Miss Honeydew

EDIT: holy shit I wrote a novel. Apologies lol 
 
Okay. I'm very late to the party but I'd figure that I could still give my opinion on the album since I'm bored. (I'll probably do UV soon). 
 
First off, High By the Beach. When released as a promotional single, it felt uninspired and out of place. Like it wasn't her sound. I think I was thrown off by the [then in trend] trap beats. The harmonies in the chorus were whimsical and I cringed every time I heard them. Then when the music video came out for it. Uh.. Her running around her freeway house and the CGI was questionable to say the least. I immediately understood the sound once Lana said that HBTB was the last track she made. Because it sounded like it! I think if she approached the track without the trap beats, didn't rush it, and left out that god awful MV, I would've liked it more.  [it gets better later on]. 
 
When I heard the snippet of the title track, Honeymoon, on IG-- I didn't know what to think of it. [not in a bad way]. It was just that I never heard something like it before. It was slow, minimal, and full of vocal character. The visuals left me intrigued and I am happy it made its way online. Even though it was just her putting on make up, I found it entrancing. She was glowing and actually looked like she was on a Honeymoon. Once the title track came out in full, I was overjoyed. It sounded dreamy, almost melancholic. Slow, but that's what I love. The bridge always leaves me shook. 
 
Terrence Loves You was an otherworldly experience when I first heard it. I absolutely loved the picture of her with her bangs in what appears to be a botanical garden. The references to Bowie and Major Tom left me an emotional wreck. Especially when David passed, the song made an even deeper impact. It drowned my sorrows as I put it on repeat. Along with Life on Mars?, Starman, and my personal favorite, Lady Grinning Soul.  
 
Music to Watch Boys to was a track where I was left completely captivated by the instrumental. Such a stark contrast from the heavily processed and rushed production of High by the Beach. Music to Watch Boys to felt organic, ethereal, and right on the nose when it comes to Lana's signature love forlorn. What impressed me was the use of new instruments. The experimentation with oboes, flutes, clarinets, and an omnichord. The music video felt equally dreamy and was impressed with the visuals. Like the guys playing basketball and Lana seductively sipping her drink and brushing her hair. And let's not forget those iconic flower headphones! Despite what HBTB promised, Music to Watch Boys to redeemed Lana in terms of music video visuals. But not for very long-- [Freak MV opinion later on].
 
When the album finally dropped I was underwhelmed to say the least. I listened to the tracks and felt perplexed-- was this the sound she was trying to go for? Amidst a slow start, the interlude, and then a shift in tone for the last few tracks. And god knows what she was trying to achieve with that Nina Simone cover! It took me more than a month to finally start to appreciate the entirety of Honeymoon. Only when I bought the physical album, came back home and listened on my age defying cd-player did I hear the difference. My opinion shifted. This actually was a multi-layered, experimental album for Lana. And a very personal one at that. After a few more listens did I gain an understanding and deep appreciation for each track. And to this day, I need to listen to at least several tracks on the album to function [along with UV, but I'll get to that in UV's post]
 
God Knows I Tried felt like Lana reminiscing her life, of how she began and where she is now. Singing them as if they were her last words, saying to God that she knows she did her best-- that she's at peace with everything around her. Heart wrenching!  Religion, a personal favorite, with an acoustic guitar and almost vintage feel. Professing her allegiance to her love. The Blackest Day, where the bridge left my wig burning on the surface of the sun, is another ode to her love who's left her. A mid-tempo bop that should've been released as a single. And underrated gem 24, that needs a film of its own [bye Bond]. The outro and sudden silence / 3 second gasp left me so shook I'm still recovering. 
 
