Vertimus

My understanding is that TRPWS is not just Lasso retitled, but Lasso reconceived, and maybe radically so. If Lana was so concerned about other musicians releasing a country album, why would simply retitling it and delayings its release make any difference?

I'd accept one from Lana at any time. In its pure form, it's the oldest American genre; it's beyond trendiness. I don't understand why she abandoned Lasso due to some other non-country artists were producing their version of a country album about the same time. We know she has a unique idea of what a country song sounds like. If Ride is country, then I'm all for it, as it's one of my all-time Lana favorites.

And let's not forget Ann Powers writing about how Lana should or must feel and think on any number of issues as a woman and female. Otherwise, Powers implied, you're out of the girls' club, you're foolish, you're a puppet of male influence, a manipulated media creation, retrogressive, etc. Here's one Powers snippet from the NFR! era: "Lana Del Rey is all about wrong combinations: sunset dreams and dirty water, Mexican-American braids and a wetsuit, hip-hop flow and torch song feeling, conventional feminine submissiveness and post-feminist self-possession. Cognitive dissonance is the essence of her art, the way she builds her dream logic...The tone of her voice as she uttered these words [in Video Games] was forever after labeled "sad," but was really something different. My mom would have called it "needy"; today, more common descriptions are "disempowered," "self-sabotaging," "unwoke."" Kim Gordon, the respected co-founder of Sonic Youth, also came out against Lana for being retrogressive and backward. "The Sonic Youth founder says: “Today we have someone like Lana Del Rey … who believes women can do whatever they want, which, in her world, tilts toward self-destruction, whether it’s sleeping with gross old men or getting gang raped by bikers. Equal pay and equal rights would be nice.” I say, let Lana be. People have a perfect right to like her, love her, dislike her, or dislike who they perceive her to be even if they continue to like her music, and say so, as all of us do about any performer or anything at all. If Lana is anti-feminist, then she has that right (though I don't think she is). Politically and culturally liberal artists (and cultural institutions themselves) like Joan Baez, Patti Smith, Stevie Nicks, Courtney Love, and Bruce Springsteen--would hardly support Lana is she was the way the media has painted her. I note most or all of them believe in the relativity of belief and the depth and complexity of individuals. What's fascist is to say, "You must think this way about feminism," "you must believe as I do about Marxism, Wokism, or MAGA-ism," "there's only one way to think about _______," etc. We'll see what the lyrics and album concept of TRPWS will add to this ongoing conversation and debate.

No more than any of us would. We know little to nothing about their relationship, we don't know Jeremy, and we don't know Lana either. It's none of our business. 'Facts,' suppositions, and opinions about her political beliefs have varied widely over the last decade or so, largely based on brief sound bytes like 'I don't find feminism a very interesting idea,' or whatever her exact wording was. She wrote at least one song against Trump during the his first administration--When the World Was At War--and the other political songs from LFL were dropped. Based on what we know or think we know, we can stop stanning her or drop her completely if we want to. We have choices. TRPWS is, I think, unlikely to have any direct political content.

A-men.

This is a smart move in every way. "Man does not live by Lana alone." Making a pure cult figure of an artist is bad for the cultist and bad for the artist too.

And many artists don't even creatively last 10 years--they fizzle quickly. Lana's output has been of extraordinarily high quality. She's never released a purely bad album (knockwood) like so many other reputable contemporary artists have. I may not care much for OB, but I can't objectively say it's a bad album.

A-men. I didn't mind FJM on LTLI, but the production almost ruined the song for me. Margaret was unstructured by JA's tender vocals and then LDR's "let's waltz this out." I didn't care for the interludes or the background vocalists opening The Grants. I'm hoping for a completely different tone for TRPWS. And Nikki, yes, please, no Nikki.

LanaBoards is pure sociology. I've been saying it for years.

That could be, but I think it's just a general expression of a general idea. She's had a lot of lovers, boyfriends, and crushes, the details about which we know very little--very little. Who broke up with who, or who called it off or why, we don't know. To me, 'staying' isn't necessarily a good thing in and of itself--it reminds me somewhat of people who marry at 18 to 21 and both parties say, 'I will never look at, touch, or lust after another man/woman/person for the next 60 years!," which, to my mind, just sets an impossible standard that ends up crushing the relationship if they hold themselves and one another to it. To me, "treat me well, and I'll treat you well, and if we remain in love and attracted to one another, we'll stay together, but if things turn sour or you lose interest, let me know,' is a more realistic option. Keep in mind the hideous rollout of NFR! and Lana saying, several times publicly after the release of MAC and VB, "I don't know when it's coming out." That went on for over a year.

Agreed.

I think it's quite possible they were shouting Black Lives Matter while walking to the mall, after they laughed about nothing.

And it's beautiful how this deep normality settles down over them.

I think she's doing the laundry, then walking to the mall and stopping by the children's school for coffee. Then she's just watching tv.

I would also welcome the return of Pop Lana, Trip Hop Lana, two of the best Lanas.

I agree—it's very creative and unique. I'd love to see an entire album of new LDR songs or classic Americana recorded and produced in that vein.

Yup. Of all the artists I've followed over the years, and stanned, Lana is the only artist I've come across this problem with. Rest in peace, Marianne Faithfull.

I heard Last Girl on Earth last night…so great, generally forgotten, and another LDR song about the end of the world. Right now, the culture is not lit, that's for sure, especially in NYC, which is still dying a slow but obvious death (which has been going on since the 2008 financial downturn and the rise of Amazon, which wiped out NYC retail, and shopping generally, completely).

A-men. I don't care for anything she did with Nikki Lane, including Breaking Up Slowly.

Lana knows the truth if she spends any amount of time here. Not being a cultist doesn't make me or anyone else a hater.

When do we know the winners?

I'd prefer no leaked/unreleased tracks.

Me too. I especially miss the inventiveness of some of her past vocal styles. I'm not asking/hoping for a 'return to BTD' or anything like that, but sometimes 'genuine feeling' and 'sincerity' can become cloying or get in the way of creativity.

Full agree.

Her team has rarely, if ever, exercised traditional, standard, or industry-professional approaches to new releases. I've never experienced this with other artists I've stanned, so I assume Lana is a large part of whatever processes take place, and Ben and co. may have a similar attitude and approach. Or perhaps Lana is just indecisive as an individual, and has enough industry power to be indecisive--and perhaps the smaller label she's on is used to her changing tracks, concepts, album titles, and dates, or some combination of all of these. I agree the ongoing LA fires are probably having a devastating effect on her, as they are on all residents of Southern California and beyond--including us. She'll likely respond via her art given time. Whether the fires will alter the TRPWS rollout remains to be seen, but it seems likely.