany... (Die Zeit being the biggest or 2nd biggest weekly newspaper over here)
 
But it would be interesting to know if Lana really "dictates" the questions before an interview...!

Actually Der Spiegel and Die Zeit are pretty important magazines in Germany... (Die Zeit being the biggest or 2nd biggest weekly newspaper over here)
 
But it would be interesting to know if Lana really "dictates" the questions before an interview...!

Actually Der Spiegel and Die Zeit are pretty important magazines in Germany... (Die Zeit being the biggest or 2nd biggest weekly newspaper over here)
 
But it would be interesting to know if Lana really "dictates" the questions before an interview...!

I just discovered this interview in a German weekly newspaper called Die Zeit (one of the best known here):
http://www.zeit.de/2013/01/Interview-Lana-Del-Rey
 
"Ich spiele keine Lolita-Rolle" = "I'm not playing a Lolita (role)"
 
The print version of this interview is accompanied by a different photo of her (sorry for the bad scan):

I just discovered this interview in a German weekly newspaper called Die Zeit (one of the best known here):
http://www.zeit.de/2013/01/Interview-Lana-Del-Rey
 
"Ich spiele keine Lolita-Rolle" = "I'm not playing a Lolita (role)"
 
The print version of this interview is accompanied by a different photo of her (sorry for the bad scan):

First Page :
 
"I don't play a Lolita (Role)"
 
The Retro Pop Queen Lana Del rey about secondhand clothes, older mens and her love with the american flag.
 
Die Zeit : In Videos you seems to be the tragedic hero of a Hollywoodmelodram of the early 60'. Your songs with sultry strings are saturated fantasies of an other time. Lives Lana Del Rey in the past ?
 
Lana Del Rey : I like things of the past, because they are bringing me back. But I take not a lot of Inspiration how you're thinking. The old Hollywoodcinema is an Influence of many, a traditionnally Make Up, what I wear. But I like how these Films are made : So epic, georgeous . I wish that the real life would be same.
 
Zeit: Isn't it someting for you? Your Debut Album Born to die was sold in Germany alone 400.000 times.
 
Del Rey: When I'm coming to Paris of Berlin, I actually breath deeply in and think : All is wonderful, the people like me and my music. I thought that it would be interesting nobody. Often it was : These Songs are rare, to invest money in it, to curious, to let it play on the Radio.
 
Zeit: And now the luxury brand Jaguar advertises with one of your songs.
 
Del Rey: Yes, Burning Desire is a male Song, it's about driving fast.
 
Zeit: In the 60' James Bond drove too a Jaguar. Do you would sing a James Bond Titlesong ?
 
Del Rey : Before it would be fun, and the most of my songs are suitable for that. But now these FIlms are gigantic spectacled. To become a Titlesong, you must be very prominent and not kontrovers.
 
Zeit : Do you like it to be controverse ?
 
Del Rey : No, I don't like to dispute. I would be happy when I could be a normal singer. But just in America the Journalits are writing me since the release of Born to Die Hate Mails, so like if they waited, to finish me of.
 
Zeit : But you recieved also good Critics - for Example in New York Times.
 
Del Rey : Yes, there had the Author named Jon Caramanica dragged the whole album in the dirt. The Things, he wrote about my Family were rude and unreal !
 
Zeit : So you you think that there is a conspiracy against the Pop Singer Lana Del Rey ?
 
Del Rey : You can see it so. A Part of the Journalist has contaced my Press agency and excused : They were bored and searched a more exciting Thema. This Camagne is more a Commentar for Journalism in the USA as to my performance.
It's not about a wrong tone in the TV-Show Saturday Night Live - it was about something other.
 
Zeit : Maybe it's the liberal Art and way, who they are expaining in the USA ? >>My pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola<<, it's said in Cola, a song on your currently appeared EP Paradise.
 
Del Rey: Yeah and ? I find the line funny. My friend is scottish, he finds american Girls for somehing Exotic. One Day he said to me : >>Your american Girls are running around, so like your Pussy would taste like Coca-Cola, so like your wrapping you into Flags for sleeping.<< He find's us all patriotic.
 
Zeit : The American Flag is actually never missing on one of your videos, on Photos you're cuddling you even sometimes in.
 
 
Second Page:
 
Del Rey : Yes, because it looks simply great. But I like also that, what's behind it : the idea of an American Dream.
 
Zeit: Seeing the Video to Ride, it seems your American Dream the radical Outsider Histories, who telled the american Independent-Cinema of the 70. In a long Monologue at the beginning it's: >>I was in the winter of my life and the men I met along the road were my only summer...<<
 
Del Rey: This is autobiographic! There was a time where i asked me : What do you do, when all your dreams did not become true ? At this time I searched protection and Safety by mens. But Ride is not the story of a victim. And it should be neither a Comment to the topic Prostitutuon, how american media suspect. It's going about my life : What happen, when someone want to be a big Singer but your homeland is saying : No, you aren't.
 
Zeit : The Mens in the Video look like members of Hells Angels...
 
Del Rey : I felt always like a Outlaw and Biker - since my 15. Birthday i'm driving on the back of Bikes. Since then I met clearly older mens. I had discovered the writing very ealy. But it came otherwise. After stopping drinking with 18 Years -I had an Alcoholproblem-, i searched the contact to people, leading to ann established life.
 