Freak / Art Deco are two tracks which I consider to be joint. The transition is perfect and even though the tracks touch on different subjects, I feel they shouldn't be separated. When Freak's music video came out, I [and others] got excited when the timing was 10:52. We had hopes she'd include Art Deco in there-- but no. A major waste of 5 minutes that was when it was just the cult of Freak swimming in the sea [or dying??] Even more disappointing when it was revealed that this was rejected Ultraviolence footage. Actually, the whole thing was. The footage suited Ultraviolence so much more [what I saw from fan-made edits]. Such a shame for both Freak, Art Deco, and Ultraviolence. But I presume it was out of Lana's control. So it's forgiven. 
 
Honeymoon has since then become my joint favorite album of Lana's. The complexity is intriguing and beautiful. Even though it's on the slower side, I love it. And I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but that's fine. At first I thought the album was about her climb to fame, and how she's coping with it. [Alluded by the Starline bus]. But then I saw those tweets about Honeymoon being about obsessive love, and I rest my case there. 
 
tl;dr despite your flaws, I do love you Honeymoon  

Another tease for Roses Bloom For You..    
RBFY deserves so much more

Dark But Just A Game / Yosemite / Tulsa Jesus Freak are my Holy Trinity. 
 
Worth the wait for these 

Dark But Just A Game / Yosemite / Tulsa Jesus Freak are my Holy Trinity. 
 
Worth the wait for these 

Dark But Just A Game / Yosemite / Tulsa Jesus Freak are my Holy Trinity. 
 
Worth the wait for these 

Rest in Power, Dear SOPHIE. You are a trailblazer with a vision ahead of our time. 
I believe her best was still ahead. We were merely getting started for a new dawn of music with her leading the forefront. She is a genius.
 
 My heart aches. We're missing an angel today. 

Rest in Power, Dear SOPHIE. You are a trailblazer with a vision ahead of our time. 
I believe her best was still ahead. We were merely getting started for a new dawn of music with her leading the forefront. She is a genius.
 
 My heart aches. We're missing an angel today. 

Rest in Power, Dear SOPHIE. You are a trailblazer with a vision ahead of our time. 
I believe her best was still ahead. We were merely getting started for a new dawn of music with her leading the forefront. She is a genius.
 
 My heart aches. We're missing an angel today. 

Rest in Power, Dear SOPHIE. You are a trailblazer with a vision ahead of our time. 
I believe her best was still ahead. We were merely getting started for a new dawn of music with her leading the forefront. She is a genius.
 
 My heart aches. We're missing an angel today. 

As someone who is interested in music production, this is an absolutely fascinating read. Especially for Honeymoon! (which is my fav lol)
 
I absolutely would not have guessed that she recorded the entirety of HM with some random ''trash'' microphone from Rick's closet?!! 
And the fact that she was completely in on every single process of the album just confirms how personal this album must be. Hence she doesn't acknowledge/sing it? 
 
But wow i gtg listen to Honeymoon again with these new facts in mind. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing!! 

As someone who is interested in music production, this is an absolutely fascinating read. Especially for Honeymoon! (which is my fav lol)
 
I absolutely would not have guessed that she recorded the entirety of HM with some random ''trash'' microphone from Rick's closet?!! 
And the fact that she was completely in on every single process of the album just confirms how personal this album must be. Hence she doesn't acknowledge/sing it? 
 
But wow i gtg listen to Honeymoon again with these new facts in mind. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing!! 

As someone who is interested in music production, this is an absolutely fascinating read. Especially for Honeymoon! (which is my fav lol)
 
I absolutely would not have guessed that she recorded the entirety of HM with some random ''trash'' microphone from Rick's closet?!! 
And the fact that she was completely in on every single process of the album just confirms how personal this album must be. Hence she doesn't acknowledge/sing it? 
 
But wow i gtg listen to Honeymoon again with these new facts in mind. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing!! 

I am glad we have gotten a concrete *pre-order release date for COCC in January. My guess is that the vinyl production was completed more swiftly than expected-- so she got the get-go to release the pre-order/teaser. Thus, halting her plans to release the cover album because COCC's delays were resolved. 
So now this cover album is in the air because COCC is priority. Then we still got to hear about Behind the Iron Gates which was first scheduled to make an appearance in March but my guess/prediction is that she'll postpone that to this time next year for COCC to shine. 
 
