They seemed to cut it down quite a bit, so I just finished transcribing the entire interview word for word if anyone hasn't gotten around to listening to it yet and would rather read it in its un-edited entirety.
TS - Hey you’re listening to the World Café! I’m Talia Schlanger. Today, Lana Del Rey. Lust for Life is the title track off Lana’s latest album. It features the artist The Weeknd. Lana also collaborated with Stevie Nicks, who proposed they move to one of Hollywood’s famous spots.
LDR – She always joked about how when I got older, I would live in the H and she would live in the W of the Hollywood Sign. I was like, “Really?? Let’s do it!”
TS – We also talked about how Lana looks back on older lyrics including the line “he hit me and it felt like a kiss” from 2014’s ‘Ultraviolence’
LDR – I think I was just so used to chronicling everything diary-style. I mean, that’s why I’ve been polarizing because people don’t want to look at the broader picture sometimes. & Now I’m like, “what the hell am I doing?” It’s not like I have to tell every particular detail.
TS – Lana Del Rey - She’s got a special place in my own memory. A few years ago I took my sister to see her Endless Summer Tour. I get the sense that a lot of people take their sisters to see Lana’s concerts. & Recently, when I texted my sister to say I was going to be interviewing Lana for World Café, she wrote back and said, “wait, what? I thought she was a hologram!” I think a lot of people think Lana is a hologram. Maybe it’s because there is an ethereal quality to the way Lana performs and a sort of vintage-glam about her look that makes it feel like she might be more of a beautiful apparition than a real person. But she is a very real person. Our chat in a moment, but first let’s listen to a little bit of the song ‘Love’ from Lana’s latest record ‘Lust for Life’
*Love plays*
TS – That’s ‘Love’ by Lana Del Rey off her latest album called ‘Lust for Life.’ Lana, welcome back to the World Café!
LDR – Thank you so much!
TS – We’re really happy to have you here
LDR – I’m happy to be here.
TS – Yeah? So when you announced the new record, you released this video trailer that is beautiful and very clever, and I want to play a little piece of it for people to hear.
LDR – Okay.
TS – But first, can you describe what we saw in this video? Where you are?
LDR – Okay. I had been thinking about this idea of broadcasting form the middle of the H of the Hollywood Sign in California. So, I asked my director Clark to help me set up this whole space to look like the H. In it I was sort of looking out at all of the mayhem in the city below and beyond, but I also wanted it to have sort of like a B-Movie twist on it with the narrative and the musical background. So, yeah.
TS – Yeah. Let’s hear a piece of what you said in it. This is a piece of the clip
*“When I’m in the middle of making a record, especially now when the world is in the middle of such a tumultuous period, I find I really need to take this space for myself. Far away from real life to consider what my contribution to the world should be in these dark times. So each morning, I have the luxury of asking myself, ‘What shall I cook up for the kids today? Something with a little spice?’”*
TS – That’s a clip of the trailer Lana Del Rey released before releasing her latest album called ‘Lust for Life.’ So, you sing about the H of the Hollywood Sign on the title track of ‘Lust for Life’ with The Weeknd.
LDR – Yes.
TS – Great collaboration.
LDR – Thank you. I did not think I was going to get him up there to dance with me on the H.
TS – Really? How did you convince him?
LDR – He was actually a good sport. He was like, “if you’re doing it, I’ll be there.”
TS – Did you guys actually go?
LDR – We made our own H.
TS – Yeah.
LDR – Yeah. It was like, it was really big. But, I don’t know, I just thought he was going to be too cool to do it, but he was awesome. & Then the only thing he didn’t want to do was slide down the sign, so I was like, “no problem, I’ll just meet you down there in the flowers.”
TS – Awh nice! What did you have in mind while you were writing the song?
LDR – Well, ‘Lust for Life’ was actually the first track I wrote for the record, and I wrote it the day after I finished my record before that. But um, what I ended up wanting for it was a little bit of a girl group feel, a little bit of a Shangri Las feel with that spoken word for the verse. But so, yeah, with ‘Love’ and ‘Lust for Life’ I kind of started to change the aesthetic of the record into something that was a little bit, I would say, just a little bit brighter. Not more pop necessarily, but a little bit, like rosier in its hue.
TS – Yeah…
LDR – Yeah.
TS – You can feel it. I also like the girl group reference, and I was thinking about, when I was thinking about the record as a whole, I was sort of thinking about The Shirelles’s version of ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow”
LDR – Really?
TS – Yeah, because it’s sort of, um, it makes sense as a reference because its people working out thoughts that are confusing but in this really mature way.
LDR – Oh, I love that.
TS – Yeah, and you can read, like, that’s what was happening at that time. Like, ideas were being expressed in music that people couldn’t talk about necessarily with their classmates or their parents, but would hear on the radio and identify with. & I think that’s something that you touch on with your fanbase so much.
LDR – Mm, that’s a really good point. That, that is so true about the dawn of rock and why it was so appealing
TS – Yeah. Let’s listen to a little bit of ‘Lust for Life’ then, the title track.
*Lust for Life plays*
TS – That’s from ‘Lust for Life’ the title track off Lana Del Rey’s latest record. She’s my guest here on the World Café. So, that song features The Weeknd. You got some really wonderful cameos on the album.
LDR – I do.
