bummersummer

i'm not familiar with graham's theory specifically, but this doesn't strike me as novel let alone weird? they're all artistic personas she created, it seems natural that each would have a certain associated mood, 'personality' and even backstory. jim morrison did it with his lizard king & mr mojo risin alter egos, david bowie's whole career is made out of different characters he created... she's heavily influenced by both & each of her personas' music have pretty distinct vibes/themes, so it always looked fairly obvious to me, idk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwYub1zwscc

i've been here a minute now and is2g the cycle is the same every time she puts out new music: disappointment over the album as a whole / that she didn't pursue this or that musical direction/mood/aesthetic, the previous(ly bashed) album gets hailed as one of her best, cue "low expectations for what's coming next" discourse, "[insert previous album]'s era didn't last long enough!", then she puts out something else, rinse & repeat. someone should make a bingo, really.

ia. i also rme every time i read/hear a "omg stop smoking it's so bad for you!" comment (towards whomever, not just Lana). like, it's 2018 & we're smack in the middle of the age of information, p sure they know? unless they're blowing smoke at you or whatever, let people do whatever the fuck they want. and the 'bad example' complaints are especially laughable when it comes to Lana, the singer who created her whole career around toxic relationships, drugs/alcohol & a fascination with death, i mean...

i did exactly that just this morning and what you wrote is so true, it really is a near-perfect album. like sure, it's a slow gloomy one & you def have to be in the mood for it, but it's so eerie and also so quintessentially Lana? i always liked it, but it's really grown on me lately. and i'd never thought about the trauma/heartbreak thing, but that does makes sense - like, at the very least you have to be willing to mull over your own darkest/unhappiest times, for sure.

speaking about whining - have you guys heard abt the blog culled culture? idk if the author is a fan or not, but they're certainly v interested in Lana and some of the pieces are... a choice. from "LDR's method increasingly channels Madonna's" (in which they p much accuse her of ripping off other people), to "LDR aging and the deterioration of cuteness when it comes to expressing suicidal desires" (basically stating that she dropped her usual melancholia in favor of a happier, more political record bc she's aging, so it's no longer cute for her to be moody and be fascinated with death), or my personal fave, "The LDR/Weinstein revelation accents a larger truth about the singer", with gems such as: edit: some of the pieces are actually interesting and thoughtful btw. but the weinstein one in particular really rubbed me the wrong way, ngl.

dammit, wrong thread.

also, interestingly enough "i am my only god" is basically the central belief of laveyan satanism & the church of satan - who, contrarily to what a lot of people think, don't actually worship satan or even believe in spiritual entities.

of course she did, and early songs like jimmy gnecco & axl rose husband or her constant mentioning of glam rock bands prove it. that's absolutely not my point, tho.

with dan auerbach from the black keys, whose vibe & musical style is an entirely different one. i know she's no stranger to alt rock, but alt rock is a not a homogeneous entity. dan & her had in common the folksy, dark americana in both their music, lana & miles kane from good old merseyside have in common... the fact that they're both musicians, i guess lol. either way, idc who she collabs with - especially if it's in their album. this was just an observation, bc lana doesn't come to mind when i listen to this type of brit rock. if it were AM, maybe, since they now seem to believe they're american, lol.

i know they hung out, but that's not what i meant. he just seems like a super improbable person for a collab to me: he's not that well known outside the uk (unless you're an AM fan or a milex shipper) and his is just not the type of music i'd associate with Lana, it's a bit too... idk, lad rock-ish.

what a random ass collab.

regardless of how one feels abt UV, regretting choices you made in the past or thinking you would've made different decisions nowadays (UV) versus regretting not having been able to make your own choices/mistakes bc other people prevented it (BTD) are 2 very different types of regret.

like @@ultralife said, she's obviously an album artist & it's clear that she prefers putting out something that makes sense to her / is in line with her vision over potential hits or more marketable songs. i mean, you all remember how bitter she was over the lack of control she had with BTD, which was by far her most radio-oriented album so far - and that probably because label intere$t$ were put above her own. but also, radio is dying, lbr. fm radio is on the way out for a reason, so making songs thinking of their radio playability seems like a bad strategy for so many reasons.

i was def thinking about the official one, but i guess both fit what i wrote!

