evilentity

Just to clarify, which Facebook account are we talking about? MafiosiPrincess? And what exactly do you mean by "made public"? Are you referring to some kind of change with the privacy settings on that account, or just that people have publicized the username?

Do we have any indication who made the cut or why?
What exactly is the history/provenance of these tracks?
How do we know they're from 2006?

You smell like a million roses bathed in rock and roll
Ours was the greatest love story ever told
Throat like an angel with a voice that was made of gold
That's my baby

He was the king of the town with a crown that would never fall
A heart that would beat like a bass for his baby doll
One in a million, inimitable soul
That's my baby

Young or old, summer or cold
Young or old, summer or cold

You've got a way, like JFK
When you do it
Yhe way that you move it
Spins me round like a record, baby
And you've got a soul
Like no one I know
You're so new at it
The way you see through that shit
Breaks my heart and drives me crazy

He was the king of the town with a crown that would never fall
A heart that would beat like a bass for his baby doll
Mind like a diamond, inimitable soul
That's my baby
 
Young or old, summer or cold
Young or old, summer or cold

You've got a way, like JFK
When you do it
The way that you move it
Spins me round like a record, baby
And you've got a soul
Like no one I know
You're so new at it
The way you see through that shit
Breaks my heart and drives me crazy
It drives me crazy

You've got it
And I want it
Like summer nights in July, flaunt it
You know that you can always come home to the one who gave you your name
'Cause I see a light in your eyes it's so bright and
The skies they open wide for you
So come to me my baby

You've got a way, like JFK
When you do it
Yhe way that you move it
Spin me round like a record, baby
And you've got a soul
Like no one I know
You're so new at it
The way you see through that shit
Breaks my heart and it drives me crazy
It drives me crazy
It drives me crazy
Crazy, oh

Can't believe Beyoncé's ripping off Lana again with the pivot to country...
 

PARTITION
In "Partition", the camera takes us inside a palatial estate that almost looks like it could have been the setting for the "Born to Die" video. See the exterior and interior below:

 
In the first of several scenes curiously similar to ones out of "National Anthem", we find Mrs. Carter seated at an immaculately set table, barely noticed by her rapper husband peering over his newspaper:

 
In her mind, she embarks on a sexual fantasy. Again she channels Rosalita:

 
Her rapper husband feels up her leg in a vehicle:

 
She puts on a show for him, donning a sequined flapper headdress like Lizzy wears in this photo:

 
Silhouette techniques like something out of "Summertime Sadness" are employed:

 
Beyoncé pole dances like Lana in Tropico over a sexy French spoken interlude like in "Carmen":

 
Like A$AP Rocky in "National Anthem", her rapper husband watches her performance voyeuristically, smoking a cigar:

 
 
JEALOUS
Beyoncé is a jealous, jealous, jealous gurrrrrl. This video begins in the same estate reminiscent of "Born to Die" as in "Partition". In one scene, the former Miss Knowles is draped over a pinball machine like Lana in "Ride":

 
In another we see a "tunnel lined with yellow lights":

 
 
ROCKET
Like "Blue Jeans", "Rocket" opens on a black & white close-up of a reflection of the artist's face in a ripple of water:

 
Later in each video we watch the artist submerge her face in water in slow motion:

 
 
MINE
Like Lana in the poster for Tropico, we find Beyoncé re-enacting Mary in the Pieta:

 
Also, is that another Shaun Ross cameo?
 
 
XO
In "XO", Beyoncé orchestrates perhaps the largest NYC land grab since Dutch settlers bought Manhattan Island from Native Americans for 24 bucks, stealing the famed amusement destination from the Queen of Coney Island herself:

 

 

 

 
 
***FLAWLESS & SUPERPOWER
Since I can't find any Lana plagiarism in either of these videos, I'm just gonna go ahead and assume they must be borrowed from the "Dark Paradise" and "Cola" videos that never materialized. @@Ultraviolence Watch these. One of them may be the closest thing you'll ever get to your precious "Cola" video.
 
 
HEAVEN
Here we have the biggest plot heist since Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds ripped off Gremlins. In "Heaven", Beyoncé portrays a woman mourning her deceased female bff in a series of flashbacks. Sound familiar? Of course it does. It's the plot of Lana's "Summertime Sadness" video. Not content to copycat one Lana video, "Heaven" filches from a few. A shot in a church mirrors the chapel in "Born to Die":

 
In a flashback, Beyoncé's girlfriend sprays alcohol at a campfire party echoing scenes in "Ride":

 
And we see her and her gal pal riding in a car like Lana & Jaime King:

 
She only barely tries to disguise her copying Lana's recitation of the Lord's Prayer in Tropico by saying it in Spanish. Oh, and speaking of Spanish, here's Rosalita yet again:

 
 
BLUE
Sure, there's another "tunnel lined with yellow lights":

 
The sequined bra is back:

 
And she evokes Lizzy's showgirl style:

 
But most saliently, this song is about Beyoncé's, uh, baby Blue love, the black baby daughter she had with a rapper. What a blatant "National Anthem" ripoff!

