Venice Jesus Whore

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

I've never been able to get into Get Free and always skip it.

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

Taco Truck x VB is really the perfect album closer 

Something about Lana saying “yep” in the Jon Batiste interlude gets me

Something about Lana saying “yep” in the Jon Batiste interlude gets me

What do we know about the motivations behind Lust for Life? To me, it feels like it might've been pushed by her label for more commercial success or motivated by Lana's desire to shut up her critics. This album came after years of criticism of Lana for being too sad, dark, for saying she wishes she were dead, of the Ultraviolence domestic violence controversy, etc. It makes sense that Lana's label might push her to appear happier, less controversial, and more outwardly focused rather than being as self-involved in her relationships as the last albums had been lyrically. Her sales had also been declining with each era up to this point.
If I recall correctly, Lana had that interview where she said something along the lines that she felt like had to be happier for this album even if that's not how she really feels. All of the demos for the album were more Lana-esque, and much more sad and devastating than their poppier and lighter sounding released versions. Then there are all of the features, while her other albums had none, which could've been an attempt to push her more pop and more mainstream again. I remember too that this was being pushed as a return of her Born to Die hip-hop inspired influences again, like Lana or her team/label are trying to push her mainstream again since that was her most commercially successful era. And finally, there's the fact that this is a much more eclectic, and arguably messier, album compared to BTD/Paradise, UV, and HM, which all seemed like they each had a story to tell. The songs on her previous albums were cohesive and focused to the album's themes and sound, which could hint at the fact that Lana was making this album more to appease others than out of having a compelling story or idea to bring to life like she seemed to in the past.
I don't think Lana cares much about fame or single/album sales, though she seems to care about critics and being well respected as a songwriter and musician, so this leads me to think this was her most forced album and that it was likely forced by her label. But then we also had an interview where she said, "I do have early thoughts about what I'd like to do with it. My label, Interscope, is pretty flexible and open to my records coming out at any time, so I don't have that pressure. I'm just happy to be able to keep on making music I can stand behind," so maybe the motivation was coming from Lana to shut her critics up, not from her label. Do we have any glimpses of truth to either of these theories, or am I reaching?

Damn so I didn’t really pay attention to the jsmith interlude but I kinda liked it. 
 
that whole, preaching about you, but actually preaching about himself. Rhino designer, the lannister-like piano, respectfully, the layers of sound and echoes. 
 
i kinda liked the similar feel of having a cult like status kind of perspective akin to all the men Lana might’ve had devotion for that didn’t really deserve it, as an addition to the album.
 
for me it said/ messaged the theme of like, well damn, I’m only just a man, a human too, and as that, didn’t deserve that pedestal that he was put onto when he preached

Apple Music finally added NFR to her “Essential Albums” with BTD 

Bartender is the most underrated song on the album. It’s one of my favorites. 

our bunnymoon, say you want me too

As someone who’s father and uncles used to go deep sea fishing up north, it’s seen as a bonding time and usually a very quiet place to clear your thoughts out on the ocean. I feel like she’s praying that her ancestors are watching over them even in their everyday lives and the things they wish to perceive. “While he’s deep sea fishing, for all the things he’s wishing” I think shes also recognizing her role as someone who has a lot of influence and is praying that her influence is perceived for the better. “I know they think it took thousands of people to put me together again” “a fallible deity” “regrettably a white woman” I took these lines as her recognizing what the public says about her, and that she’s reflected on the impact that her words can have and taken a step outside of herself to ask for guidance to make sure her intentions line up with how she is perceived. She’s asking god for a sign that she’s on the right track

Ok but why am I kinda obsessed with The Grants??? Like she ate 

not to mention the references to the ocean...
 
i'm lying in the ocean, singing your song
 
pulled me up by my waist, long hair to the beachside
i wanted to go out like you
swim with the fishes that he caught on rhode island beaches
 
she also mentions the ocean similarily in kill kill/the ocean
 
the ocean makes me cry
 
i'm in love with a dying man, i'm in love, lying in the sand

OMG idk if anyone brought this up already but what if Dark Paradise is about Aaron Greene? I just realized the lyrical parallels between the pre chorus of dark paradise and her singing about Aaron in fingertips. In Dark Paradise Lana sings: 
 
And there's no remedy for memory, your face is like a melody
It won't leave my head
Your soul is haunting me and telling me that everything is fine
But I wish I was dead (dead, like you)  
in fingertips, lana revealed how:
 
“Aaron ended up dead and not me”
 
So what if the person Lana is grieving in Dark Paradise Aaron? Someone tell me if I’m being delusional 😭

oh my god this just clicked i’m gonna have a mental breakdown 

Blue Banisters is my least favorite Lana album. I kinda loathe it as an album overall. To me, there are just very few highs and some of her lowest lows. And it does feel like she just came up with the style of Blue Banisters, Wildfire Wildflower, and Text Book, but didn’t have much more to add, so she just threw in a bunch of unreleased songs that didn’t fit in elsewhere. Idk, it just feels messy, unfinished, underdeveloped…
 
I do listen to a good amount of the songs regularly because I made a “Blue Chemtrails” playlist which combines my favorites from COTCC and BB. And that playlist does fill a niche in Lana’s discography for me of just slower, calmer music I can have on in the background. But I still have a love/hate relationship with some of the songs I even have on this playlist (Blue Banisters, Wildflower Wildfire, Black Bathing Suit). 
 

I know this isn’t a Chemtrails thread, but it’s hard not to compare them when they came out the same year and when I associate them with each other. Even with Chemtrails having quite a few weak tracks and only being 11 tracks total, that album still just feels so much more focused,  developed, and purposeful than Blue Banisters does. The first three tracks on Chemtrails kinda obliterates the very large majority of songs on BB alone. 
 
All that being said, I’m just glad Lana has created Ocean Blvd because Chemtrails and BB had me questioning my trust in her artistic vision a bit, which isn’t a good feeling when you’ve been a consistent fan for a decade and have never really been disappointed. I still appreciate that BB exists and I can listen to it, but another part of me thinks I would’ve been happier as a fan if it was never released. But it’s Lana’s career and vision, not mine. And i feel bad complaining about having more music when I could’ve had less, but also, quality > quantity.