TS – A$AP Rocky, Sean Lennon…
LDR – Sean Lennon!
TS – Playboi Carti…
LDR – Yes.
TS - & I want to talk about Stevie Nicks.
LDR – Yes.
TS – So, she sings on ‘Beautiful People Beautiful Problems’
LDR – Yeah.
TS – There’s such a great interplay between your two voices. Like, the fact that you open the song and then she comes in. You can really hear, like, the saltiness in her voice in a different way, like, in the juxtaposition of it.
LDR – I know. Yeah.
TS - & You had her raw. You’re really involved in mastering your own music I know, too, and mixing it.
LDR – Yep.
TS - & To have your hands on her raw vocals?
LDR – Yes.
TS – What’s that like?
LDR – That was actually nerve-racking. Um I called her more than once about that to keep on checking if she was sure she liked her take. & She was so easy, I mean, she just was happy with everything.
TS – Huh.
LDR – She just loved, she really liked that song. & Actually, I had, funny enough, I had wanted her to open the song, ‘cause, you know, she’s Stevie. But she didn’t want to. She wanted to take the second verse and step into it. So, yeah, she was full of surprises. She gave me a little golden diamond H ‘cause she always joked about how I got older I would live in the H and she would live in the W of the Hollywood Sign. Turn it into a little A-frame house. I was like, “Really?? Let’s do it!”
TS – That’s so sweet!
LDR – Yeah.
TS – Let’s listen to a piece of the song that you did together. This is ‘Beautiful People Beautiful Problems.’
*Beautiful People Beautiful Problems plays*
TS – That’s a bit of ‘Beautiful People Beautiful Problems,’ Stevie Nicks appearing on Lana Del Rey’s latest record ‘Lust for Life.’ When you first met her in the studio, what was going through your mind?
LDR – Well, at first I FaceTimed her and I just asked her if she wanted to do it, and I just thought it was probably 50/50, like she could say no. & um, she just said she had already heard it and it was a definite yes, but that she had been touring for, she had done something like a hundred and something shows and that she was not feeling well, so she wanted to stay in New York ‘cause they do, I do day on, day off, day on, day off. But they just do, like, days on. So, Rick actually flew to, um, Electric Lady Studios.
TS – Rick is your producer.
LDR – Sorry, yeah.
TS – Yeah, Yeah!
LDR – He started recording her first there and kind of Skyped me in. & Then he flew back the next day, and then Stevie got done with her tour the next week and came in and I think she re-sang almost everything in our studio in Santa Monica. So, she was amazing. She kind of flew in all in black with like gold accents everywhere. Like, her hair was gold, her glasses were gold, she had gold rings on every finger, and I was like in my flannel and sweatpants ‘cause I was exhausted at the end of our recording process, and I was like, “Oh my god. Why did I not dress up for Stevie Nicks?” That’s what I remember. Um, and then, I remember so many different things about that session. I was way more ner-, she wanted me to go in and do something at the end. Like, a little “oooooh” thing. Like a little tag. & I got on the microphone and I had, like, red light fever ‘cause she was watching me. & Um, I did it, and I said, “That was bad! My voice was breaking.” And she’s like, “I liked that it was breaking! I’m gonna, I’m gonna try and do it like you now.” And I was like, “Alright.” You know? But, um, yeah. It was just great to be in the same room.
TS – It sounds like she was so supportive. Like, so into what you were doing.
LDR – She was one of the first women I’ve met who – Courtney Love is like that. Like, she just, everything I do she’s just like, “that’s fucking great.” It’s interesting, it’s not always the people that you think. A lot of the times it’s the tough girls who actually, you know, are real, like, ‘girls’ girls.
TS – You and Stevie Nicks have called each other witchy sisters.
LDR - *laughs*
TS – What does that mean?
LDR – I think it means having, like, a bit of a mystical side. You know? Having a perspective musically where you take everything into account. Not just, like, your interactions, but like, you can read between the lines of when you meet people, how they’re feeling, how you’re feeling. I think it’s being able to sort of pick up on things like that, that sixth sense kind of thing, that can help really – like Jeff Buckley was really like that, I think. But I kind of think it’s just about having sensitivity, a real sensitivity.
TS – Yeah.
LDR – Yeah, having a lot of feelers out there and being able to pick it all, everything up in the atmosphere.
TS – Lana Del Rey is my guest here on the World Café. Her latest record is called “Lust for Life.” There’s a lot of energy that floats around you being a famous person as you are.
LDR – Yes, there is.
TS – A very famous person. & Sometimes, I mean, I, when I was getting ready to talk to you, just sort of doing the trolling that you do…
LDR - *laughs*
TS – Right? & Seeing some of the videos and things that you put up with where you’re walking through an airport and there’s flashbulbs going off everywhere, and your life is basically happening in like a strobe-light disco.
LDR – Yeah.
TS – Um, and I want to talk about the song ’13 Beaches.’
LDR – Mmhmm..
TS – Which I think captures that, right? Tell me a little bit about the inception of this song.
LDR – So, I love this song on my last record. Um, yeah its, I mean, gosh, call it luxury problems, but it’s about passing every beach from Santa Monica until you get to Ventura, thirteen beaches, where, that’s where the paparazzi stop. So, it’s about finding that place where you can just be quiet. There’s so many layers to this song for me, like, this idea of dripping peaches kind of reminded me of a dolly painting, and I’d have to sort of sing it to make it make sense.
