Vertimus

Regarding the use of the NR name, since his work was deeply rooted in traditional Americana and ‘clean,’ ‘innocent’ images of America, and since names can be trademarked and licensed, I still feel it’s possible that the trust that guards the Rockwell estate filed an injunction to stop the use of the name in the album and title song (assuming there is a title song).
 
The problem would not be the NR name most likely, but the name with the word ‘Fucking’ between first and last, which, to their way of thinking, defiles the Rockwell image.
 
I know a Rockwell granddaughter denied the family trust took any action, but it’s possible she doesn’t know, or, more likely, simply doesn’t want to get publicly involved. So it’s better to feign ignorance.
 
Or it may be that the terms of the agreement, assuming there was one, barred anyone on either side in discussing it publicly for a specified period of time.
 
From the moment I heard the name, I expected trouble. People like Elizabeth Taylor successfully sued to have others prevented from using her name for commercial purposes, and that was without an expletive between Elizabeth and Taylor.
 
I may be wrong, but that’s my personal suspicion behind what appears to be a delay. If so, then the title song would have to be dropped or lyrically reworked and re-recorded, and if the graphics were finished or in process, they would have to be done completely over. And if the title song was dropped, then perhaps she had to write something to replace it, assuming she didn’t want to use something in her back catalogue.
 
The time it’s taken to complete the poetry book may also be partially responsible. There could easily be more than one reason. Look at how often things go wrong in our own lives, despite foresight and careful planning.

Kim Gordon is considered Alt-Rock royalty to many people of a certain age as well as to feminists in music, so LDR probably did at least think twice about Gordon’s criticisms, which received a great deal of press. LDR has had a lot of poor luck in various ways with other musicians, like Lorde, for example, and then, though LDR is a fan of Bowie’s, he said Lorde was ‘the future of music,’ to paraphrase him. That had to sting. But she’s obviously had praise from her peer musicians, like The Weeknd and Father John Misty, as well as ‘legends’ like B. Springsteen and Stevie Nicks.
 
As far as her persona and appearance going forward, the album cover and sleeve art for NFR will tell us a lot, and maybe everything. After the flat, mediocre LFL artwork, I don’t expect to see a return to glamour and high style.
 
Contrary to what common sense might dictate, pop artists are often better handled by competent managers and record companies than they are by themselves; when they gain enough power through sales and popularity to dictate their own course, they have often stumbled and tripped all over themselves. The Monkees are a good example of that. Of course, that’s hardly always the case.

I recently saw her very early semi-professional modeling shots, which suggested that being beautiful and sexually desirable was something that was there in her and important to her from a fairly early age, as is it for many or most youths. Maybe she’s matured enough to where she feels she can now leave that side of herself largely behind, especially in terms of her music career. Again, on the basis of the work and of what we know of NFR, ‘Hope’ definitely suggests she’s “not that” anymore in her own mind.
 
I think she is attractive, but she seems to be downplaying it as much as she can, even going so far as to post some photos which are very unflattering, at least to me.

Nationalxanthem, I agree. I’ve watched the decline in visuals and the shift in her persona with sadness, as it was everything about the BTD/Paradise era that I loved. She’s changed a great deal without verbal explanation, and no doubt both lost and gained fans in the process, as no doubt some newer fans like the LFL LDR but didn’t care for the BTD LDR when they investigated her older work.
 
To me, her initial era as LDR was a beautiful vision I hoped was authentic, and no doubt some aspects of it were, but a lot was just a performance, rather like the young woman in Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ of the 1950s. ‘Hope’ makes me think the multiple personas are fragmenting her and that now she just wants to be herself, and perhaps not misrepresent herself to younger women who may in turn feel compelled to live up to an impossible standard of beauty, slenderness and public poise.
 
Way back in the late 1960s, Nico destroyed her own beauty for the same cluster of reasons, and didn’t gain respect as an artist until she had.

Regarding the bland visuals and lackluster photos of this era, that started about the time of Honeymoon, when LDR began posting unflattering photos and short clips of herself on social media, clearly by intent. I don’t think she wanted to be known or perceived as a sex symbol any longer, even if that was something that had interested her for a decade or more. Sometimes beautiful women aren’t taken seriously, especially if they’re artists.
 
The ‘this is what I really look like on a day to day basis’ approach was probably also intended to appease certain factions on the Left, such as Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, who trashed LDR in her book. Some on the Left are anti-glamour and feel female glamour is just a tool used by Madison Avenue, something that is used to manipulate women and hold them down. The early lines of ‘Hope’ clearly express that she isn’t a glamour girl anymore (assuming the song is intended to be autobiographical), or perhaps is only when she absolutely has to be (I.e., magazine covers to promote albums).
 
She seems to want the world to know that she’s on the pretty side of average looking, but not more than that.

