pawn shop blues

See you all in two years when this album actually gets released (and occasionally checking in for the 900 times she's going to say it's coming next week and LB has a meltdown)

I think cruel world is just too good to ever be topped for album opener. It sets the mood perfectly + hypes you up for the journey you're about to go on with UV.

of course she did lol

A Very Lana Christmas: coming March 33rd 2023.

oh my god she didn't deliver on something she randomly mentioned on an Instagram live. I'm shocked. Beyond shocked.

The picture + headline combo is one of her finest moments.

She's going to sing Frosty the Snowman. She won't be in the actual Fallon studio, it will be a pre-recorded performance filmed on her cracked iPhone with a black and white filter. Chuck will film it which means there will be a lot of camera shaking and going in and out of focus. At the end of the performance she'll say she wishes she could be there in person but she's too busy. Charlie and/or Clay will be in the background doing nothing. The performance will be warmly received but then she'll get on Instagram later and write a weird typewriter rant suggesting COVID may not be real because she's been consulting with her crystals and she's "very in the know" about these sorts of things. She's get some backlash but she'll keep the rant up because she doesn't give a fuck.

I've always loved how authentic Lana is with her fans. No bullshit. She's shown so much appreciation and gratitude to those who have supported her (and shown it in a genuine way, not just a fake PR-type way) but she has no problem telling you to fuck off too.

why does this feel like this isn't going to happen

not trying to be dramatic, but if anyone thinks this was a good visually interesting video, please get your eyes checked. like i get the concept she was going for, but it's so lazily done.

the purple rain/pink champagne part is so annoying because it really sounds like the song is about to go off to another dimension and then it just slowly dies for the rest of the song. I keep getting my hopes up listening. They should have toned down the mixing/volume on the instrumentals during that part because it really sounds like it's setting the song up for a different direction (or had the song go in another direction like Venice Bitch).

The reviews made this song sound awful. I don't think it's that bad. I want to hear it in the context of the album. I think it could work if the next song is a lot faster. That said, I hope the lyrics for the rest of the album improve because this is such a straightforward song that it's really boring lyrically. but as a whole, the song is not bad at all

I wasn't sure what to expect but I think this is the only real way to cover Lana---just make it your own as much as you can. Lana's style is too specific to try and imitate.

Lana looks like a 15 year old who just stole her parent's car and wants to post about how badass she is on instagram. This is embarrassing and it would be embarrassing even if she was 15, let alone 35. All that being said...damn she looks so good. That story is the best she has looked in a long time. Like seriously.

This has such a strong Lizzy Grant vibe to it. But like a Lizzy Grant who is now Lana who is now rich and who is now going insane, or maybe just joking, or just in love with life, or possibly a little bit of everything, and who cares since life is a dream? That's the vibe I'm getting.

I feel like Lana has always said dumb shit in interviews before and this one is really no different. But I do hope for her own artistry and sanity that she keeps getting out of LA every so often because I think it can be a place that encourages getting lost in a certain magical way of thinking and going to places like the midwest can ground her a little more so she has a better balance of things. Also I really hope that Jack and Lana do not get tied to each other too much because I think Jack's main ability is getting artists to be vulnerable and open up a bit more (which is good for things like songwriting) but he has no ability to push back on anything or offer critiques, which long-term results in more mediocre production. I think this is especially true with someone like Lana who is obviously very strong willed (and should be, not saying that's a bad thing). But she needs someone who can bring--to use one of her words--fire to the production and fire to the overall conversation and Jack is not someone I ever see as having that. I think Lana needs someone who doesn't override her and lets her give her full viewpoint on her vision and where she wants to take something, but she needs someone who is going to push her and challenge the exact way that she gets to her vision, if that makes sense. And then she can push and challenge him, and so forth. And Jack is not that person. But I'm willing to be proven wrong if Chemtrails is an amazing artistic evolution or something.

He already looks like he has more of a personality than Sean (not that that's hard), so this is a good start.

She's definitely been on this board because she knows the shit we say about her and that's why she loves mentally torturing us and delaying releases, keeping us in the dark, etc. At least half of the drawn out NFR pre-release period was just a fuck you from Lana to us because she read what we were saying about Lust for Life lol.