This cover album, while I am/was looking forward to it, seems like another goal of Miss Lana's (like the unreleased album), which I am sure will surface/release one day but not just yet while she's still on a creative high with her own visions.

As someone who is interested in music production, this is an absolutely fascinating read. Especially for Honeymoon! (which is my fav lol)
 
I absolutely would not have guessed that she recorded the entirety of HM with some random ''trash'' microphone from Rick's closet?!! 
And the fact that she was completely in on every single process of the album just confirms how personal this album must be. Hence she doesn't acknowledge/sing it? 
 
But wow i gtg listen to Honeymoon again with these new facts in mind. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing!! 

I am glad we have gotten a concrete *pre-order release date for COCC in January. My guess is that the vinyl production was completed more swiftly than expected-- so she got the get-go to release the pre-order/teaser. Thus, halting her plans to release the cover album because COCC's delays were resolved. 
So now this cover album is in the air because COCC is priority. Then we still got to hear about Behind the Iron Gates which was first scheduled to make an appearance in March but my guess/prediction is that she'll postpone that to this time next year for COCC to shine. 
 
This cover album, while I am/was looking forward to it, seems like another goal of Miss Lana's (like the unreleased album), which I am sure will surface/release one day but not just yet while she's still on a creative high with her own visions.

I am glad we have gotten a concrete *pre-order release date for COCC in January. My guess is that the vinyl production was completed more swiftly than expected-- so she got the get-go to release the pre-order/teaser. Thus, halting her plans to release the cover album because COCC's delays were resolved. 
So now this cover album is in the air because COCC is priority. Then we still got to hear about Behind the Iron Gates which was first scheduled to make an appearance in March but my guess/prediction is that she'll postpone that to this time next year for COCC to shine. 
 
This cover album, while I am/was looking forward to it, seems like another goal of Miss Lana's (like the unreleased album), which I am sure will surface/release one day but not just yet while she's still on a creative high with her own visions.

Do ya’ll think her and Rick are still tight? Idk what the professional dynamics are when you regularly use one producer and then you switch things up. Is it offensive or rude? As much shade as I’ve seen thrown at grandpa Rick I think he’s still pretty talented. Might not be ~the moment~ of the music industry but I enjoy the music that came from his eras.

As someone who is interested in music production, this is an absolutely fascinating read. Especially for Honeymoon! (which is my fav lol)
 
I absolutely would not have guessed that she recorded the entirety of HM with some random ''trash'' microphone from Rick's closet?!! 
And the fact that she was completely in on every single process of the album just confirms how personal this album must be. Hence she doesn't acknowledge/sing it? 
 
But wow i gtg listen to Honeymoon again with these new facts in mind. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing!! 

As someone who is interested in music production, this is an absolutely fascinating read. Especially for Honeymoon! (which is my fav lol)
 
I absolutely would not have guessed that she recorded the entirety of HM with some random ''trash'' microphone from Rick's closet?!! 
And the fact that she was completely in on every single process of the album just confirms how personal this album must be. Hence she doesn't acknowledge/sing it? 
 
But wow i gtg listen to Honeymoon again with these new facts in mind. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing!! 

As someone who is interested in music production, this is an absolutely fascinating read. Especially for Honeymoon! (which is my fav lol)
 
I absolutely would not have guessed that she recorded the entirety of HM with some random ''trash'' microphone from Rick's closet?!! 
And the fact that she was completely in on every single process of the album just confirms how personal this album must be. Hence she doesn't acknowledge/sing it? 
 
But wow i gtg listen to Honeymoon again with these new facts in mind. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing!! 