TS – Well you can if you want to! We’ll play it in a minute, but if it helps you! I’m here for it!
LDR – Oh god. Yeah.
TS – Would you say that the opening line of this song I really love, and it hit me like really hard. Would you just even just say the lyrics of the opening lyrics of the song?
LDR – Um, yeah! It took thirteen beaches… I do actually have to sing it I think.
TS – Oh, yeah, go for it.
LDR – (singing) It took thirteen beaches to find one empty, but finally it’s mine. With dripping peaches, I’m camera ready almost all the time. Yeah.
TS – Thank you.
LDR – I did actually have to sing it to remember it. *laughs*
TS – That’s beautiful, but it’s so, anybody who can’t relate to the…
LDR – Right. It’s, well, it’s definitely, it’s a unique sentiment.
TS - Yeah, oh, but what I, I took it as a very universal sentiment.
LDR – You did?
TS – Yeah, for sure. Especially “I don’t belong in the world, um, something separates me from other people.” Like, you don’t have to be a famous person to feel the isolation of looking through many different places to find a place that feels like its yours.
LDR – Mm, that’s true.
TS – I was wondering if it was entirely about fame or if it was also sort of about finding your place or feeling like outside of something.
LDR – Well, mine intention with that song was literally finding one quiet physical place to spread out on, like, and just be without anybody looking at me, especially on a beach when I’m in a bathing suit. But um, for me it was kind of about doing whatever it takes to find that quiet place no matter how far you have to drive, ‘cause I know for me my songs really do come to me when I’m, you know, like, in nature and usually by myself, at least the beginning of them. So, for me it was sort of like another commitment to finding that place where I can be creative.
TS – Can you remember the first time you would have found a place by yourself like when you were a teenage when you were starting out songwriting, like, the first place where you were like, “oh this is, this is a “me” space that I can creative in the way that I need to be?”
LDR – I do, and I actually incorporated the word into this particular song, funny enough. I’m from the north country up in Lake Placid, and so for me, you know, my mother was always telling me, like, you know I could never come home after school I was always like stay outside until it’s dark. So, for me it was in the pines, in the pine trees. You know, we were in the, um, they call it the 46ers. Our town was surrounded by 46 -- some of the tallest peaks in the nation, and so, just go to the mountains and climb trees! & So, for me it was a lot of, like, stargazing, lying on trees, it was kind of picturesque in that way. So, that’s why I actually took a little liberty in my, in that song we’re talking about ’13 Beaches’ in the second verse where I say, “but you still can find me if you ask nicely, underneath the pines with the daisies, feeling hazy in the ballroom of my mind.” Uh, but there’s no pines on the beach. It’s actually Monterey Cyprus. But I added pines because it reminded me of the first time that I needed to find that quiet place. I’m a big -- I’m very dorky in that way. I’m a big, like, tree lover, so. Who knew?
TS – Who knew??
LDR – Trees were such an inspiration. *laughs*
TS - *laughs* Well let’s listen to that part of the song then. This is a bit of ’13 Beaches.’
*13 Beaches plays*
TS – That’s from ’13 Beaches,’ Lana Del Rey, off her latest record called “Lust for Life.”
LDR – Trees.
TS – Trees!
LDR – So thrilling.
TS – Here are some of them now!
LDR – For all of you botanists out there.
TS - *laughs* But there is something to be said for – especially when you live the kind of life that you live with people being bonkers. Do you – I read that you had people break in, like, break into your house.
LDR – Mmhmm.
TS – That’s got to be the most terrifying thing in the world.
LDR – It’s been a lot. Yeah.
TS – So, first of all what are people looking for when they invade your personal space like that?
LDR – It’s been different every time.
TS – Yeah.
LDR – Yeah.
TS – God, that’s got to be scary.
LDR – It’s been different every time. But, you know, this is not every artist’s, like, reality. It really isn’t. I have a bunch of, like, girlfriends and like a couple rappers I’m close with in music and they’re kind of like, they’re just like, “What happened this week?” You know? *laughs* It’s just this, ahh it’s just this thing!
TS – It’s so weird though and it’s very, it feels like it’s very particular to you ‘cause there are lots of people who manage to go through a career and not have that.
LDR – Yeah! Absolutely. In fact, when I played for Eddie Vedder at his Ohana Fest, he actually came up to me and he was like, “How ya doin’?” and I was like, “Yeah, pretty good.” He was like, “I bet it’s pretty fucking crazy for you.” And I was like, “You know what, it’s been a lot.” And he was like, he recounted a couple of stories, told me about a few times he had to move and he said, “You know, it’s not everybody and it doesn’t really mean that you’re, like, better or worse than any other artist. It’s just a particular type of…” I don’t want to say an audience, I think it’s just, it really could be like a combination of timing and genre and just personality. *laughs* I don’t know.
TS – Yeah, but, and it also I think that the kind of music I guess I could see a similarity with Eddie Vedder too where you, where people really feel like they know you, or like you owe them something that is personal and so feel like entitled to be in your space. Do you know what I mean?
LDR – Yeah, the way I’ve come to see it over the past 7 years is, like, I think they’re just, the people who are interested are very interested and they would love to just be in the house. You know? It’s not like they take anything. It’s just like they love to just see what’s on the wall.
