elllipsis

Não, Portuguesa.

And flaunt them killer legs. <3

I fucking LOVE that skirt. How much does it cost?!

Transcriber’s note: Okay, so in order to make this easier for everyone, just imagine a big [sIC] after everything the interviewers say. Although I think what they say is (mostly) comprehensible, their English is not very articulate/coherent at times, so… yeah.

I1 (Interviewer 1): Thank you, Miss Lana Del Rey for giving this interview to us, RNBJUNK, and we want to first give you our good feelings about what we heard just before, because we had this chance to hear you performing this morning.

LDR (Lana Del Rey): Thank you.

I1: The first thing we would like to ask you is how much of your feelings you did put in that performance and in your music, generally?

LDR: Well, like when I first start my shows, like, when I first started the show today what I was mostly feeling was just nervous because I really wanted to do well in Milan ‘cause I’ve been waiting to come here, um, but then once I get past the first song I do sort of fall into my own rhythm and I start, I do start thinking about the way that things were, so, um, I do put everything into it just naturally, so… And then, when it comes to my own music it’s 100% autobiographical, um… *looks at someone across the room* Stop looking at it! *laughs*Go over there!

I2 (Interviewer 2): I’m a spy!

LDR: Go over there, you’re making me nervous! Really! Geez…

I2: I’m sorry, sorry!

LDR: *looks back at the interviewer* Sorry! Um, but when it comes to my records, like, I… they’re 100% autobiographical and I really… I’m usually… I am writing about the way that things used to be, so.

I1: Yeah, so it’s just, uh, first thing when obviously listening to your songs that you wrote and your performing that, uh, this new album we have lots of different, of course, feelings and situations that you made us with your music, I mean, you made us feel this.

LDR: Yeah, good.

I1: And about this album what are the things that you care most? I don’t want us to ask this song that you prefer, but what are the topics that you loved most, what you wanted most to tell the people through this?

LDR: Well, like, I didn’t know that I had a common theme running through the record but when I listened back to it I realized I did. I mean, I guess, like, now that I listened to it, it does feel like two worlds of, of death and love coming together. I guess the way I would describe it is like when I was young, um, and I, I was really aware of my own mortality, like I, when I realized that we were all going to die that kind of overshadowed my existence, but then I also, as I got older, like, became a teenager, um, I had fleeting moments of happiness when I started falling in love and meeting amazing people, and so, um, it’s just really, like, I think the record is a combination of those two feelings and worlds coming together in a gorgeous soundscape that Emile Haynie designed. Like, I just, I started working with this amazing producer Emile and he, he’s been like a hip-hop producer for the last 10 years, started working with Eminem, and he came into my life and started putting, like, heavier fat beats underneath the tracks and, um, like soundscaping the record, like putting things into each song that I really, that like brought the songs to life. Like in Off To The Races he put in kids screaming at the swimming pool and, like, in This Is What Makes Us Girls he put, like, car alarms going off and crickets chirping… things like that.

I1: I see. And about your music in general, your career, your way… you feel something different from what you hear from many other artists and music, that is something that makes you say “my music is…” that’s the word that can identify more than… without telling anything bad about other artists, of course, but…

LDR: Oh, that’s a good question. Well, my music is very real. *laughs* It’s real.

I1: That’s the definition that you would use to describe…

LDR: Yeah! Only because, like, the lyrics are autobiographical and, like, I helped compose the actual record and so… it’s very much, it’s personal. I don’t know, it’s personal.

I1: Thank you.

I2: I listened many times your album and I uh, my favorite track is Dark Paradise.

LDR: Do you like it?

I2: Yes, it’s beautiful.

LDR: Really? Do you love it?

I2: The most beautiful for me. Yes. I think that it should be the next single, maybe.

LDR: That’s funny ‘cause uh, I was just in Germany yesterday and uh, I signed to Universal Germany first like a year and a half ago, and they want Dark Paradise to be the single too.

I2: It should. You should listen to that. *laughs*

LDR: I love that song.

I2: It’s very emotional, I think.