i wish she went back to UV era videos, they were all perfect. from the cinematic SoC to the grungy WC to the lo-fi UV, what i loved about them is that they put mood/visuals over narrative, so they fit the songs perfectly. i know this isn't a popular opinion, but i'm not a fan of her more literal, story-oriented videos that kinda try to illustrate the song (like Ride, HBTB or Love - which i especially dislike bc it feels like i'm watching a commercial for a lifestyle brand). the idea for Freak was interesting, but the execution was a mess & it was the wrong song to begin with. my ideal Lana video would be a mix (in terms of style/mood) of Blue Jeans, all her UV videos & her initial homemade ones.

speaking about strange coincidences... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_del_Rey

yes, i'm sure that's it. luckily for us, judging by her latest albums & musical evolution Lana seems to feel exactly the same way so i won't even have to switch artists, i'm in luck.

not in the slightest. i know nostalgia is one hell of a drug, but the production in BTD quite simply sucks. me and 219465 music critics all hear it, and i'm p sure we're not all alone.

what. the production and hip hop beats were the worst thing abt BTD. like if you read reviews from the era, those 2 things are p much universally criticized or even downright mocked, and rightfully so. the whole thing is both over- and badly produced and the beats sound like someone googled "hip hop beats stock sounds" and called it a day. and don't get me started on the yeahs that accompanied the beat in almost every single song. regardless of how one feels abt LFL in every other aspect when compared to BTD, the beats & production were an undeniable improvement.

if those trite lyrics are staying i sure af hope it's not!

i get what you want to say as well, and it's just one of those things in which we have to agree to disagree bc we both have valid but different povs. i do think she has personal thoughts about what's happening (especially in the 2nd half of the album; to me the 1st half is personal, the 2nd is societal), just not in the form of actual political commentary (which ita, she can't pull off for all the reasons i already mentioned), but more like her genuine thoughts and feelings about it all, regardless of how pertinent or 'useful' they are. imo it's just her own way to cope, trying to still find beauty, hope & love in the world despite the fucked up situation, and offering it to those it might speak to (much as i don't like the borderline condescending, cringey "i sing for my bbs" thing, it's not a coincidence that it appeared during this era). i don't think any of this is any better or worse than writing abt daddys and doomed love, imo it's just the album she felt like writing in this particular moment in time bc it's the things that were going through her mind, just like 8 years ago it was drugs/alcohol, americana & fucked up romances with older men.

fair enough. to me it felt like an introspective album about this particular political/social era, which is a time of change (mostly not good) and unrest. so all the songs felt cohesive to me under that light. it's not a truly political album, which is something i'm thankful for bc i don't think she has anything significantly important to contribute there - she's not particularly knowledgeable or even interested in politics & she's not part of a persecuted or unprivileged group that she could give genuine answers to or incite to protest/action - so i think the stance she chose, that of a personal interpretation of events and of offering a rare optimism and solace that didn't imply downright ignoring the issues, was a great one. someone here compared it to reading someone's personal thoughts written on a diary about what's going on with the world & imo that's actually a perfect description, but unlike the person who wrote it i don't think there's anything wrong with that. she's not arrogant enough to believe that she can teach anyone something about politics or make a real change in the world, but she's not self-centered enough to completely ignore everything that's going on & was kind enough to try to give comfort to whoever seeks it in her music, that's p much how i'd sum up LFL.

this album is prob my fave along with UV and i don't think it lacks a Lana touch at all, but ofc these are subjective opinions anyway. personally, i like that each album gives us a dramatically different era and vibe, both aesthetically but also in terms of mood/atmosphere, bc if she'd kept the same BTD/Paradise sound i would've probably grown tired of it by now & moved on. so the recycling/reusing of the same themes & visuals but in different contexts and with v different meanings is something i like a lot - in this album even more so bc she left the strictly personal/biographical (regardless of whether real or not) and started looking to what's around her as well. so in that sense i find LFL really promising in terms of what could come next. she's growing as an artist but she's also maturing - i mean, she'll be 33 this year - so i don't think she's gonna revert to her poppier sound or BTD/unreleased style lyrics tbh, and personally i'm totally okay with that. ita that she still has a lot of growing to do in terms of lyrics tho, especially if the snippet she posted a couple days ago is any indication of what she's been writing, sorry to say.

that would have been amazing, but april fools.