I agree she didn’t change her entire career course due to a feud with Lorde, Gordon’s comments and the backlash after she made the “feminism just isn’t an interesting concept “ comments. I think it was a lot of things coming one after another, including, yes, the fact that the maintenance and effort to remain slim, youthful, stylish and photogenic had to be very exhausting, especially as her fame grew and paparazzi started chasing her on two continents at all hours. While ‘Hope’ has already given us a clear statement on the subject, we’ll know which direction she’s heading once we see the final NFR cover and sleeve art.
 
For me, the “crack another beer” lyric from HTD doesn’t suggest the sophisticated LDR of Paradise, but a much more earthy, unadorned persona, one comfortable singing from a working class POV and about ‘blue collar’ concerns, a la Springsteen and Billy Joel. The plain photo of her sitting on the side of the highway supports that too.

Nationalxanthem, I agree. I’ve watched the decline in visuals and the shift in her persona with sadness, as it was everything about the BTD/Paradise era that I loved. She’s changed a great deal without verbal explanation, and no doubt both lost and gained fans in the process, as no doubt some newer fans like the LFL LDR but didn’t care for the BTD LDR when they investigated her older work.
 
To me, her initial era as LDR was a beautiful vision I hoped was authentic, and no doubt some aspects of it were, but a lot was just a performance, rather like the young woman in Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ of the 1950s. ‘Hope’ makes me think the multiple personas are fragmenting her and that now she just wants to be herself, and perhaps not misrepresent herself to younger women who may in turn feel compelled to live up to an impossible standard of beauty, slenderness and public poise.
 
Way back in the late 1960s, Nico destroyed her own beauty for the same cluster of reasons, and didn’t gain respect as an artist until she had.

Regarding the bland visuals and lackluster photos of this era, that started about the time of Honeymoon, when LDR began posting unflattering photos and short clips of herself on social media, clearly by intent. I don’t think she wanted to be known or perceived as a sex symbol any longer, even if that was something that had interested her for a decade or more. Sometimes beautiful women aren’t taken seriously, especially if they’re artists.
 
The ‘this is what I really look like on a day to day basis’ approach was probably also intended to appease certain factions on the Left, such as Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, who trashed LDR in her book. Some on the Left are anti-glamour and feel female glamour is just a tool used by Madison Avenue, something that is used to manipulate women and hold them down. The early lines of ‘Hope’ clearly express that she isn’t a glamour girl anymore (assuming the song is intended to be autobiographical), or perhaps is only when she absolutely has to be (I.e., magazine covers to promote albums).
 
She seems to want the world to know that she’s on the pretty side of average looking, but not more than that.

I agree she didn’t change her entire career course due to a feud with Lorde, Gordon’s comments and the backlash after she made the “feminism just isn’t an interesting concept “ comments. I think it was a lot of things coming one after another, including, yes, the fact that the maintenance and effort to remain slim, youthful, stylish and photogenic had to be very exhausting, especially as her fame grew and paparazzi started chasing her on two continents at all hours. While ‘Hope’ has already given us a clear statement on the subject, we’ll know which direction she’s heading once we see the final NFR cover and sleeve art.
 
For me, the “crack another beer” lyric from HTD doesn’t suggest the sophisticated LDR of Paradise, but a much more earthy, unadorned persona, one comfortable singing from a working class POV and about ‘blue collar’ concerns, a la Springsteen and Billy Joel. The plain photo of her sitting on the side of the highway supports that too.

I agree she didn’t change her entire career course due to a feud with Lorde, Gordon’s comments and the backlash after she made the “feminism just isn’t an interesting concept “ comments. I think it was a lot of things coming one after another, including, yes, the fact that the maintenance and effort to remain slim, youthful, stylish and photogenic had to be very exhausting, especially as her fame grew and paparazzi started chasing her on two continents at all hours. While ‘Hope’ has already given us a clear statement on the subject, we’ll know which direction she’s heading once we see the final NFR cover and sleeve art.
 
For me, the “crack another beer” lyric from HTD doesn’t suggest the sophisticated LDR of Paradise, but a much more earthy, unadorned persona, one comfortable singing from a working class POV and about ‘blue collar’ concerns, a la Springsteen and Billy Joel. The plain photo of her sitting on the side of the highway supports that too.

Nationalxanthem, I agree. I’ve watched the decline in visuals and the shift in her persona with sadness, as it was everything about the BTD/Paradise era that I loved. She’s changed a great deal without verbal explanation, and no doubt both lost and gained fans in the process, as no doubt some newer fans like the LFL LDR but didn’t care for the BTD LDR when they investigated her older work.
 
To me, her initial era as LDR was a beautiful vision I hoped was authentic, and no doubt some aspects of it were, but a lot was just a performance, rather like the young woman in Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ of the 1950s. ‘Hope’ makes me think the multiple personas are fragmenting her and that now she just wants to be herself, and perhaps not misrepresent herself to younger women who may in turn feel compelled to live up to an impossible standard of beauty, slenderness and public poise.
 
