Vertimus

And as we all know, women gets ‘shamed’ and attacked by other women as well as men, often more often by other women than by men—look at reality television and the cat fights and continual barrage of nasty comments women on them make against their costars. Trolls come in all genders, races, ages, ethnicities, etc. But a simple common sense “Gee, why doesn’t she do something with her hair?” comment is not an attack and doesn’t make that commenter a troll.

It’s not misogyny when the same objective standard applies to all who stand in the public spotlight, regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, gender identity or nationality. It doesn’t matter if it’s Nick Jonah, ASAP Rocky, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, or Justin Bieber. Geez, people trash Bieber and his appearance all day long, night and day, and do we hear anyone being accused of ‘man-shaming’ him? I thought LDR looked okay in that photo. I was defending another’s right to speak her or his mind about someone who was placed themselves in the public spotlight for almost a decade now. The real world isn’t Facebook where only your friends are involved and so everything is always pleasant and cozy. People saying everyone must like or approve LDR’s appearance at all times are the same ones saying we all must love all her songs or there’s something seriously wrong with us, something ‘homophobic,’ ‘racist,’ or ‘misogynist.’

Because when you get on stage, when you chose to become a public figure, you’re going to get some applause and also some tomatoes thrown that you. That’s how it works and has been since the dawn of civilization. When you step into the public square as a focal point, by choice, then you’re essentially asking to be judged, for better AND for worse. No one should shame or blame anyone who finds the public figure wanting in some way. If anyone is responsible, it’s the person who has chosen to make themselves a celebrity. That’s why so many celebrities thought they wanted celebrity life, but then quickly backed away from it, realizing it was not what they thought it would be, not what they want in their lives.

It's a great song, though an overused one, as others have pointed out. I think LDR will do a very good job with it. It suits her. Do we know who's producing it? Now we know yet another reason NFR was delayed. And is there a definite release date for the soundtrack, with the song?

But LDR was a "grown woman" then too. She's just older now and, like so many artists, has decided that she has to become 'relevant' and 'woke' to be taken seriously. This has happened to pop stars, especially female pop stars, since at least Marianne Faithfull in the 1960s. Some, like Tori Amos, started out singing about heavy issues, and just continued. I'm glad that Madonna, who I am not a great fan of, also went through this phase, was later able to drop all the seriousness and return to pure pop.

I think it's unlikely, but I'd love her to return to that genre for at least a few tracks, that satiric form of dance music, which also includes 'Making Out.' She did it so effortlessly and energetically, and with such cleverness and humor.

She has no talent that I can see.

For those who are perplexed about “the witchy thing,” remember that not only has she toyed with this before, but she recently recommended ‘Women Who Run with Wolves.’

Understood. I love the bridge as well.

The lyric changes may be very slight, only the “you” becoming “we” towards the end, and no more. I am more concerned with the production and tempo changing. I hope it’s been completely re-recorded and thought through.

'Composed by' means music + words, not production, unless the producer became so involved in changes to the music and arrangements in the studio that she or he eventually had to consider her- or himself part of the writing team too, in fairness. Traditionally, 'composed by' means only the creator(s) of the music and lyrics. I hope/expect the NFR BAR is composed by LDR and Nowels, but produced by Jack. We don't need another copy or very close approximation of a song we already have.

For the slightly different BAR lyrics, it sounds like she’s simply included herself in the song now; “you” has become “we.” I assume the song is about Barrie and now she’s just being more honest about their relationship and career goals.

I like it much more than the legitimate cover.

Me too. The album version might be better, but it sounds too mawkish and fake-sincere to me.

On the unreliable Wikipedia, Rick Nowels is co-listed as writer but no producer of BAR is given. I really hope Jack reworked the arrangement so it’s a little more subtle in the tempo changes, the way MAC is.

NOT. The only songs featured are those we already know. The opening footage—about the birth of the seas—is from the late 50s Bruce Brown surf film, ‘Slippery When Wet,’ made before he went on to make other ‘small’ surf films and then the famous ‘Endless Summer’ of 1964, which didn’t really become world famous until the early 1970s.

I am not sure how to add a photo here using my phone, but I will send it to you tonight from my Mac if I can’t figure it out. I am not sure how to add a photo here using my phone, but I will send it to you tonight from my Mac if I can’t figure it out.

Full agree. As if the LFL rollout wasn’t unprofessional enough, the NFR has been inexcusable from a professional POV. There’s no arguing it, no excusing it. It’s as if her music career has also become ‘self-published, like her poetry book. And now there appear to be all kinds of SNAFUS with the actual album release in various jurisdictions.

The ‘NFR’ blurb looks much better on the cover art than the full name did yesterday, and balances the ‘LDR’ in the lower corner.

The chartreuse album color was probably chosen because it’s very close in shade to the jacket she’s wearing on the album cover, which may be a lemon yellow but photographed chartreuse.

That’s the luxury of iTunes and all other contemporary music platforms. We can customize our own versions of any album, add any cover art we choose, delete (but save) songs we don’t like, etc. I am already using the version of the album cover someone created here, where LDR has a white top on and white nail polish.

I don’t care about cars or anything else, only that it’s aesthetically pleasing and photography worthy of an artist of her caliber. And for me, this album art isn’t, just as LFL’s was not.

If she had been hugging him and at least looking towards him it would have been better. The reaching out to the viewer pose is clumsy and awful. Everything looks washed out. It would ha e been better if the colors were more saturated and there was more contrast. That greenish yellow is awful too. She should have used a primary yellow instead.

I agree. She can afford/get the best photographer the world has to offer, and yet this anemic, clumsy photo is what she uses for her new album cover. It’s hilarious how overused the word ‘iconic’ is here and all over the internet, like ‘literally’; I get the impression many use both but have no genuine idea what either mean. It would be nice to know what the track times are. One or more might be as long as VB.