Zeit: 2013 changed a lot in your life ?
 
Del Rey : Around me things changed. After all are there now people, hearing my music and liking it.
 
Zeit : You descronet american Freethinkers and Allen Ginsberg as important influences. Are Beat-Poems actual ?
 
Del Rey : For me yes, i'm having Howl always with me, in my pursuit!
After I read Ginsberg, my world changed for me. The way how he draws pictures (paintures) with his words, impressed me deep. I dreamed of, that the People are saying the same about my Texts : My God, what for a wonderful Painture you've drawed.
 
Zeit : How do you understand with feminists ? In the video to Ride some People complained your Lolita-Look.
 
Del Rey : I don't play no Lolita-Role! I just like the Text! Many Popstars playing with the Lolita-Thing, wearing barely clothes. It's not different for me, when I know how to explain... It's not about being a Lolita, it's more an attitude, so if someone choose for Polygamie, for free Love or what ever. It's my decision! For me it's not about the Women's Movemen, and my Songs aren't too a Comment about todays Popmusic.
 
Zeit: So a Mix of a Diary and personal confession?
 
Del Rey : I want simply the World out of my Point of view to explain. In fact it's every time the same Shema. Taking the Song Born to Die : IN the autobiographic verse it's about, to don't five up, to be a good man (human). I was once together with a Man, who drifted it. Together we decided to live a drug free Life. But then he run away more of less. And all, what I could do was praying. In the Chorus (Refrain) opened it all in a passionate Phantasie : (singing) >>Come and take a walk on the wild side. Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain.<< At the End it's an escape into the Romance.
 
Zeit : When your songs so autobiographic strong are : Is there then a Different between you, Lizzy Grant, and your art figure Lana Del Rey ?
 
Zeit (It was possibly a mistake) Lana : No, it's just a other Name. It's feeling for me the same.
 
Zeit : It's expectable a certain Typ, hearing your music...
 
Del Rey : I believe it gladly...
 
Zeit: ...a figure of the Film noir possible.
 
Del Rey: I have old-fashioned values. I like Things, who were made, to be beautiful. And to sing is for me so natural as speaking. And that's why I don't go on the stage transforming into an completely other person. I am always the same.
 
Zeit: Also when you are modelling for H&M ?
 
Del Rey: Tja... (yeah)
 
Zeit: Are you interested in fashion (mode) ?
 
Del Rey : No. You are seeing what I'm wearing (checked shirt, close Jeans, Mokassins, ?Anm d.Red?.) . Jewelry ist the only thing what I am occasionally buying. Sometimes I find some pretty Second Hand things.
 
Zeit: Is the Jacket from a Second Hand Store ?
 
Del Rey : No, it's from K-Mart, that's a Dime (Discounter, Place where clothes are cheap to buy). When we were recently in New York, I was freezing, and because on the other side of the streed a K-Mart was, I went in and buyed this Jacket. Sorry, when I am looking with that not so glamorous.
 
Zeit : But the Hollywood wardrobe the dramatic hairstyles, the opulent Make-up - who has it all thought out ?
 
Del Rey: I am every day on the way with the responsible: Anna is making always my Hair, Pamela cars about my Eyes and Lips. And then there is Johnny Blueeyes, how he is called in the wide world of fashion. He is the someone who's getting the right Wardrobe. So like, when I want A dress, so like Marilyn Monroe wear it.
 
Zeit: In the video for National Anthem you're playing not alone Marilyin Monroe but also Jackie Kennedy - two icones in one sweep (slap).
 
Del Rey : I like these Womens, because of that I wrote a Video-Treatment, in them the two are in.
 
Zeit: Because they're two models?
 
Del Rey: Sure, who except Marilyn is still decades after her death such a big Star? It must give a Reason for that, that she's hitting by Million of Peopl a nerv. I like, that she was so gently!
 
Zeit: Are you too one from the gently ones?
 
Del Rey: Yes, I think, that am I. I am not so sad like I sound in my songs. I try, to be integer, doing right Things. I sing, since I was 17 Yeahrs, and the most Time nobody was interested in it. I know honestly why it's now different. I walked always the straight way showed continuity. But in the last time they are seeing me as another Person, who changed all on her. This is promising more exitement.
 
There might be some mistakes but I hope the translated text (by me) is good unterstandable.

I just discovered this interview in a German weekly newspaper called Die Zeit (one of the best known here):
http://www.zeit.de/2013/01/Interview-Lana-Del-Rey
 
"Ich spiele keine Lolita-Rolle" = "I'm not playing a Lolita (role)"
 
The print version of this interview is accompanied by a different photo of her (sorry for the bad scan):

I just discovered this interview in a German weekly newspaper called Die Zeit (one of the best known here):
http://www.zeit.de/2013/01/Interview-Lana-Del-Rey
 
"Ich spiele keine Lolita-Rolle" = "I'm not playing a Lolita (role)"
 
The print version of this interview is accompanied by a different photo of her (sorry for the bad scan):

Interesting charts - thanks for compiling it! "Ride" at no. 1 is great, it's my personal no. 1 too. But "Gods & monsters" is way too low!