TS - *laughs*
LDR - *laughs* It’s like…
TS – You’re freaking me out! That scares me!
LDR – Yeah, I can laugh now, which is so good. It took me a minute because it was a bit, it’s been a bit of an ongoing, you know, thing, but um, you know, like, I just really have come to terms with the fact that I’m just in such a unique situation and, you know, I just have to step up my game when it comes to, like, my perspective on it. You know, I need a lot of help. I call a lot of people, especially when stuff goes down. I’m like, you know, “this happened today. It was crazy.”
TS – Who’s your go-to person?
LDR – You know who I am very good friends with actually is one of my best friends is Father John Misty’s wife Emma Tillman.
TS – Whoa!
LDR – She’s my go-to. Not Father John Misty. *laughs*
TS – *laughs* We’re not calling Josh.
LDR – No offense, Josh! No, I’m just kidding. But um, Emma, she’s like very balanced and um… She’s a photographer and a director in her own right, but like in a way that’s – we have a similar perspective, we have a more grounded, well, it would be weird to call my perspective grounded. It starts, mine starts that way. I have a real little kinship with her. My sister Chuck I can call. Stella, my friend Stella. So yeah, those are all people I can call, and I mean I can call Abel I think and tell him.
TS – The Weeknd.
LDR – Yeah, The Weeknd. I could call him, or I would call Courtney.
TS – Yeah.
LDR – Yeah. She’s another person who’s like, I mean, anything you can picture happening, it’s happened to her obviously. *laughs*
TS – Well, yeah!
LDR – Yeah.
TS – Yeah. So what’s, like, what’s the best advice that you get about moving through that or making it okay. Like, can somebody say something?
LDR – Well Courtney, like, somebody like Courtney just doesn’t care. She’s just like, “screw it!”
TS – Yeah. *laughs*
LDR - *laughs* You know, like, no. But my best advice would just be like, the easiest thing you could let happen would be to let your world get smaller. You know? Or like get like that house on top of a mountain. You know? But really what you have to do is ground everything, and, like, just say, “screw it!” Get the house in the middle of the town! You know, just be like, “Alright! We’re here! We’re doing this!” and everybody knows!
TS – Wow.
LDR – And you just, just kind of like everybody else except everyone knows who you are at the coffee shop. That’s okay.
TS – Lana Del Rey is my guest here on the World Café. Her latest record is called “Lust for Life.” Um, I read a tweet that you sent around the Women’s March that happened just this year, so the one year anniversary I guess of the inaugural women’s march on Washington, that you had dropped your sister off, but didn’t feel like you could go because it would be a distraction maybe to the women who you were bringing there who wanted to be there.
LDR – Yeah.
TS – That’s, I mean, I would think that that’s incredibly disappointing.
LDR – I was a little disappointed in myself for that. That was last year’s women’s march. I dropped my sister off and I started it, but it quickly became distracting with the younger girls marching. It sort of became like a little yarn ball around me. I thought, you know, it’s not about me. It’s not about a famous person marching today. So, I got back in our van and I waited. But again, I will say sometimes it is a little different when I’m around, you know, the energy changes. But that being said, I would say there’s a time and a place for everything and there’s no reason why next year I couldn’t be right in the middle and feel comfortable. But it really just depends on the moment. You can tell right away whether something is going to work or not. Like, that day it didn’t work.
TS – Yeah, but it’s generous to not want it to be about you, like, to want people to have their experience that isn’t distracted by…
LDR – No, yeah. It wouldn’t have gelled well.
TS – Yeah.
LDR – Yeah.
TS – In the last year a good handful of women who make music have sat here with me and we’ve talked about…
LDR – They have?
TS – Yeah, and it’s been such an interesting year to talk about what this all means and we had First Aid Kit and Tori Amos recently, and when St Vincent was right there, we were talking about the sort of latex costume she wears on stage where she looks like wonder woman/cat woman.
LDR – Okay. I think I’ve seen that. I’ve seen her in that.
TS – It’s incredible, and we were talking about it and she said it makes her feel incredibly powerful.
LDR – Interesting.
TS – & Then she said, this is a quote, “this is what feminism is: is getting to decide what power looks like for you.”
LDR – Yeah. I’m down with that.
TS – Well, it reminded me of your attitude, or at least what I’ve heard in your music, which is sort of unabashed saying what you need to say. & I think that’s a very powerful thing, and I think that’s the point.
LDR – I would say with my stuff, in a way I did what I had to do in terms of, like, chronicling my own stories. You know, I wasn’t happy with how a lot of my own story went up until recently. So, I didn’t always like the way I was putting things, but it was just the way it was. You know? So, I don’t know if that’s feminism, but it is what it was. I think for me one of the issues I had over the last ten years was there weren’t that many options to be super vocal and powerful without a lot of backlash and repercussions. That was in my own personal life, I felt. It was a very male-dominated, um, environment at certain times. But I do feel – that’s why I think this whole movement is so important, because, like, the people who don’t get the #MeToo movement are just, I don’t get them. I don’t get those people. It’s like, have you not, like, *laughs* do you not get how hard it is sometimes to just sort of be safe and have your own voice as a woman?
TS – Yeah.
LDR – I think it’s really interesting to me.