LDR: Yeah. It’s amazing because, like I, like I was saying I met Emile Haynie first who started kind of fattening up the mood of the songs with really heavy beats and then he introduced me to Larry Gold who’s been like a famous string composer in classical music for the past 30 years, and his strings really brought, like, the song to life, you know, it just made it sound really gorgeous and…

I2: So the chorus…

LDR: Yeah, do you like it?

I2: Yes, I love it.

LDR: That’s one of my favorite choruses too.

I2: Um, what does inspire you during a writing process?

LDR: During the writing process? It kind of depends on where I am, like, for this record I wrote it in 3 different places. I started in London, then went back home to New York and then travelled to California, but what I used to do was take a lot of walks, like, through Manhattan and just I’d start thinking about the way that things used to be.

I2: You, you mentioned twice in your songs Coney Island. Is that a special place for you?

LDR: Mm-mm. *nods in agreement* When I, like, first got to New York when I was 18 I didn’t know anybody so I’d just take the train down to the beach, all the way at the tip of Manhattan, of New York City, and I would just walk along the boardwalk for hours and start writing my song ‘cause I didn’t really know anyone yet, so I’d just sing into my phone and look at the ocean. I couldn’t believe that, like, the ocean was so close to the city, which was so big. I thought it was beautiful and most of my inspirations for the record have been, like, different places, beautiful places to me.

I2: Which is the different between America and maybe UK, Glasgow…? Where do you…

LDR: Well, the people are different from one place to another, like, the boys in London are very clever, they’re very quick to tell a story and tell a joke, um, and also… It’s just a different culture in the UK, you know, people are really aware of what’s going on, like, they watch the news a lot, they’re, they know what’s happening, um… And then in America, um, I feel like people are sort of living their own lives for themselves, like, it’s individuals and their individual families, and I don’t know, musical taste is different, lots of diff…, lots of different things.

I2: You said that you take inspiration from different artists, such as Frank Sinatra, Nirvana, Eminem… Um, how did you deal with this different kind of music?

LDR: How did I deal with it?

I2: Yeah.

LDR: Like, how did I find it?

I2: How do you mix it in your music, like the hip-hop, pop, soul…

LDR: In my music? Okay. Well, like, when I found Eminem for the first time he really changed my life because I didn’t know that music could be intelligent, like, he was talking about his own life and, like, he wasn’t just rhyming over music just for rhyme’s sake, like he was really talking about the way that things were and so that made me think, like, I could also, I wouldn’t rap but I could also, you know, like talk about the way that things actually were instead of just making stupid music, like, to try and sell it. Um, so, I mean, he’s…  and also he’s a genius, I mean, he’s just, he happens to be a genius, so I love him and then of course I love Frank Sinatra because for the first, when I heard his voice for the first time I couldn’t believe it was real. It was just the most, he had like a golden voice, like a golden tone on his voice. So, you know, like Eminem was the master of lyrics but Frank Sinatra was like the master of vocals, so I really just like the masters from every different genre. And of course, when I saw Kurt Cobain for the first time and I could, I just felt I, I felt like I knew what he was singing about and so…

I2: Would you like to collaborate with Eminem?

LDR: I do really love Eminem. Usually, when people ask me that question I usually say “no, I’m just doing my own thing”, but I have to say I fucking love Eminem. Sorry.

I2: Which artists do you like, do you want to collaborate with if you, if you could? From the past or the present? Maybe working with Frank Sinatra would be, uh…

LDR: I’d like to, I’d like to work with Elvis. I’d like to fucking do things with Elvis. *laughs* I’d like to make out with Elvis. Um, let’s see. Elvis. I don’t know.

I2: Maybe Elvis is you million dollar man?

LDR: Maybe! *laughs*

I2: We noticed that you acted in a somehow theatrical way when you sing. Uh, is it true that you, uh, act when you’re singing?