Way back in the late 1960s, Nico destroyed her own beauty for the same cluster of reasons, and didn’t gain respect as an artist until she had.

Kim Gordon is considered Alt-Rock royalty to many people of a certain age as well as to feminists in music, so LDR probably did at least think twice about Gordon’s criticisms, which received a great deal of press. LDR has had a lot of poor luck in various ways with other musicians, like Lorde, for example, and then, though LDR is a fan of Bowie’s, he said Lorde was ‘the future of music,’ to paraphrase him. That had to sting. But she’s obviously had praise from her peer musicians, like The Weeknd and Father John Misty, as well as ‘legends’ like B. Springsteen and Stevie Nicks.
 
As far as her persona and appearance going forward, the album cover and sleeve art for NFR will tell us a lot, and maybe everything. After the flat, mediocre LFL artwork, I don’t expect to see a return to glamour and high style.
 
Contrary to what common sense might dictate, pop artists are often better handled by competent managers and record companies than they are by themselves; when they gain enough power through sales and popularity to dictate their own course, they have often stumbled and tripped all over themselves. The Monkees are a good example of that. Of course, that’s hardly always the case.

Nationalxanthem, I agree. I’ve watched the decline in visuals and the shift in her persona with sadness, as it was everything about the BTD/Paradise era that I loved. She’s changed a great deal without verbal explanation, and no doubt both lost and gained fans in the process, as no doubt some newer fans like the LFL LDR but didn’t care for the BTD LDR when they investigated her older work.
 
To me, her initial era as LDR was a beautiful vision I hoped was authentic, and no doubt some aspects of it were, but a lot was just a performance, rather like the young woman in Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ of the 1950s. ‘Hope’ makes me think the multiple personas are fragmenting her and that now she just wants to be herself, and perhaps not misrepresent herself to younger women who may in turn feel compelled to live up to an impossible standard of beauty, slenderness and public poise.
 
Way back in the late 1960s, Nico destroyed her own beauty for the same cluster of reasons, and didn’t gain respect as an artist until she had.

Regarding the bland visuals and lackluster photos of this era, that started about the time of Honeymoon, when LDR began posting unflattering photos and short clips of herself on social media, clearly by intent. I don’t think she wanted to be known or perceived as a sex symbol any longer, even if that was something that had interested her for a decade or more. Sometimes beautiful women aren’t taken seriously, especially if they’re artists.
 
The ‘this is what I really look like on a day to day basis’ approach was probably also intended to appease certain factions on the Left, such as Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, who trashed LDR in her book. Some on the Left are anti-glamour and feel female glamour is just a tool used by Madison Avenue, something that is used to manipulate women and hold them down. The early lines of ‘Hope’ clearly express that she isn’t a glamour girl anymore (assuming the song is intended to be autobiographical), or perhaps is only when she absolutely has to be (I.e., magazine covers to promote albums).
 
She seems to want the world to know that she’s on the pretty side of average looking, but not more than that.

I recently saw her very early semi-professional modeling shots, which suggested that being beautiful and sexually desirable was something that was there in her and important to her from a fairly early age, as is it for many or most youths. Maybe she’s matured enough to where she feels she can now leave that side of herself largely behind, especially in terms of her music career. Again, on the basis of the work and of what we know of NFR, ‘Hope’ definitely suggests she’s “not that” anymore in her own mind.
 
I think she is attractive, but she seems to be downplaying it as much as she can, even going so far as to post some photos which are very unflattering, at least to me.

I recently saw her very early semi-professional modeling shots, which suggested that being beautiful and sexually desirable was something that was there in her and important to her from a fairly early age, as is it for many or most youths. Maybe she’s matured enough to where she feels she can now leave that side of herself largely behind, especially in terms of her music career. Again, on the basis of the work and of what we know of NFR, ‘Hope’ definitely suggests she’s “not that” anymore in her own mind.
 
I think she is attractive, but she seems to be downplaying it as much as she can, even going so far as to post some photos which are very unflattering, at least to me.

I see what you mean. Especially with the part you say she tried to be a sex symbol or something. There's obviously a reason why she got a nose job and her lips injected.
 
However she's definitely not 'average looking' She's someone I'd definitely admire physically if I saw her on the streets.

I get what you mean.
 
Norman Rockwell's paintings were supposed to emphasize the simplicity of American living, and I think that that's what she was trying to accomplish with MAC/Venice. She's also trying to make them look cohesive.
However, in relation to the Venice and MAC video, they're pretty lazy; not only because of the old car driving for ~4 minutes, but because she used another music video in it. It's like she didn't wanna try.
  If she doesn't clarify what she's doing/why, people are going to stop paying attention. We aren't gonna care anymore