kitschesque

Shades of cool is something Lizzy would be truly proud of. That is the greatest compliment Lana's nowadays projects can get.

Shades of cool is something Lizzy would be truly proud of. That is the greatest compliment Lana's nowadays projects can get.

Shades of cool is something Lizzy would be truly proud of. That is the greatest compliment Lana's nowadays projects can get.

i guess I don't rewatch the UV vids enough tbh I almost always watch National Anthem if I need a heavy dose of Lana visuals (and it's a song I don't listen to that much--I listen to UV almost every day, but the visuals for it aren't that memorable to me besides the cover shoot tbh)

Shades of Cool is one of her best music videos and it perfectly captures the aesthetic of the UV era (which the other videos failed to do)

Shades Of Cool was the last good video until Love, though.

WC was NOT boring.....

so she's already filmed a total of three music videos for this era?
 
does this mean we can finally say goodbye to recycled footage??!?!?  
truly never thought we'd see the end

I love that line cos she's obviously secretly bitter, mad as fuck.

Are you familiar with any of Lana's discography?

 

Because I don't believe in a literal Bill, Bill. Sorry to invalidate your experience existence.

i kind of love the 'heck' line, because its so retarded, but purposefully so. there's an 'aw shucks' innocence to it, and the hardness of the 'k' sound really adds something to it
 
"No I'm just -- I'm that uncool that I think it's cool, yeah." - swedish radio interview 
 
 

When the fuck did Lana say the guy is famous? You guys keep stretching these lyrics. All she says is "You did it all for fame, how does that treat you now?" Meaning he did it for the fame, that's it. No where does she state he actually received fame, he just planned his actions towards it. Y'all needa stop

I love this theory! Especially the passage about Pepsi Cola. 

Not sure whether we should be doing this here or in Lanalysis instead, but whatever...

Sorry guys, I'm with @@longtimeman on this. I think this is primarily a song about Barrie (and kind of a harsh one, maybe even unfair). Let's break it down:

"My baby used to dance underneath my architecture"
Barrie was not only living in the shadow of her metaphoric architecture, her career and fame as @Lona Delery noted, but he was living with her under her roof, probably on her dime, in her fancy houses. Literally under her architecture. (@bummersummer made a similar point above.) And he's the only significant musician other she had during her post-fame period where she was rich enough to live in fancy houses.

"Houses of the Holy"
See @@longtimeman's post about that.

"He was cool as heck"
Potentially a callback to "Yeah, my boyfriend's pretty cool/But he's not as cool as me" in "Brooklyn Baby", a Barrie song, and perhaps "Shades of Cool". The repetition of the line almost seems to emphasize this.

"But you were so obsessed with writing the next best American record
But there was nothing left by the time we got to bed"
This is consistent with the picture she painted of Barrie in interviews and "Is This Happiness" (@SissyReed alluded to this) as someone focused on their art, more than she, perhaps to the detriment of everything else. (Ha, I'm amused just thinking about how blasphemous the idea of neglecting Lana in the boudoir probably seems to most of her fanbase.)

"How does that taste cumming out"
As @Sjp1988 suggested, perhaps a sly reference to Barrie being the origin of her saying "My pussy tastes like Pepsi-cola"?

"You did it all for fame
Baby, how's life treating you now
It's over"
Alleging that he did it all for fame seems harsh, perhaps a little unfair (and projecting to some degree), but Barrie did quit Kassidy to move to LA and pursue a solo career and live with his famous significant other. No part of that worked out.

"He was '70s in spirit, '90s in his frame of mind"
Definitely describes Barrie well, as he's heavily influenced by classic rock and Nirvana.

"Baby, how you feeling now
That I told you
We're through"
Lana was the one that broke things off. (Although it's questionable if she actually did tell him or just ghosted.)

"All the roads lead to you
Like the 405 I drive through
Everynight and everyday"
Not dispositive, but suggestive of her time living in California post-fame which points towards Barrie. Also, if taken semi-literally Barrie continued to live in LA for a time after they broke up.

"I see you for who you really are
Why the thousands of girls
Love the way Bill plays guitar"
Barrie is an accomplished guitarist. And "thousands of girls" instead of millions is fitting for Barrie/Kassidy.
 
OK, now to deal with some of the Barrie counter-arguments:
 
As @Vonn pointed out, she never says the person actually achieved fame.
 
I really don't think I could buy a producer theory for this song unless the line was "You were so obsessed with making the next best American record", but the line is "writing".

I think Mertens is too much of an artistic polymath to fit this. I don't see him having a single-minded focus on music, let alone "writing the next best American record".
 
Absent a specific candidate-- like Jimmy Gnecco, Lady Gaga, Chuck-- I'm inclined to believe that names she likes to reuse like Ray, Bill, Salvatore are just that: names she likes to reuse. Just because she likes the names. (I'm not even sure all her Jim mentions refer to Jimmy Gnecco, though perhaps Jim Morrison.) That said, like K, they could be invented pet names that do refer to a specific person. (I think there's a good possibility Ray at least began as a name for Arthur Lynn.)