LDR: Um, I’m not a very good actress but, um, I’m not really, I don’t really consider myself to be acting when I’m singing but I usually just try and like let the words kinda flow through my fingertips, sometimes my hands end up looking dramatic, um, but usually I’m just trying to make sure that my voice is evoking the message that I meant when I was singing it. So it’s more about, like, the vocals but… I don’t know, sometimes I get into it physically, I don’t know.

I1: So it’s your natural way to express, to sing?

LDR: It’s a little bit of my natural way, which is a bit of a strange way. I understand that. But it is natural.

I2: In your songs we can hear orchestral influences, organic sound but also electronic and maybe influences from hip-hop. How do those genres come together?

LDR: That’s a good question. I mean, like, like I was saying before, Emile Haynie, who is like an amazing hip-hop producer, is really good friends with Larry Gold, who is an amazing string composer and, like, when I talked to the guys on the phone I’d say, you know, if I was talking to them about like, maybe the song This Is What Makes Us Girls, I would say to them, you know, “think about the film score for American Beauty by Thomas Newman; that meets Bruce Springsteen and the 80s, meets girls sneaking out in the hot summertime in Miami or something”, and what I try and do is, like, give good direction with pictures and then I let Emile and Larry join worlds together, Larry with his orchestra from Philadelphia and Emile with his beats that he programs. So, I try and paint pictures for them with words and then they send things back to me, and it’s always amazing.

I2: Because Off To The Races, for example, has strong hip-hop influences…

LDR: Yeah.

I2: …have you ever heard the last album of Kanye West?

LDR: Which one is his last album?

I2: My…

LDR: My Dark Twisted Fantasy?

I2: Yeah.

LDR: I’ve heard all his singles off of it.

I2: For me there is a simi…, they are maybe, um…

LDR: That’s funny because Kanye loves that song, Off To The Races.

I2: Because those alarms or those sounds that…

LDR: Yeah.

I2: …that you listen and they come from nowhere, they’re also in Kanye’s album.

LDR: Which ones, the sounds?

I2: Yes, yes.

LDR: Are they?

I2: Yes, the alarm sound is also in Kanye… If you, if you…

LDR: You’re kidding me!

I2: Yes, yes.

LDR: Well, Emile did work with Kanye on My Dark Twisted Fantasy, I think, I don’t know how many tracks he worked on. But, I mean, I think, from what I understand Kanye also has a love for gorgeous things and gorgeous strings, that’s just something we both happen to love, like have a respect for, like, cinematic orchestral, you know, uplifting sounds that, you know, where the melody of the strings tell the story, the same story that the words do.

I2: Yeah.

LDR: but you have, I mean, it’s a difficult task to take on.

I2: That’s a combination between lyrics and sound.

LDR: Yeah, because you know, sometimes like when you watch movies and you just listen to film scores, like, those melodies tell a story and uh, the strings on my record I think tell their own story too.

I1: I see. We just wanted obviously last question from you, very simple. It’s just to know if you have in the future plans for Italy…

LDR: Yes.

I1: …for other coming back and meeting you in the TV or in live shows and…

LDR: Well, the first thing I’m going to do, well, I’d like to do because I have time in March, when I’m not doing anything, is I’m just coming back to Italy just to see Italy. ‘Cause here I am for one day and so I can’t see anything, so I already told uh, Ben…

I1: I think March is the best month…

LDR: Actually that’s what someone said!

I1: Spring is really good.

LDR: I’d like to just come back and see everything ‘cause I’ve really been waiting to come to Italy for my whole life. And then what I’d like to do is hold just 2 shows, like in a church um, just in the center, like, of Milan and just then meet everyone afterwards, ‘cause, like, for my shows in Europe, when I went on my tour in October, I got to meet everyone, you know, like, I have friends and fans in Germany and, like, London that I still talk to all the time, so I’d kind of like that connection with people from Italy too.

I2: You want it, I can give you my cell phone…

LDR: Do it. Give it to me! *laughs* Give it to me!

I2: Sure! *laughs* Of course.

I1: We really, really thank you for your time

LDR: Thank you so much for coming and thank you for your questions, they’re so smart, they’re about music, they’re so respectful, like, I really appreciate it. Thank you guys!