I just realized why I don't like the blonde hair usually and it's because she has rarely had blonde hair with volume except in the Lizzy Grant days. I really like this look with the sunglasses.

not sure about after this album, but I definitely feel like none of us are really gonna be prepared for when she actually retires and/or takes a number of years off. Knowing her, though, she'll probably give us teasers and snippets and make the NFR pre-release era look like nothing in comparison. She has a love/hate relationship with us fans and loves to torture us, let's be real.

I mean, it would be horrible for her career/reputation, but I would kind of secretly live for the drama if this turns out to be a literal, take it at face value record that's all about conspiracy theories and how the chemtrails are controlling societies and celebrities in Hollywood belong to the Illuminati and the big evil government is recording all of us and the earth is flat and the Mandela Effect is due to secret time travelers who are distorting history and whatever else she wants to write about.

Okay, I know no one's going to read this, but whatever. I was thinking more about her post (which I know has been covered a million times already) and I had some thoughts. I feel like, in her own very messy and absolutely racially insensitive (though not intentional) way, Lana was really trying to convey her anger for the way that she's been treated by the media, specifically the first couple of years of her career. Yes, NFR was very well received (and LFL to a slightly similar extent) but that’s not counting all of the years of shit she went through at the start. Yes, every artist she mentioned has gone through shit and I don’t want to get into the compare/contrast argument right now. Of course her experiences are not the same as racism and it’s not to say that she is the only one who has gotten criticism by any stretch of the imagination, but I just feel like there was a specific way she was treated that was not the same as any of the other artists she mentioned. People were mean and cruel and kind of merciless about how much they hated her, in a very unapologetic way. This is not only from critics or fans, but a lot of the industry in general. People did not take her seriously. Music publications, people on social media, bloggers, people in the industry like Kim Gordon (who told her to go kill herself)—everyone kind of piled up on her. Both conservatives (who seem to always hate “today’s music”) as well as liberals didn’t like her and weren’t shy about saying exactly why. Every single thing—her looks, her name change, her father’s supposed role in “buying her a career” (not really how it works), her music video monologues, her interview quotes, and especially above all her lyrics—everything was scrutinized. I imagine this was probably doubly hurtful when thinking about how much of her soul she poured into her songs. She wasn’t singing about nice fun pop songs. She was singing about some of the worst moments of her life, horrible abusive relationships, documenting them in songs and she was either made fun of and/or told that she was making it all up. And yes, I realize the fiction/fact element of her work has always been up for debate and I can understand people not fully knowing if what she’s singing about is “real” in that sense, but like even when she told The Guardian about how depressed she was, I vividly remember the vast majority of the comments continuing to make fun of her. And no one was really sticking up for her (besides us fans and actually Kristen Wiig on SNL). No one really called out the obvious misogynistic tone that a lot of the criticisms came from. This brings me to LFL. Or really, right after the Honeymoon era. People were talking about her songs getting slower and slower and more depressed and I think Lana herself probably knew that she needed to switch things up a bit. (Her label might have also suggested or maybe even demanded it, as Ultraviolence and Honeymoon were not selling like BTD/Paradise). LFL for me is a turning point in her career. For a lot of reasons. For one: Trump and the 2016 election. We already how that changed her live shows (no more American flags), but obviously it changed some of the music too. Listening to the demos for LFL, it’s clear the song (and possibly the entire record) started off in a much darker place. The “lust for life” she had sounded almost ironic or like she was being sarcastic. Cut to the finished product and it’s obviously coming from a more hopeful angle. I imagine some of this comes from her knowing that, in the mist of the 2017 American political scene with Trump’s chaos, it was possibly the wrong time to put out a down/depressing record. I also believe Lana was being genuine in wanting to give her fans more hope. That being said, looking at the reception LFL got, critics suddenly seemed more on board with her. She was getting more praise in the industry. Stevie Nicks and Courtney Love interviewed her (along with other musicians like Grimes), and it just seemed like in general people were more receptive to her work. But what’s telling is that Lana started to talk during this time period about wanting to fit in more. She wasn’t getting tattoos, she was thinking of getting some of them removed (I think because she