TS – Lana Del Rey is my guest here on the World Café. Her latest record is called “Lust for Life.” I wanted to ask you about, um, the song “Ultraviolence” the title track from 2014.
LDR – Yeah.
TS - & the lyric “he hit me and it felt like a kiss.”
LDR – Yeah.
TS – Which in 2014 may have felt like a really different thing to sing than it is now, and first I want to say that what I really appreciate about that and about the movement in general right now is that a lot of behaviours or things that are normalized women are realizing are not normal.
LDR – Right. I would totally agree with that.
TS - & so, yeah, so when you, I noticed that the song didn’t show, hasn’t shown up on a lot of setlists recently, but you played it, we’re recording this the day after your show in Philly and you played it last night.
LDR – Right.
TS – What made you want to sing it last night?
LDR – I usually bring it back every third show. That’s the part of my show where I switch it up with one of five songs. Um, actually, it’s usually just about whether I can hit some of the notes. *laughs* It’s kind of as simple as that. Or if I want to sing the lines. Sometimes I don’t.
TS – What does it feel like to sing it or to hear it sung back to you? Like, does it feel different than it used to?
LDR – Yeah... Now?
TS – Yeah.
LDR – I don’t like singing it.
TS – What I appreciate about it is that it’s, like, an artifact of something that might have made sense at a time.
LDR – I’ll say. *laughs*
TS – Yeah. Does it take you back to something in your own memory? Or where do you see that, like, did you see that model built somewhere?
LDR – It takes me back to, um, a general perspective on *sighs* I guess… I guess I would say I didn’t have a great reference for, um, what a really nurturing relationship would look like and that I kind of realized that was going to have to start with me just imagining what that would be like. & Then meeting other people who had relationships like that… So, I had to grow a lot for that not to feel like a comfortable song to sing, but luckily, you know, I’ve done that, which is good.
TS – Yeah. Let’s hear a little bit of it.
*Ultraviolence plays*
TS – That’s from ‘Ultraviolence,’ Lana Del Rey, she’s my guest here on the World Café. That’s the title track from the 2014 record. Her latest is called “Lust for Life.” Um, there’s a huge difference between condoning something and reflecting something, which is why I think it was important to talk about Ultraviolence, like, there’s a very big difference.
LDR – I agree.
TS – Yeah, and I wouldn’t want, so…
LDR – I agree. I think that’s why I was upset with, like, I had a really tough interview with Rolling Stone that year where they were, like, hammering me on that song. & I was like, “Look, buddy. You know, you want me on the cover or not? Like, it’s just, you heard it already. You heard all the music already.” So, you know, hey, I have to own my part in all of it, and it’s like I’m the one who wrote it, so I’ve got to answer the tough question about it.
TS – Right.
LDR – But um, I definitely felt like, you know, when it came to, like, that song in particular, or like I had a really tough interview with The Fader magazine that same year where this guy was hammering me on feminism and the word. & You know, I knew he wanted me to say, like, “I’m not a feminist.” He was just like jabbing away at it. &What I wanted to say, is like, this is just my experience in my own relationships this far. It’s not going to be my full story. But, I mean, that’s why, you know, I’ve been polarizing because people don’t want to look at the broader picture sometimes. They want to just stick to the facts. But that’s been a really good lesson for me ‘cause I think when I was younger I thought, you know, I’m not going to edit my own music. This is just what came out. & Now I’m like, “What the hell am I doing? I’m not going to say that! I’m going to edit that shit.” You know? Like… *laughs*
TS – For the protection of you or for people who are hearing it?
LDR – Yeah! Yeah, it’s not like I have to tell every particular detail. I think I was just so used to chronicling everything diary-style, giving it to Rick Nowels and being like, “Here. Write the music.” & Then that would be what we got. But yet, I learned now I can kind of edit myself.
TS – Last time you were in Philly also you opened your set with the song “Cola,” which I know is not, it has been retired.
LDR - *laughs*
TS – Why did you decide to retire it from live performance?
LDR – …I mean, I didn’t see a way that I could… really sing that song with people thinking it was about Harvey.
TS – Harvey…
LDR – Weinstein.
TS – Right. So, there’s a Harvey line reference: “Harvey’s in the sky with diamonds.” Was it originally about Harvey Weinstein or a type? Or like, what did that name represent?
LDR – It was about an archetypal person. Like, well, “with diamonds” was, like, it was like a Harry Winston reference, and “Harvey” was a… Harvey Weinstein reference.
TS – Yeah, we get it. It’s evocative. Have you ever met him before?
LDR – It is. Yes, I worked with him… over a number of years on films.
TS – Did you have a spidey sense?
LDR – Um… well, he was flirtatious, I would say.
TS – Yeah… *silence* Um… That’s one of those things too where when you’re somebody who operated on another level or has a sixth sense about things that sometimes…
LDR - *sighs* Yeah… yeah…
TS – Yeah. *silence* Lana Del Rey is my guest here on the World Café. Her latest record is called “Lust for Life.” I want to talk about the song that, um, ends the record: “Get Free.”
LDR – Get Free.
TS - Get Free. “This is my commitment, my modern manifesto. I’m doing it for all of us who never got the chance.” What never got the chance to what?
