IanadeIrey

When I tell you how much of a moment it was to add “Patrick Warren’s Stems Edit” to the titles of Say Yes to Heaven, Fine China, and Your Girl in my iTunes library ☠️

I’m obviously just speculating here, but I’m assuming versions 1 and 2 were recorded in early summer (June/July) 2015? Not sure about version 3 (the one with the “love me or love me not” lyrics), but version 4 and therefore, at least the vocals for the final version–once The Weeknd was onboard—must have been done in late August/early September 2016 because Lana said they did it right after he got his haircut for the Starboy era to KROQ on July 31, 2017 lol.

LOL I’m not sure what that was, but it was probably some elaborate inside joke since that test shoot was being touted as “scrapped NFR promo material” when it hardly was. Plus, I think “Bird World” was only the title of the NFR title track for a minute back when it was being conceptualized in February/March 2018 - she settled on “Norman Fucking Rockwell” in March 2018 - so any claim that states Bird World was a title for the entire album once that song was finished is very likely to be untrue!

Omg no I felt bad because they asked you and here was I, chiming in you’re the real icon!!

I think they’re referring to this mock-up cover done by her team for Paradise - And no, the photo of her with the black gloves was a test shoot/wardrobe fitting for the V Magazine shoot by Steven Klein. The NFR mock-up was a rough layout idea Lana personally did herself using the photo that ended up as the Urban Outfitters edition.

Apparently the producer did that on his own! Lana had no involvement with that as far as we know.

Thank you for this! Following on this, Lana mentioned in interviews that she liked the idea of “Lust for Life” as a parallel to Born to Die, but Lana allegedly told Eclipse that The Next Best American Record was indeed the title track for the album (until it leaked) - I don’t recall seeing any evidence of this, it was mostly hearsay/word of mouth - but can you confirm this? Was Lust for Life with The Weeknd a mere album track until these events transpired?

Yeah, that part of the video has always been a given since its release. She hadn't written WM yet at the time she filmed that video, though (October 2016), so it was simply a repurposing on her part. Just thought I'd rehash it in case there's anything we didn't conclude ourselves!

@BlackoutZone I know LFL questions are off the table, but is there anything new that you can share about the original version of The Next Best American Record and/or its music video (the version with the “you did it all for fame” lyrics)? Thank you.

So if the first version we have of I Talk to Jesus is from 2012, is the second one (produced by Tim Larcombe) from 2012, 2013, or 2014?

Thank you! <3

@BlackoutZone are all of the Honeymoon demos produced by STINT from late 2014? (God Knows I Tried, Freak Like Me, The Blackest Day, Say Yes to Heaven “legit version 2” and likely more that are unleaked). I assume these were earlier than later in the process. Thanks!

I actually think it is…didn’t @fl0r1dakil0s confirm that it was from the sessions for the album but didn’t actually end up on the record?

Say Yes to Heaven has long been recognized by Shazam but it was never part of the Chemtrails tracklist - when the Chemtrails tracklist was found on Shazam, the songs were not actually organized together. We just assumed they were part of the tracklist because they were new titles to us. And we ended up being right!

Thank God we have confirmation that the James Ford version of SYTH was never considered for Chemtrails. I never believed that because I never saw evidence or proof of that claim from anyone reputable - but someone pulled it out of thin air and it got wrongly quoted as true by so many!

Yes, that’s right! I actually think only Rick and Paul have credits on Black Beauty. And that also happened with Ultraviolence, as most of the vocals from Dan Heath’s 2013 demo were in the final version too!

We have two legit versions of SYTH. One version considered for Ultraviolence (produced by James Ford, the one with the “music mafia” tag in the bridge) and one version considered for Honeymoon (produced by STINT). Your Girl, Fine China, and what we previously knew as versions 1 & 2 of SYTH are, yes, stem edits!

You’re remembering correctly! Rick Nowels has production credits for the vocals, so it seems the 2013 vocal takes were retained in the final version.

Aw! Thank you, but I’m just reiterating what we know, no need to credit me <3

It’s LDRaddic, so totally not reputable. I assume they misunderstood that the piano version of Damn You that was posted by Chris Braide in 2021 was actually done the same year, and falsely attributed it to inclusion on Blue Banisters?

I’m not sure about “Stem edit 3” or a Blue Banisters rework, but here’s my understanding: 1. Stem edit 1 (Patrick Warren) 2. Stem edit 2 (Patrick Warren) 3. Ultraviolence version 1 (Rick Nowels) — UNLEAKED 4. Ultraviolence version 2 (James Ford) 5. Honeymoon version 1 (STINT) (Perhaps more Honeymoon versions, as the song was worked on in 2015, but these are unleaked. Same with various unleaked Lust for Life versions, as the song was allegedly sent to multiple producers during the creation of that album)

Patrick Warren ended up playing instruments for Lana on records after Say Yes to Heaven and Fine China leaked. He worked on some Lust for Life tracks that were definitely arranged in 2017. I wonder if they talked about it…

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

Thinking about how Lana probably saw “Say Yes to Heaven (Demo 1)” on YouTube, clicked on it, and it was truly nothing she had ever heard before.

It’s a bit of a reprieve in some ways to know that the real vision for these three songs as produced by Rick is not what we know, because while I love all three tracks, I felt like they were lyrically quite refreshing and poignant to only be left at what appeared to be the early/rough stages.