mentioned how it would make her stand out or something like that) and she was also vocal about editing her lyrics, both in recordings as well as in live performances (like cutting the “he hit me” line in UV). This brings me to NFR. It’s her most critically acclaimed work for sure, but in some ways it feels like the least “Lana” record (at least compared to “vintage Born to Die” era Lana). It’s definitely more singer/songwriter. Rereading the Ann Powers article Lana hated, I found it interesting how much the writer compared Lana to Joni Mitchell—which is annoying not just because every female singer/songwriter seems to get compared to her if they have even a trace of the Laurel Canyon sound, but also because they are clearly very different artists. And, I admit this is maybe farfetched, but maybe the reason Lana got so upset with the article (besides the trauma line she mentioned) was how much she was being compared to an artist she’s never really tried to imitate. And this leads to the Instagram post, which I think is a long time coming. People have been upset with Lana seeming to say she paved the way for songs about abuse (which I don’t think she ever said she did, at least not directly) but I think it’s fairly obvious her music played, at least, a big part in the sort of shift in popular music—the more downtempo music, the more downcast lyrics. It would have honestly I think been better if Lana had maybe mentioned soundclound rappers/singers or songs like that 1-800 Who Can Relate (whoo!) song. But even pop has gotten darker as a whole. When Lana came on the scene, it was all about I don’t need a man/I’m fine on my own (I’m talking specifically about female pop singers). Now Ariana Grande can have a song about cheating (Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored) and there doesn’t seem to be controversy at all. Even if that song’s more playful, it’s also kind of hints at the bad thoughts you shouldn’t have but you have anyway. (I'm not saying Lana is solely responsible for a song like this, but I think her music contributed for allowing that sort of mood, again in comparison to the 2011 pop music scene.) I think Lana’s anger has come from feeling she has had a major influence on today’s music without ever really getting the true acknowledgement (as well as the apology) she deserves. I also think she is perhaps frustrated with feeling like she has had to edit her lyrics and music content in order to fit in a little more/be more accepted and less hated. And I think this is where the “women like me in feminism” comes into play. Instead of the awkward pole dance comparison to FKA Twigs, she could have asked how come FKA can write an album documenting an abusive relationship and get acclaim from critics, but when she does it in UV (or really a lot of her songs pre-LFL) she gets told she’s bad for feminism? And maybe it actually was an attempt at a genuine question. Like, what’s the difference? How come that 1-800 song can be a big hit and it gets taken seriously, but Lana discussing her own depression (in song or interviews) gets seen as something to get made fun of? To me, the post(s) were her stating that she is going to start writing in a less restrained/more free way again—or maybe already has in Chemtrails. I think she wants to get back to songs about relationships and life that are more nuanced. It’s clear from LFL that the way she specifically has talked about relationships has changed (she’s now more fed up, the men are more losers than before). And obviously it’s good that she’s evolved just like most artists do, but I think she has maybe been feeling artistically restrained and wants to get back to a more uninhibited place without having to deal with all the bullshit again. Sorry this is long but I wanted to write it.

I truly don't get what she saw in him. Like every photo of them together looks like she's hanging out with her really basic dad. And that has nothing to do with him being older and everything to do with just...nothing there. If he has any sort of personality, it's undetectable. Either that or he's a very different person when the camera is off. I also mildly blame him for what Lana said in his post. We know she gets swayed easily by her partners and he just seems like the type to be against/doesn't get "music these days" and how he thinks everything was better in the old days. I could see him making comments like this and it maybe got Lana thinking and comparing her work to current artists. I mean maybe Lana just needed a break from the creatives? I feel like she should ultimately end up with someone who is creative in something and more of a thinker. She needs someone who gets her in that way. I'm still rooting for Barry to get his shit together and treat her better so that maybe they can be together. Or, if not Barry specifically, then someone like him. Creative, artistic, sensitive, etc.

the only thing I can remember from her mom is in the 2014 Rolling Stone article where she called Lana a "truly terrible waitress" or something like that, which is...an interesting thing to say about your daughter in a big magazine cover story, especially if that's your only comment. Or at least the only comment that they put in the article.

i just realized the sky in the album cover is a painting. That's kind of a cool touch.