LDR – “For Amy and for Whitney, and all my birds of paradise who never got to fly at night, ‘cause they were caught up in the dance…” It’s, it’s about people who don’t get to reach their full potential because they let controlling people stop them from being free.
TS – Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston.
LDR – Mmhmm.
TS – Yeah. So, it also has a line that’s so evocative: “I want to move out of the black and into the blue.”
LDR – Mmhmm.
TS - & I’m wondering what the black is and what the blue is.
LDR – Well, in my head, the black was negative thinking and the blue was a bit of a retreat into nature. So, visually I was thinking the ocean.
TS – Hmm.
LDR – Um, but also just the connotation of the words, you know. Blue, you think, for me I think of the sky, like, a new horizon… something fresher.
TS – What’s the key to getting free, before we listen to the song?
LDR – I think going deeper, you know? Knowing you your own doorway to the answers and not looking for answers in other people.
TS – Hmm.
LDR – Sort of taking the time to get to know yourself.
TS – Yeah.
LDR – Yeah.
TS – Well, thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it.
LDR - *laughs* You’re welcome!
TS – Yeah…
LDR – Thank you for this interview!
*Get Free plays*
TS – That’s a bit of ‘Get Free’ from Lana Del Rey’s latest album “Lust for Life.” You might have noticed, Amy and Whitney’s names, which she mentioned in our interview, don’t appear in that recorded version or in any of the recorded versions we could find. So, I’m really glad we had Lana in to tell us who she had in mind after saying “for --- and for ---” on that one. I want to thank Lana so much for coming in, Dan Reed for booking this interview, John Myers for producing it. If you enjoyed this and you’re looking for more, you might enjoy our chat with Tori Amos about her latest record and about writing a song about her own rape more than two decades ago, long before #MeToo was a hashtag. Check out our archives, and if you’re in our podcast I would for you to give us a rating. Whatever it is, we really appreciate it. I’m Talia Schlanger, thanks for listening to the World Café.
A couple of years ago there were rumors swirling around about the Criterion Collection releasing a Lana video anthology. CC is a home video label that puts out collector's editions of rare/important films. The guy who started the rumor also said that two other movies were going to be released and that eventually came true so part of me believes he's slightly credible despite it being kind of a weird choice considering she doesn't direct any of her videos/doesn't have an extensive videography. The only CC music video anthology that's been put out is one of the Beastie Boys so...Lana would definitely be an interesting follow up. Anyway, apart from being a Lana stan, I'm a big cinephile so I got excited and eventually got around to making a custom Criterion cover design.
Siren Song
Inspired by her California surrounds, chanteuse Lana Del Rey finds that life imitates art
Lana Del Rey has always been a California girl at heart. Even before she put down roots in Los Angeles, the New York native had an affinity for the West Coast way of life. “I’m very liberal and I always have been. I also really love the organic lifestyle and all the outdoor activities. I’m a real happy transplant,” says the singer-songwriter over the phone. She’s calling from Columbus, Ohio, one of the stops in her world tour, “LA to the Moon,” which kicked off in January in support of her latest LP, the Grammy-nominated Lust for Life.
Del Rey made the move to L.A. in 2012, partly inspired by a greater migration of friends from the music world, including her longtime collaborator, producer and songwriter Dan Heath. She had spent the previous four years “looking for that community [of musicians] that I had heard was in New York when The Strokes and people like Adam Green of The Moldy Peaches were there. I just kind of hadn’t found it. I think a lot of people moved West.”
“It’s where I have the most space to be creative and have time alone and have a lot of privacy—but at the same time, have a lot of amazing, artistic friends”
The music icon quickly discovered what she was looking for. “It’s where I have the most space to be creative and have time alone and have a lot of privacy—but at the same time, have a lot of amazing, artistic friends,” says Del Rey, who rose to fame with her 2011 hit single “Video Games.”
N°21 SHIRT, $1,165. JENNIFER FISHER EARRING, $225. GLYNNETH B JEWELRY RING (LEFT), $89. LILLIAN SHALOM RING, PRICE UPON REQUEST.
That streak continued with back-to-back studio albums, starting with her 2012 major-label debut Born to Die, which landed in the No. 2 spot on the Billboard 200 and never left the list. (It recently earned the distinction as one of only three albums by a female artist to spend 300 weeks on the chart.) Later that year, Del Rey released an EP, Paradise, which earned her a Grammy nod, as did the song “Young and Beautiful” on The Great Gatsbysoundtrack. Ultraviolence, Del Rey’s first album to reach pole position on the U.S. charts, arrived in 2014, followed by 2015’s Honeymoon.
California has been a source of inspiration for Del Rey in the last few years, often from behind the wheel of her truck (“It’s brand-new, it’s not a nostalgic, 1950s pickup,” she quips. “I’m over my old-car obsession—I’m happy with Bluetooth”), driving along the Pacific Coast Highway. The tony San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, which was devastated in the winter mudslides, was always a favorite destination for Del Rey to recharge.
“I’d say the last two years have been relatively peaceful,” says Del Rey of her current frame of mind, which has since seeped into her work. “I think that’s kind of why my newer record has a little bit of a brighter tone to it, whereas before I was definitely working a lot and on the road 24/7,” she says. “I’m still traveling a lot but I had a lot more to work through a couple years ago, I guess.”
