Vertimus

If LDR gets AOTY, it will make up for everything, but I feel 95% of America (and other viewers) is/are still saying, “WHO is LANA DEL REY?”

All this reminds me of the ‘What the fuck happened here?’ lyric from ‘I Talk to Jesus.’

Let’s hope for the last one.

All of this is why Marlon Brando said award shows were bullshit, and he was talking about the very best, the Oscars.

Yeah, I don’t think she’s upset right now. She has a long history with the press and industry. She’s not stupid. She’s probably grateful to be nominated and part of the event.

It’s so embarrassing. Joni needs no introduction and certainly doesn’t need to be called “one of the greatest creators of all time” or whatsoever asinine thing Brandy said.

What a trial watching the Grammys is. One hour of content spread over 210 minutes.

That's also what I'm hoping for. I think Lasso is a great title. It says a great deal simply. After OB, which I did not find cohesive, I'd also like Lasso to be cohesive.

The sad thing about all of these award shows, especially today, is that there is no effort to be objective on the part of the judges. Look at all the award nominations Joni Mitchell is receiving for a very tepid live album, on which other singers perform most of the songs. BUT. She's Joni Mitchell, she's a legend, she's influenced several generations of artists as well as the general public (including me), she didn't die after a very serious illness, she's in old age, and so of course, she must be nominated for awards no matter how unmusical and fourth-rate her 2023 live album is. So political correctness (and kowtowing to same), popular opinion, popular movie tie-ins, big business and commerce, publicity, campaigns to win, race, ethnicity, age, gender, reputation, all these things go into choosing the winners--as they did in choosing the nominees. Talent seems to matter last, or the artistic worth of a particular album, song, or project. I'd of course like Lana to win one or more Grammies, but I stand with Marlon Brando in thinking these award shows are arbitrary and not worth much. Even the Academy Awards don't count for much any more.

She's up against some stiff competition, popular movie tie-ins, and industry favorites. I think her best shots are Best Alternative Music Performance and Best Alternative Music Album. I do think she'll win at least one, but I don't see a sweep

Understood. I still love VFR and IFLDWM, they’re still two of my Top 5 of all her tracks. But it is OB that I don’t care, and I place it at the very bottom of her music catalog.

Yeah, Country in terms of music can mean anything today, and hopefully, the album will be more 21st-century Americana than what passes for Country today, which I consider Country Pop, and which is so stilted and repetitive. The snippet from the song with Laird sounded a lot more like 21st-century Americana to my ear. I don't mind collaborations, but I assume that means, among others, Nikki Lane, who I'm not a fan of at this point, but I hope there are no covers, or only one at best. CRTMH was a flop for me. Still, great news, something to look forward to, thanks, Elle and team.

Yes, Hitchcock is a sterling example. And The Birds still bites harder than most much more excessive films today. Look at fashion and the art world. The latter doesn't exist anymore except as high finance and bourgeois acquisition, while the former has almost nothing to do with 99% of the population in the West. That's one reason why shows like The New Look are important, to remind or educate people about the world that once was, and, contrary to so much education today, was certainly not all bad (by any means). I've seen historical example after example of 'artists' being given free rein and then totally ruining their careers because, at that point in their lives, they still needed some tight reining in by producers or studios who were creative professionals and/or knew better. A great historical example, if ultimately a minor one, is the Monkees, who were a studio-created band. After their first 15 months of global success, they demanded to write and release the songs they desired and take over the direction of their television series. As a result, they collapsed creatively, and the show was canceled. They attempted something of a comeback with the plotless, would-be-trippy movie Head, which they named after oral sex, and it and their last-gasp effort with a one-shot television special were total artistic and commercial failures. And that was the end.

I agree; sharp, almost too clear. Honestly, I think most creators strive for artistic vision today over pleasant listening experience, and that includes filmmakers too, which is why so much of today's art fails and fails to reach a sizable audience of any kind. Look back to the great Golden Age of Hollywood when films were routinely geared towards a general public, and yet masterpiece after masterpiece was produced, and the writers, actors, and directors were still allowed to put some of their signature creativity into their work. I think Lana's rise and success--as well as the respect she's received from her peers in the industry--is due to her being a genuine artist with an authentic vision. Sometimes she creates middle-of-the-road songs like Tomorrow Never Came, Arcadia, or Margaret but the balance of her work is very visionary, like When the World Was at War, 13 Beaches, Gods & Monsters, Money Power Glory, Ultraviolence, Cola, Bel Air, Heroin, Swan Song, and Old Money among others. It's difficult to hear those songs and then just walk away from Lana as an artist. No one else is doing what Lana is doing or 'world building' the way she is in terms of her vision.

So Lana is singing Blues Skies? I prefer the Jim Reeves version to those by Ella Fitzgerald, Sinatra, and Willie Nelson. Based on The White Cliffs of Dover, can we assume it's going to be a jazz version a la the Fitzgerald version? I can see the wisdom in that since it was composed as jazz. It's an American Classic too; I wonder if Lana considered it for that fabled album that may never see the light of day.

Has anyone else noticed how much Dido's White Flag sounds so much like something from BTD? Yet it's from 2003.

Me too. How quickly Stans brushed it aside.

To me, BD X CN, I Tried To Love You is his best so far, really sad, melodic, and haunting, but also very simple. Enjoy it.

As things stand, I do not understand what actually drives the popularity of Lana's various albums, in the scientific sense. There has to be more to it than 'mere taste.' For example, we don't know how much a thriving community in constant contact with one another like we have here actually influences people's choices, likes, and dislikes. I'd like to see a genuine experiment that would accurately reflect how people would react to her various albums if the listeners were in a vacuum, isolated from one another, and so unable to influence one another and unable to read reviews online. I can see why some would not respond well to Sweet Carolina coming from Lana. I can understand the dislike of the name-dropping title track, which I also dislike, and the hate for the YouTube rips, which one us proved by showing the actual poor aural quality compared to the new tracks. I can understand some thinking she was exploiting Black Lives Matter, or that mentioning it was just poor judgment on her part, but it's not at all clear to me why Stans reject or don't respond to Textbook, Arcadia, BBS, IYLDWM, Dealer, WFWF, and VFR but love most of the, to me, substantially lesser tracks on NFR! and COTCC.

Check out a new song called I Tried To Love You by Coyle Girelli. Brilliant. It's from the album Museum Day, and I also love Swim, New York Rain, Nobody, So Predictable, Real Life, and The Girl from the same record.

And thank you for that too. I had a wonderful celebration.

Thank you! Thank you!

Whose birthday was it...? Yesterday was my birthday and Rob Lowe's is on 3/17.

She looks terrific.

Yes, I also access LBs on my phone, and went in and and thanked Elle there. I try never to be sarcastic here.