As someone who is interested in music production, this is an absolutely fascinating read. Especially for Honeymoon! (which is my fav lol)
 
I absolutely would not have guessed that she recorded the entirety of HM with some random ''trash'' microphone from Rick's closet?!! 
And the fact that she was completely in on every single process of the album just confirms how personal this album must be. Hence she doesn't acknowledge/sing it? 
 
But wow i gtg listen to Honeymoon again with these new facts in mind. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing!! 

As someone who is interested in music production, this is an absolutely fascinating read. Especially for Honeymoon! (which is my fav lol)
 
I absolutely would not have guessed that she recorded the entirety of HM with some random ''trash'' microphone from Rick's closet?!! 
And the fact that she was completely in on every single process of the album just confirms how personal this album must be. Hence she doesn't acknowledge/sing it? 
 
But wow i gtg listen to Honeymoon again with these new facts in mind. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing!! 

As someone who is interested in music production, this is an absolutely fascinating read. Especially for Honeymoon! (which is my fav lol)
 
I absolutely would not have guessed that she recorded the entirety of HM with some random ''trash'' microphone from Rick's closet?!! 
And the fact that she was completely in on every single process of the album just confirms how personal this album must be. Hence she doesn't acknowledge/sing it? 
 
But wow i gtg listen to Honeymoon again with these new facts in mind. 
 
Thank you so much for sharing!! 

Bonjour hoes
 
So, a while back I actually bought access to that Mix with the Masters website. Both Kieron Menzies and Jack Antonoff had videos about Lana, in Kieron's case about High By The Beach and for Jack it was about Mariners Apartment Complex and The Greatest.
 
I decided to write down some of the more interesting stuff they said about Lana, since I haven't seen anyone else sharing this before:
 
High By The Beach
HBTB started with the chorus It was made when they were about halfway through the recording process, in the summer of 2015 Lana usually comes in with an idea, and Rick plays the piano trying to find the right chords (as seen in the Change video Lana posted back in 2017) Lana wrote the rest of the lyrics the same day they recorded the song The hip-hop vibes were Lana's idea All of Lana's vocals on the Honeymoon album were recorded with a U87 microphone. It was an extremly old mic Rick found somewhere in a closet of his and they never used it because it always sounded so bad, but they thought the trashy, lo-fi feel of it suited the Honeymoon tracks because it had the right amount of "dirt and brokenness" Lana usually does not record her vocals in the vocal booth, but in the control room with speakers on, which is the reason why there's always so much bleeding from the instrumental on her acapellas No autotune on Lana's vocals They call the outro a "poem". Lana wrote it after they had the idea for the music video and it was specifically written with the MV in mind. During the HM production process, recording, producing and mixing was all pretty much happening at the same time, rather than producing the song and mixing it at a later date. Lana was involved in every step of the album making process, from writing, producing, mixing and mastering it. Lana's mindset is "this is her vision, [...] this is what she wanted to hear". A lot of the mixing choices on Honeymoon were Lana's call Kieron says he thought the beat shouldve been brighter and hotter, but Lana said she doesn't like it, and he thinks they ended up with a more natural sound that way  
The Greatest
Lana and Jack usually write songs by Jack playing on his guitar and Lana singing over it The Greatest started with the chorus chord progression Jack added flutes and horns because the song feels like a "death march" for the culture They were figuring the song out as they were going There's 40 vocal tracks in the final song They wanted it to feel like Lana is singing in a bar Lana's voice was supposed to feel like its the glue holding the entire album together, which is why its so "on top" of the instrumentals  
Mariners Apartment Complex
There was no chorus at first, Lana started with the verses Jack thought it would be called "I'm Your Man" Again, Lana and Jack record in the same room, she's singing, he's playing the guitar The end of the song is a homage to Venice Bitch with the trippy guitars coming in

The hype is BACK.  Can't believe I lost faith. 
Damn the trailer is so captivating! I'm so relieved and happy! I love LMLYLAW but if the album goes into the same direction as NFR, I want some VB or psychedelic weird vibe, and it looks like she'll serve this with COCC! We WON!  FINALLY.