LOUIS VUITTON BLOUSE AND PULLOVER, PRICES UPON REQUEST. SPRWMN PANTS, $795. ANITA KO EARRING, $2,000.
That shift in perspective shines through on ballads such as “Change,” the last song Del Rey wrote for the album, which addresses the fact that she was seeking change in her life but didn’t know how to go about it. “It was just more like a small bubbling of wanting to turn things around aesthetically in my art and personally as well. I really like the idea that life imitates art and I’ve noticed that in my own work. I knew that good things could follow if I put it out there that I was still trying to grow.”
Born Elizabeth “Lizzy” Woolridge Grant, Del Rey admits to being “one of those people who annoyingly was singing before they were talking,” she says. (“I’m that kind of singer—singing all my sentences. I still do.”) Growing up in Lake Placid, N.Y., Del Rey always knew music would be an important part of her life, but “I didn’t really think I could do it, and sort of have a real career.” After attending a boarding school in Connecticut, Del Rey graduated from Fordham University with a degree in philosophy—all the while chasing her dreams on New York’s nightlife circuit as Lizzy Grant, releasing her debut EP, Kill, Kill, in 2008.
But it wasn’t until she took on the enchanting stage name of Lana Del Rey, and honed in on her signature retro-glam image (think beehives, plumped-up lashes and winged eyeliner) that the artist began to rack up both musical accolades, and a cult-like following—not to mention more than a handful of infatuated fans. (During her Orlando tour date, police thwarted a kidnapping attempt by one.)
BOTTEGA VENETA DRESS, $16,400. DAVID YURMAN RING (LEFT), $7,200. TITO PEDRINI RING, $9,500. TIGHTS, STYLIST’S OWN.
While Lust for Life doesn’t break free from Del Rey’s signature, melancholy-tinged songs, it charts new territory with songs such as “Coachella—Woodstock in My Mind,” which reflects on the current political climate. It’s also the first time Del Rey has featured collaborations with other artists on her albums, including The Weeknd, Sean Lennon and Stevie Nicks (the latter is featured on the ballad “Beautiful People Beautiful Problems”).
“I think I was too nervous to do it. I wasn’t sure what people would say. When I got Stevie Nicks to sing with me I wasn’t sure they’d think I was worthy of a Stevie collab, but she was so fabulous in person and she was a fan. So it kind of made me put my guard down a little bit.”
On days Del Rey is scheduled to perform, she does an entire run-through of the show with her band, before watching a performance by the likes of Whitney Houston or Ariana Grande. “It could be anybody but just something that I can sing along to, to warm up my entire range—to go from my lowest octave, like in ‘Ride,’ to my high Cs and Ds in a song like ‘When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing,’” she explains.
VERSACE TRENCH, $3,675, AND CHOKER, $1,225. ANITA KO EARRINGS, $385. JIMMY CHOO SHOES, $695. TIGHTS, STYLIST’S OWN.
Part of her warm-up also includes a guided meditation for 1 hour and 40 minutes—the same length as her show. “I try and kind of balance out how much time I’m going to put out to sort of put that much time in. I mean, saying it out loud, the whole thing sounds kind of crazy, but I don’t think I would do it as much if I wasn’t doing arenas,” she says. “Now I’m going to sound so L.A.”
Standing before packed stadiums, Del Rey is surrounded by a set design that takes cues from her California surrounds, including an oceanscape from Big Sur, projected onto a screen. After all, Del Rey’s world has become her stage. Just take the opening lyric of “Lust for Life”: Climb up the H of the Hollywood sign…In these stolen moments, the world is mine.”
Source
For more photos & photoshoot discussion, check the photographer's thread.
Hello I've made some Lana edits and I wanted to show them here, hope you like them. Tell me your opinion also, follow me on Tumblr: kleth1.tumblr.com, twitter: Klethx, instagram: Kleth1 to see more edits
RECENT EDITS
On a side note to others, I'm thinking I'm going to go ahead and release the album today for LB. Just because you guys have been so warming of "Ra".
How would you guys prefer the album? Soundcloud playlist, or a Youtube video with them together?
Oh wow, this sounds amazing! I like your music style and I can't wait to hear the other songs.
Do you mind me asking if you produce everything yourself? It all sounds quite professional
My album is almost finished. In the final check-ups and everything. Also debating on an additional track to add (it's up in the air, at the moment, but when you feel the itch to write and produce something, you just got to.)
This was a very personal album, and the first one I spent months on, rather than solely a few weeks. I was influenced by the political climate of post-Trump America, but also about my memories growing up (in the closet) in rural midwest America. This time period was between 2006-2008, so Abercrombie, itself, is a nostalgic pull - and I understand the title can at first seem silly, but I hope it makes better sense in context.
Here's the cover!
Brownie points to whoever guesses the album's cover my little gay heart was nostalgically inspired by.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6tZeW-MOEE
UPDATED (FINAL) TRACKLIST:
01. VCR (Intro) [1:07]
02. ABERCROMBIE DREAMS [4:43]
03. RA [4:04]
04. HUMILITY (Interlude) [1:17]
05. IN THE CORNER [3:46]
06. AGNES OF AMERICA [3:16]
07. LIGHTER FLUID [3:09]
08. PAST MIDNIGHT, 2008 (Interlude) [1:46]
09. TUMBLING (feat. Hazel T) [3:49]
10. CLAYMATION (Pts. 1-5) [11:52]
Full release this Friday, January 12th (but today for LanaBoards).