I1: Thank you, and good luck!

LDR: I need it. *laughs* Thank you.

*Video Games plays in the background*

Q (Question): How would you present yourself and your music to someone listening to you for the first time?

LDR (Lana Del Rey): Mm, I would say it’s a mix between, um, I guess like it has a really strong glamorous atmosphere with heavy hip-hop beats and summertime sadness, cinematic strings and the lyrics are autobiographical, and it’s mostly about death and love. * laughs*

Q: Off To The Races is a song with incredible lyrics, a story of gambling, alcohol and intense love. Some people said it reminds them of a Charles Bukowski poem. Do you agree with this comparison?

LDR: Well, yeah, I mean, we’re kind of birds of a feather, in a way. Like, you know, I used to live a really crazy life, um, and like Off To The Races is one of those songs where you can tell by the energy of it that I’m right in the middle of, like, a relationship where times where happy but also chaotic. Like, we were travelling between L.A. and Las Vegas, he… I, I can’t gamble ‘cause I’m not good, but he was gambling, I was just swimming. *laughs* Um, and uh, yeah, I mean, I used to, uh… I used to indulge in a lot of, like, drugs and dark poetry and pop culture and amazing music, but I’ve quieted down a lot but I just reminisce about it. I, you know, I… I live a really simple life today but, like, I was really influenced by certain poets and storytellers, but mainly, like, Allen Ginsberg and people, like, Beat poets and his circle, yeah.

Q: Is “Radio” a song that speaks about the change in behavior from people toward you after your songs became hits?

LDR: I mean, you know, people always said, like, “Oh, people will come out of the woodwork and change their mind about you, they’ll start to like you because you’re on the radio” and it is true, but I don’t really mind ‘cause I’d rather have people be nice to me, so I like it. I don’t really care why people are nice to me, I just like it when it’s easier, so… I just wrote it when this guy that I used to know came back into my life and, so it was like, *sings* “Now my life is sweet like cinnamon” ‘cause, like, he came back, so.

Q: Not only you’re a talented musician, but you’re also a beautiful woman and all the fashion magazines want to have you on the cover. What’s your relation with the fashion world? Do you like taking care of your own style and image? Do you choose your own clothes?

LDR: Well, like, my… I have a younger sister, my little sister used to say “I swear to God, if you become a fashion icon I’m gonna kill myself” because I never had any fashion sense at all, I wore the same thing every day, which was just lots of denim, like jeans and white t-shirts, um, but when I started doing live television and things like that I kind of started asking Johnny Blueeyes, who is my stylist, to help me find, like, summer dresses, things like that. Um, and I started to become more interested in fashion, um, not, um, not in like a typical way but more like in the way that it just would relate to the music, and Johnny and I had a lot of the same influences, um, in terms of like icons and what we thought were beautiful and important things, and magazines slowly did start putting me on the cover and, um, the best thing about it is really meeting the beautiful people who work within fashion and are so passionate about, not just fashion, but art. So, you just end up meeting more and more people who sort of like you, which is a gift.

Q: Is there a thread connecting all the songs in your album?

LDR: I guess the way I would describe it is like, when I was really young and I found out that, like, we were all going to die and that I was mortal and my family was mortal, that really overshadowed my life and sort of colored my writing style. But I also had fleeting moments of happiness when I found true love for the first time and also met friends who were really exciting, and so those two worlds came together for me and really have been my main influences, weaving in and out of the music since I started writing. And other than that, all I can say is that I did have one relationship that influenced the album but, um, you know, the way I describe it is like when we met we had so much in common and we were, um, living a really similar life, um, devoted to art and to serving our community, and we had a beautiful relationship but when he started taking a more, like, dangerous road and kind of veered off the straight and narrow, and we could no longer be together. That really, I just thought it was so sad that, like, I don’t know, God had found someone so perfect for me and that, that we really couldn’t be together, so that influenced, that’s sort, that’s sort of an underlying thread throughout the album.