bluefiona

Love this post! Some really interesting points.
 
My thoughts ... (complete speculation, of course)
 
They are two very different women, certainly, but I think Hunger is to Florence what Hope is to sis. Hunger recently turned one, and Florence posted about how nervous she was to release it because it was so personal, and that she was so grateful for the reception to it.
 
Hope was released before I joined this community, but going by the comments here, and by those I've seen on social media, I feel like the reception to it was mixed. Seeing as it's her most personal song (and took 3 years to complete) maybe that reception hurt her more than we realised. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but she posted that Instagram comment replying to the accusations about racial connotations in the song, and seemed to shut herself off from NFR, and to some extent, fans, right after that.
 
When I translated that article earlier and read that it took her 3 years to complete, straight away my mind went to that poem: "I love you but you don't understand me." It could be about absolutely anything or anyone, and was likely written before Hope was released, but I immediately thought of it. Maybe she felt really misunderstood and hurt, pouring her heart and soul into that song for three fucking years and everyone was all, "Oh my God that selfie is horrible", "Wow "Black narcissist"?!", and "Fuck me, an iPad reference!"
 
I'm not saying that it's wrong to be critical of those points (and others) ... not at all. I'm just saying ... maybe she really didn't get the reaction she wanted and it upset her more than we realised and/or made her doubt herself and the album - which she has said is very personal. And maybe that's why she's taking a break just to regather herself or whatever.
 
I know this post sounds really emotional 'n' shit but she has said herself that she is an emotional, sensitive person.

it took me 2 years to write this song .. it's not about how huge the production is. songwriting can be a painful and difficult process.

Not my favourite topic to discuss, but because some of you like to discuss the way she looks... I found this old interview from 2013 and what struck me was the following (and I still believe this pretty much applies to her still):
 
 
I think it's admirable that she's honest about "not caring", and I feel like she gets to be herself after all this time. I guess with this album cycle it really is supposed to be all about the music, and that's fantastic. 
 
Sorry for the long quote. If you want to read the entire interview, you can find it here.
 
 
(also sorry for being bitter lately, I'm currently under a lot of stress, and stress makes me mean lmao)

my $0.02 on the hope is a keyboard smash discourse: i actually really love the somewhat awkward, almost ungainly lines (e.g. ipad, shaking my ass, etc. etc.). they kind of break the 4th wall a bit and feel like an allusion to the whole idea of feeling not entirely comfortable in her image/persona. like yes, she could write another song about eternal love and red lipstick and jewelry and being pretty while she cries and her beautiful man and cars and the color blue and drinking and smoking and living fast and dying young and eating ice cream, with lyrics that look and sound pretty and fit into aesthetic moodboards, but instead she inserts these decidedly unpoetic images into her usual template. the whole thing feels almost abrasive: the lyrics, the almost total lack of production (you want strings? you want beats? you want guitars? here, have a couple piano chords), the aggressively informal cover art, the sentence-length, decapitalized title (no other song in her discography has a title like that). the more i think about it, the more it appears like a concerted effort to smash things up, especially considering it's the last complete song we've gotten from her. it seems almost like a tacit scream of frustration, like someone locked in a room (the persona/sound/style/image she's acquired, for better or for worse) banging on the walls and smashing the glass in the picture frames. like, "maybe i can't unlock the door and leave but i can at least subvert what i'm supposed to do in here and how i'm supposed to behave."
 
maybe i'm reaching but when you put all the pieces together it just feels really sad and desperate and angry idk even despite the chorus and title

And stole her cars....and stalk her....
 
Can you blame her? 

And stole her cars....and stalk her....
 
Can you blame her? 

And stole her cars....and stalk her....
 
Can you blame her? 

Honestly I'm gonna sound harsh, but to all the people who wish a flop for Lana and many other bad things, you're trash. WE DON'T KNOW WHY SHE DELAYS THE ALBUM SO MUCH. Can't you guys understand she has a life??? Try to have some empathy and think about it! It's becoming ridiculous to hope for so much negativity. I'm so sorry but it's seriously disgusting to see Lana being dragged down like that. Never thought I'd have to say that, but it's too much. Some of you are so cruel, it's unbelievable. Lana is human, she's not a machine, let's not forget it.

What is wrong with you? Move. The. Fuck. On. 
 
You're tiresome. Blocking. 

Thankfully, your opinion isn't the gauge for what is or isn't. 
 
Move on. 

It's a joke. Just about every time you post, it's to police someone. Breathe. Or block. Idc. 

Same tbh, it would make more sense than the Avril one that's for sure lol
 
 
God, I hope they part ways, Interscope is clearly not the right label for her

And stole her cars....and stalk her....
 
Can you blame her? 

And stole her cars....and stalk her....
 
Can you blame her? 

which sucks since one of the things that differed lana from other artists was how close she was to her fans
can't blame her though... the good sis must have had it after they broke into her house so many times

And that’s the danger for all artists: having a huge mob of cultish fans for whom you can do no wrong, for whom you are unquestionably GREAT at all times and in all things, who will only and always praise you and YES MAN you to death. If the artist succumbs to that kind of mindless, blanket attention and flattery, they're doomed.
 
I have witnessed these rabid cults for Joni Mitchell, Michael Jackson, Prince, Woody Allen, R.E.M., Tori Amos, Twenty One Pilots, Lady Gaga, David Foster Wallace, Martin Scorsese, Sia, Billie Eilish, Wes Anderson, David Lynch and so many others.

People have protested for Rihanna, Beyoncé, and a even shelved Fiona Apple album, which was mentioned on the NFR thread, just to name a few, so there has definitely been a precedent for this, even if it was an in person precedent and not an over the phone one