i’m literally gonna slam my head against a brick wall if she just reads poems from her book...
this is an AMAZING opportunity/chance for her to premiere and promote new music from COCC. if she fucks this up by just reading poems, imma be so mad. i mean why the fuck would a huge radio station allow that, ya know? make it make sense! it HAS TO BE NEW MUSIC!!
i have a really good feeling about this! i think it's very possible she'll sing a new song, i'm placing my bets on tulsa jesus freak or lmlylaw, perhaps with some nfr tracks, or even a poem inbetween! if it really is 45 minutes, then she could definitely perform all sorts of material!
Lana Del Rey Gave Us a Preview Of Her New Poetry Book—Plus, She Even Wrote Us a Little Something!
“Even at her plainest, she is opaque.”
“In this most present of moments, she was already living in the past tense.”
“It’s a multiple choice test with every answer scanned ‘C.’”
“The result is something like a dog that, when its leash is tugged, simply lies on the ground and shuts its eyes: basking in the sun, feeding off its warmth, never giving an inch.”
These are not lines from Lana Del Rey’s new book of poems Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass (Simon & Schuster), out on Monday, but snips from past New York Times reviews of the singer-songwriter’s work. Let’s call it the Lana-effect. The tendency for fans, critics, and writers (this one included) to deploy a string of campy descriptives in their attempt to do her justice. You could say everything Lana touches turns to poetry. You could say it’s high time she released a volume of it.
Though Lana Del Rey disciples have appealed to non-believers that her lyrics are poetry. And though Del Rey scatters Walt Whitman and Sylvia Plath references into her songs (a track from Honeymoon plays like a gauzy, haunting recitation of T.S. Eliot’s Burnt Norton), this is indeed the first time she has classified her own work as poetry.
The book, which features ripe citrus fruits in Hockney-esque colors on the cover, contains over 30 poems. If in her songs, Del Rey coos with a nostalgia for a bygone era she has not actually experienced, in Violet, the longing manifests via typewritten pages of her poetry, which are digitally scanned before being printed in the book. The rare typos are corrected in pen; some lines are askew, suggesting a crooked page placement; and one poem has what appears to be a coffee stain. Her poem titles are achingly romantic, you'd half-expect one of them to be tattooed in slanted script on her forearm: “Never to Heaven,” “The Land of 1,000 Fires,” “LA Who Am I to Love You?”, “Tessa DiPietro,” “Paradise Is Very Fragile,” “Bare Feet on Linoleum.” They contain in them love/hate letters to her current Los Angeles, and peace offerings to her past life in New York. (According to contemporary poets, Violet smacks of Allen Ginsberg.)
Del Rey had dropped hints about Violet on her Instagram: There have been posts of her type-written poems, a tease of the book’s cover, and a description of the charity that proceeds from her book will benefit (The Navajo Water Project). One video has Del Rey reciting “Room 2”: The video is colored in shades of sepia, and a pair of red plastic retro sunglasses are affixed to her hair like a tiara. She also reads her poems aloud in Violet's audiobook, which was released in July and received a musical treatment courtesy of her frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff. Together, the pair crafted her highly lauded album Norman Fucking Rockwell! and this fall, they'll give us yet another record, Chemtrails over the Country Club.
Days ahead of the release of Violet, Vogue caught up with the singer-songwriter. She gives us insight into her writing process, a preview of two poems, and she even wrote us a little something special.
How did you land on the idea of releasing a book of your own poems?
I had never planned to put out a book of poetry. It was when I stopped working on music completely and stopped working in the other fields I was interested in and took a big break that long-form poems started to come to me in the middle of the day. I was kind of surprised because I had no intention of being creative during my break. As the year and a half to two years went by, I started to realize that alongside the photos I had been capturing of the places where I spend most my time—from Vernon to San Pedro—I had a complete book. I planned on hand-binding it until Simon & Schuster asked if they could publish it. When I realized I could donate the entirety of the advance to the Navajo nation and downtown Los Angeles community, I felt it was the right thing to do. I made that my focus rather than what people would think of the actual poetry—considering I initially did it without any intention of selling it at all.
You’ve spoken about writing poetry long before Violet was born—what are your poetry writing habits?
Again my writing was somewhat accidental and as the year has gone on since I’ve finished the book, I’ve found that I’m getting better and better. The poems still come to me somewhat out of nowhere and mostly when everything in my life is calm. I never really sit down to write, but I’m often struck by something as I’m driving or walking.
Do you remember the first time a poem captured your attention? Is there an instance of a work or line leaving a lasting impression?
Absolutely. When I was in boarding school in 10th grade, my teacher Mr. Campbell focused on the beat poet era, and ‘Howl’ by Allen Ginsberg struck me probably as nothing ever has before. I didn’t necessarily have the inclination then to write poetry, but I knew that I had sort of found my crazy niche of people.
Your song lyrics are so poetic, how do you set out to write a poem versus a song? How does the process differ? Do you ever find yourself orchestrating soundtracks around the poems you write?
I would say the process of writing the poems is somewhat similar to my songwriting in that if I get lucky enough to catch that lightning in a bottle by hearing a melody in my mind or a phrase for a couplet in a poem, it seems to come out of nowhere. I definitely don’t ever find myself orchestrating music to the poetry. Because the way that the words come is very different. The cadence and structure of the poems seems foreign to me, whereas songwriting is very natural. I often wonder if that means that I’m not a very good poet or if the whole process is more like a channeling.
Your lyrics are lush with literary influences, Whitman in particular, but are there any unlikely sources of inspiration you pull from?