I do think there is a case here for this being about Arthur. I'm sure he's into Led Zeppelin. The "American" part fits better. Based on his website and old Instagram posts I'm sure he's a studio rat. But this really seems like it's about a more recent relationship, post-fame, and overall screams Barrie to me.
 
And wouldn't it be a little too on the nose to put Barrie's name in the song? (Or Arthur's?) I'm not sure Lana would be as quick to namedrop in song these days as she was when she tossed off "Jimmy Gnecco" and "So Legit". This might be a deliberate way to obscure.
 
I don't think some of the lyrics really fit the theory that it's about herself. But I am sympathetic to this theory in the sense that there's some amount of projection going on here.
 
Mmm... I think people are making too much of this. Barrie moved to the US and (I think?) recorded his album in the US, has a lot of American musical influences, and stayed in LA for awhile after they broke up trying to get his solo career going. Plus consider Lana's comments at the Brits suggesting she really didn't think of herself as an "international" artist because she lived in the UK while recording BTD there. Never underestimate Lana logic.
 
Really? I'm not necessarily convinced all those songs are exclusively about one guy or about a specific guy, let alone the same guy. You know, back in 2011, 2012 when she was saying stuff to that effect in interviews she wasn't consistent. One interview she'd say they were mostly about one guy, the next she'd say two guys. Taken with other interview comments she's made about songs written about past lovers becoming about the person you're with now, I think Lanalysis is inherently a fool's game (that I nonetheless enjoy playing).
 
           

I'd read that. A 5,000 word @longtimeman post is bound to be more worthwhile than 500 typical 10-word posts made around here.  

Yes, this was another thought I had that I should have included in my essay-length post. It's another reason why I don't think people should get too hung up on national origin in excluding Barrie from consideration here. I think the phrase "Best American Record" is meant more to evoke the same sort of grandiose artistic ambition associated with the concept of the "Great American Novel" than nationality.

i also think its fair to say the song is sort of an amalgamation of multiple points of lana's view.. perhaps a criticism of an ex lover, while also a criticism of herself. 
it may also be about multiple men.. i get the feeling she sort of writes about a man, who is sort of an archetypal concept formed out of all her ex lovers.. 

am I the only one who thinks it's kinda strange Lana dropped Barrie after UV and then Francesco after HM? I feel like she grows into these different moods every year or so, changes up her whole game, inspirations and likes, and drops the old boyfriends for new exciting ones. Maybe it's just me, but I'm thinking Lana should date someone as complex as her so when she morphs again, he can morph by her side. or maybe she just a playa

Aw she’s like me

True, Barrie has spoken out about this breakup like a half year later and gave his perspective on this story which in my opinion is enough

+ Nicole Nodland

OMG this makes so much sense
Not to mention the Bonham obsession at the studio Barrie had
Houses-of-the-Holy-shit-if-this-is-about-my-dad-Barrie-I'm-gonna-cry

Well I'd like to rebuttal all the points you made here. 
 
1. Azealia Banks although I have been a fan since 2012 of her and still am because musically her writing and thematics are astronomically better then all of the girls in the rap game. But she extremely unstable. And Lana stayed friends with her through most of her racial and sexual related dramas. When Lana someone we all know is timid in the way she reacts to controversy, decided despite all the hate she gets no matter what she does to make a tweet about performing a spell binding ritual against donald trump that was a brave and big move. And instead of embracing one of her last friends in the industry who is intresting in wicca/paganism/santeria she insulted and mocked her associating her with "every white wannabe witch". And then of course If i was lana that would be the end of our friendship. 
 
 
2. I don't know anything about woodkid and that point is fair.
 
 
3. Jaimie King is a modern day groupie. Because do you remember the song Fine China? Well that was a lyrically penned opened letter to a woman who conveniently fit everything in that song. That woman is jaimie. Around 2013 is when they started getting distant  around the time lana wrote that song Jaime was having a baby. And Lana was wearing diamonds to the birth of that baby. Lana confided in her and even had her in her music video Summertime Sadness. But then around late 2013 Jaimie ditched lana after her issues with barrie and moved on to being one of taylor swifts "besties". That was plain disgraceful.
 
 
4. And although I like barrie he had alot of issues to work on. Suprisingly the newest song that should not be named that leaked talks about his obsession with songwriting and that at the end of the day him and lana had nothing but that in common to talk about. He was well aware the relationship was crumbling. He was in denial at the thought she wasnt going to leave him.
 
 
 
 
Is it just me or I dont think this choices were b!tchy. But smart moves for her.
 
 
Another thing is she totally has the right to be a nasty binch pertaining to her fake fans leaking her stuff and horrible management/ straight lies in the tabloids.  

thats not vegan 

This is the kinda stuff I'm on LanaBoards for

What we see/hear is only part of each story. Not to mention, there could be a culmination of reasons as to why someone (like Lana, in this case) wouldn't remain in contact with particular people. I don't think it's fair to label her a "bitch" when we have limited information (or for any reason, tbh.)