What she said about it tonight at the concert (more or less because I was typing as she was speaking and may have missed a few words here & there):
"You know, I didn't know if I was going to mention anything about today.... but, i think i will since it was a little bit in the news today. I just want to say that I do have a particular song that Radiohead wants 100% of my publishing for. And actually, the only reason why I mention it is because I wanted to let you know -- I know some of you have been sort of brought here by, you know, the people who really are fans and you're just sort of there and whatever -- but for the fans, I just want to let you know that, you know, regardless of what happens in court, the sentiment that I wrote in that particular song, which was my statement song for the record, my personal manifesto, my modern manifesto. I just want to let you know regardless if it gets taken down off of everything, that those sentiments that I wrote and that I really am still going to strive for them, even if that song is not on the future physical releases of the record. I mention that now because that song in particular as well as this other song I'm going to sing now - well, it's half of it because it's in a medley - but this other song called Change is another song that was an important songs to me. & um yeah, I just wanted to let you know that for the Kids for and the Not Kids, who are real fans that are here. So, that's probably the last thing I'll say about it, but thanks."
Bruce Springsteen lists Lana as one of his favourite contemporary songwriters: "I love her, especially the extended version of her first record [“Born to Die: The Paradise Edition”]."
And I recently stumbled upon an...interesting interview with Marilyn Manson in which he steered the conversation from Lana's spell on Trump to a vague indication of a sexual relationship between him and Lana (or not)...
" The occult imagery you were playing around with 20 years ago seems to be mainstream now, like Lana Del Rey putting a hex on Trump. How do you feel about it? Do you feel vindicated?
“Is this before or after sex with Lana Del Rey?”
Pardon?
“I said, is this before or after I had or would have sex with Lana Del Rey?”
I didn’t ask if you had sex with Lana Del Rey.
“I didn’t say I did.”
Did you say you didn’t?
“I didn’t say I didn’t or I did… You know how she sings, she’s dead still and she bats her eyelashes. So I would imagine, hypothetically, [in] sexual parameters that she would do the same thing. I would also imagine that in a witchcraft-type environment she would also just bat her eyelashes and that might not really be effective. Although she is a very lovely girl.” "
Bruce Springsteen lists Lana as one of his favourite contemporary songwriters: "I love her, especially the extended version of her first record [“Born to Die: The Paradise Edition”]."
And I recently stumbled upon an...interesting interview with Marilyn Manson in which he steered the conversation from Lana's spell on Trump to a vague indication of a sexual relationship between him and Lana (or not)...
" The occult imagery you were playing around with 20 years ago seems to be mainstream now, like Lana Del Rey putting a hex on Trump. How do you feel about it? Do you feel vindicated?
“Is this before or after sex with Lana Del Rey?”
Pardon?
“I said, is this before or after I had or would have sex with Lana Del Rey?”
I didn’t ask if you had sex with Lana Del Rey.
“I didn’t say I did.”
Did you say you didn’t?
“I didn’t say I didn’t or I did… You know how she sings, she’s dead still and she bats her eyelashes. So I would imagine, hypothetically, [in] sexual parameters that she would do the same thing. I would also imagine that in a witchcraft-type environment she would also just bat her eyelashes and that might not really be effective. Although she is a very lovely girl.” "
I've seen Hurts live 3 times and will again on the 27th. Their shows are always awesome and Theo's live vocals are so perfect, it's insane! Only bad thing: Hurts' fans are at least as crazy as Lana's but it's worth the fight.And I have to say that I preferred their "old" shows (also like their older music more), back then the shows were more intimate, intense and less pop-ish. Now it's more like a big party with lots of dancing and mainly cheerful songs. But in general I'm not a big fan of their switch to a lighter and lighter sound with every album... (still praying for Happiness II). Whatever, once a Hurtsbitch, always a Hurtsbitch
- Work In Progress -
Sketched this a while ago, thought it looked awkward but decided to pick up the pen tonight to work on it some more. Might finish it sometime later, hopefully before 2018 starts. I would do it now but I have class tomorrow and gotta sleep, it's midnight... again.
Got inspired by the last drawing and wanted to try the same style again.
I totally agree with a more creative approach, shameless self promo as well but I don't know if you guys remember my black white and pink concept for AKA, something a bit alternative would work better with the array of styles we all have. I think an upgraded version of AKA could be amazing!
Yeahhh so I deleted most of my stuff because I want to get away from being associated to Lana but I found that I still make stuff about her sooo this is gonna be my thread for this new era.
And I'm also selling stickers if you want one
PinUpCartoonBaby liked a post in a topic by Solar Fields in Kenneth Wade - New Song “Or Die Wondering” Coming Dec 3
BluVelvUnderground liked a post in a topic by PinUpCartoonBaby in Little Boy Velvet
Carmen Del Rey liked a post in a topic by PinUpCartoonBaby in Celebrity Mentions Thread
HollywoodHills liked a post in a topic by PinUpCartoonBaby in Celebrity Mentions Thread
AKASAKA SAWAYAMA liked a post in a topic by PinUpCartoonBaby in Hurts
ivy liked a post in a topic by PinUpCartoonBaby in Project "Lana Del Ray A.K.A Lizzy Grant"