I guess the best way I could describe an unlikely influence would be living by on the fray and with my ear to the ground. I’m never completely in the center of the mix of culture. I’m kind of somewhere to the side so I can have a lot of space to let my own muse direct my daily activities. … I don’t read much formal poetry anymore, although I had a long time where I did. I think a very heavy influence are the stories behind the writers I love rather than the works themselves. … Such as the life and death of F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck.
In a recent interview with Interview, Jack Antonoff mentions his favorite line in the book is “I can do that.” Could you also zero in on a line that resonates with you?
Yes, I would say that the line that resonates most for me is actually from the same poem—the very title and single line from that poem:
My bedroom is a sacred place now
there are children at the foot of my bed
telling me stories about the friends they pretend to hate
that they will make up with tomorrow
To me, that is the sweetest, truest line from the book—other than a line from the poem “salamander” about wanting my poems to be something that I forget about and then remember again casually or papers that my husband finds under the table. All of it is about a life of sentimentality, a wish for a healthy family, a nod to the turmoil of family, of origin, and the willingness to dig my hands and mind deep into all of those imaginings.
Some of your fans might be picking up their first book of poetry when readingViolet. What guidance would you offer? How are they meant to experience it?
Well, it’s a vulnerable thing in some ways to write a book of any sort. So it is truly meant to be found by those who just come upon it… And I think that’s the whole point for any fans of mine to remember that when you do things for fun and for yourself, it just might end up being one of the best things that you’ve ever done regardless of people’s opinions of them. Sometimes the most important thing to ask yourself is: What would I do if I was willing to be completely embarrassed? And by doing that, I often find I am taking my next right action.
How are Violet and Chemtrails meant to interact? Are there echoes between them?
I’m really not sure yet. Sometimes I see similarities in things I do at the same time in hindsight. I would say the connecting factors are probably trying to maintain my position in the center of my family and moving that unit around the country safely between the midwest to the south and back to California and in doing so staying connected with our dear friends. Sometimes there is a burden of being more recognized than others and a concern of safety on top of my younger self not having felt safe all of the time. So there is a bit of wistfulness but determination to figure things out in both the album and book.
Can you tell us about the cover art for the book?
Yes! I’m honored to have asked Erika Lee Sears for her painting of the oranges as my cover art. I think she is one of the most fantastically talented living artists and I can’t wait for other people to find her. Even as we speak her work is being shown in more and more art magazines. Symbolically of course, I love the aliveness and juiciness and vibrance that an orange or a tangerine suggests. I’ve used them as motifs many times.
Would you be able to write a quick line/verse for us?
Niko calls me Elizabeth,
he reminds me to take my medication every day at four and then when I say I’m still anxious
he says-
that’s what you’re here for.
And there’s something in the way he looks at me
a little bit too long
that makes me feel good about leaving my ex
makes me feel like a song
makes me feel like a poem that he’s reading
scanning me like paper
It hurts a little bit to watch him watch me
but it’s better than being led on
also:
Some of your fans might be picking up their first book of poetry when readingViolet. What guidance would you offer? How are they meant to experience it?
Well, it’s a vulnerable thing in some ways to write a book of any sort. So it is truly meant to be found by those who just come upon it… And I think that’s the whole point for any fans of mine to remember that when you do things for fun and for yourself, it just might end up being one of the best things that you’ve ever done regardless of people’s opinions of them. Sometimes the most important thing to ask yourself is: What would I do if I was willing to be completely embarrassed? And by doing that, I often find I am taking my next right action.
It’s so true what everyone is saying about Behind the Iron Gates. I feel like the Interview Mag video could’ve been a trailer for both Chemtrails and Behind the Iron Gates, as I think she’s really tying together the themes of isolation (by literally being behind iron gates but also feeling like an outsider in regards to the culture, both of which I think will see Lana discuss being a prisoner of her own thoughts derived from her experiences, but how that’s almost empowering) and there will be such a synergy between Chemtrails and Behind the Iron Gates - even more than Norman and Violet! I think both projects will influence the way the other should be interpreted or listened to and it’s really cool to see her putting out projects in multiple formats that are all connected! I hope she continues putting out records and poetry collections that are symbiotic so that we can be further blessed with her insight!!
I think expressing yourself through art is a great healing method, so if she's in a state similar to those years, I'm sure this album and the poetry can really help her getting things off her chest.
Behind Iron Gates already sounds more menacing and dark than Violet. Just like Chemtrails sounds more menacing and dark than Norman.
Tbh, looking at it thru the lens of Lana’s life and experiences, how she is right now reminds me a lot of 2014/Ultraviolence era Lana. Coming off a public breakup, admittedly depressed and anxious, getting trashed in the media...
I obviously don’t want her to go backwards, but idk, it’s just something I noticed
i think iron gates is going to be pretty dark, disturbing and depressing poetry, violets was quite bittersweet and light, its very optimistic and hopeful, i think iron gates is going to feel cold and harsh, and bitter, thats the kind of imagery i get from the title, i think we're going to get a lot of poems about her experience in this "institution" and possibly some really dark thoughts she has had, and never shared before
Violet is really an important piece of her whole artistic vision, like, we've always heard her talking about becoming a poet and doing what she loves the most!
So now that she finally achieves that we shouldn't treat Violet as something minor or unimportant, in fact, I believe Norman's actual sister is Violet and I'm so looking forward to both Chemtrails and their sibling Behind The Iron Gates!
I can only imagine how good those two would complement each other
Violets is definitely so beautiful and will age like fine wine in the years to come, it gets better with every listen, and i listen to it quite a lot tbh
So Interscope posted a Lana related post. No new info but could it be a sign that we are finally ready to start promoting and rolling the fucking album out. Probably not but one can dream lol!
UltraHeroin liked a post in a topic by Elle in Lana with fans at Toast Bakery Cafe in Los Angeles, CA - September 29th, 2020