Linethic

Lana Del Rey's new album, Ultraviolence, qualifies as a radical statement from a pop star in 2014 – it's mostly produced by Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, who relies on electric guitar and other live instruments, and none of its eleven tracks sound much like a potential radio hit. And as Auerbach reveals in Rolling Stone's new Del Rey cover story, her major labels (Interscope and the U.K.'s Polydor) were initially resistant to the idea of releasing it.

 

"There was a lot of bullshit I'm not used to," Auerbach tells senior writer Brian Hiatt. "The label says, 'We're not going to give you the budget to extend this session unless we hear something.' And we send them the rough mix and they fucking hate it and they hate the way it's mixed. And it's like, 'Thanks, asshole.'… I think Lana put her foot down. Maybe it's normal for her, but it's not normal for me.  Really rubbed me the wrong way.  I got really defensive because I thought it was bullshit.

 

"The story I got told," he continues, "is that they played it for her label person and they said, "We're not putting out this record that you and Dan made unless you meet with the Adele producer. And she said, 'Fine, whatever.' And she was late to the meeting, so while they were waiting, the label guy played what we recorded for the Adele producer and he said, 'This is amazing, I wouldn't do anything to change this.' And here's the kicker: Then all of a sudden, the label guy said, 'Well, yeah, I think it's great, too.'"

 

Del Rey acknowledges a six-week period this past spring when Ultraviolence was in limbo. "I mean, I think there were people they wanted me to work with," she says. "I don't know who they were. When I said I was ready, they were like, 'Are you sure?'" She laughs. "'Because I feel like you could go further.'"

 

"I had heard about some back and forth regarding the music," responds Interscope chief John Janick.  "But from the moment I met Lana, I've been of the mindset that she has an instinct that is pretty dead on and as an artist, she is fully formed.  She knows her vision and her audience, and it's up to us to follow her lead on that."

 

"On this album, in my opinion, you didn't want her to try to do something," adds Janick's predecessor, Jimmy Iovine. "I felt she hit a bull's-eye. Everybody's saying to me, 'We need a single,' calling me from Europe. I said, 'You don't need anything.' It's a very coherent body of work, and thought any other conversation was a distraction."

 

In any case, the album debuted at Number One in June, selling 182,000 copies – and Auerbach is now a huge fan of his collaborator. "Every criticism that I'd ever heard about her was proven wrong when I was in the studio with her," he says. "From how great the songs were to how confident she is as a musician to her fucking singing every song live, with a handheld microphone and a seven-piece band. I mean, get the fuck out of here, who does that? Nobody does that, there hasn't been a number one pop record that was recorded like that in forty, fifty years."

 

Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/how-lana-del-rey-fought-to-get-her-radical-ultraviolence-lp-released-20140718

All these haters, with very bad taste.

I'm dying at her choosing Venice Bitch as the single, naming the album Norman Fucking Rockwell, & all these fan breakdowns. My unique queen. Never stop.

LANA IS LITERALLY GOING INTO AVIATION WOW

pilot license? poetry book? this bitch is unstoppable

This era is everything I ever wanted.

Even Lana knew she had to change producers

Oh damn is that the best track she has ever put out ? Damn yes it is

not y'all saying it's gonna sound like taylor swift and now she's serving her most experimental songs with JACK 
 
DAN stans LOST

Norman Fucking Rockwell

This stuff is legit stoner rock/pop psychedelic dream pop. This is everything I wanted from Lana, she really did THAT.

I'm not kidding, MAC and VB might be my new top songs by Lana, holy fuck what is this, this woman is crazy insane and absolutely fantastic, holy shit who could come up with this kind of song

WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS ALL I EVER WANTED, DREAMY PSYCHEDELIC, CHILL, LAID BACK, GOOD LYRICS, HOLY FUUUUCK, SORRY FOR THE ALL CAPS I'M JUST SO MOTHERFUCKING EXCITED!!! LANA DID THAT!

THIS IS THE HIPPY TRIPPY SHIT LFL COULD'VE BEEN

ULTRAVIOLENCE INFLUENCE I HEAR U

lana was definitely high on something when making this music

The sounds are so good and goes so well together like WOW

Omg it’s actually almost 10 minutes long
 
Omg the rest of the song is SOOOO much better than that snippet what the fuck

It's so nice of them to take advantage of Lana's following to stream all these struggling musicians 

Another glowing review from a critic who normally doesn’t like her. Lana won!

I'm sorry you couldn't catch an iconic vine reference that changed a generation

The more I listen to MAC, the more it feels like she's asking her fans for acceptance before she starts her new journey... "And who I am is a big time believer that people can change, but you don't have to leave her".

MAC is already better than half of LFL 

eh this is gonna throw off the whole tone. so strange they thought this was a good idea

If she keeps releasing one album each year like this, she will have one of the most the most prolific & diverse discography by the time she's old.
 
It's ironic how some singers take 4-5 years for a single album & it sucks. Proves how time is not proportional to productivity. Sky Ferreira take notes.