 
 
GROWN WOMAN
Last but not least, the video for "Grown Woman" consists of home footage of Beyoncé's childhood performances, a clear homage to Lana's DIY videos.
 
 
 

Beyoncé is certainly no stranger to accusations of plagiarism in her videos. Considering the large number of videos comprising her eponymous visual album, it would not be surprising if some of them were less than original. Did she copy Lana Del Rey?
 
Compare the album cover design and font to a Paradise box set booklet:

With Tropico, the "Ride" video, the "Blue Velvet" promo for H&M, and the "Song of Myself" promo for L'Officiel set to the intro to "Cola", Lana released some sort of video for almost every song on Paradise. One could argue that even the idea of releasing videos for the entire album is derivative. Now let's look at those videos.
 
 
PRETTY HURTS
Much like the opening bars of "Ride", the opening bars begin with the image of Beyoncé singing into a slender microphone, wearing a mostly white dress against sparkly blue stage curtains:

 
The song's themes—eating disorders and the dark side of being a beauty queen—are straight out of "Boarding School", "Brite Lites", and "Pin-Up Galore". Indeed, here we see Mrs. Carter in Ms. Grant's short-cut meth-haired beauty queen style complete with sash accessory:

 
Beyoncé also replicates Lana's arched back & cupped hand underwater poses from the "Blue Jeans" video:

 
She not only borrows Tropico co-star Shaun Ross, but doubles down on the African albinism by casting Diandra Forrest. To top it off, Beyoncé even has the audacity to lift Lizzy's iconic trademark sequined bra:

 
 
GHOST
In "Ghost", Sasha Fierce is not herself, assuming the identity of Lana's Rosalita alter ego from her "Song of Myself" video for L'Officiel:

 
 
HAUNTED
The "Countdown" singer's video for "Haunted" begins with a hauntingly familiar countdown straight outta one of Lizzy's DIY "Gramma" videos:

 
Then in true diva style, Beyoncé makes her male servant light her cigarette for her like a little bitch like Barrie at a Lana show:

 
The whole video imitates the imitated Lynchian style of Lana's "Blue Velvet" promo for H&M complete with the requisite Doppelgangers:

 
Yet it borrows scenes from "National Anthem" & Tropico. Black guys gambling? Check.

 
Strippers giving lapdances to white businessmen? Check.

 
People in whiteface? Check.

 
Bubbles? Check.

 
Originality? ...Anyone? Bueller?
 
 
DRUNK IN LOVE
In addition to lyrics that sound like a first draft of "Brite Lites" ("Flashing lights, flashing lights, you got me faded, faded, faded"), this intoxicating concoction's potency is poured from "National Anthem", where Lana grinds on another snifter-wielding rapper, A$AP Rocky:

 
 
BLOW
The cotton candy confection of the music masks Lana-like lyrics ("Every time I close my eyes", "I'ma let you be the boss of me", "Give me that daddy long stroke" and an interlude in French) in a video easily summarized as "pin-up girls at the roller derby". We also see a close-up of a disco ball a la her DIY "Yayo" video:

 
And Beyoncé perched on the hood of a car in a fuck-me pose like Lana in the "Born to Die" video:

 
In this case, we're lucky that "Blow" doesn't Soileau. Bradley sucks.
 
 
NO ANGEL
In an inversion of Lana's "angels forever" refrain, the "Halo" songstress proclaims, "You're no angel either, baby." She asks, "Tell me do you want to ride?" Like Lana in "Ride", Beyoncé is Queen of the Gas Station, knocking off Lana's hot long curly hair and cut-off jeans look. Unlike Lana, at least she's responsible enough to only be figuratively smokin' at the pump.

 
We see chicks on the back of motorcycles:

 
Tacky word bling:

 
And pole dancers making it rain:

 
 
YONCÉ
In "Yoncé", she continues the ghetto theme, banging around with her gang of ghetto girls like Lana in Tropico:

 
Who does Beyoncé think she is to appropriate all these signifiers of ghetto culture from gangsta Nancy Sinatra? Rather uppity if you ask me.
 
 
CONTINUED...

lIzZi'S oNe Of ThE lIzArD pEoPlE

Here's another reason why her bringing the cop to the Grammys was bad (and why she doomed herself to lose). From a 2009 Lake Placid area newspaper article about Lizzy (emphasis mine):
 

#Justice4Peggy

lol that the only way Lana gets on the Grammy Awards stage is Taylor Swift dragging her up with her

lol that the only way Lana gets on the Grammy Awards stage is Taylor Swift dragging her up with her

lol that the only way Lana gets on the Grammy Awards stage is Taylor Swift dragging her up with her

lol that the only way Lana gets on the Grammy Awards stage is Taylor Swift dragging her up with her

lol that the only way Lana gets on the Grammy Awards stage is Taylor Swift dragging her up with her

lol that the only way Lana gets on the Grammy Awards stage is Taylor Swift dragging her up with her

Now that some scoundrel has leaked the live "Boarding School" video ( ), I think it's worth taking another look at what we think the lyrics are. Obviously she changed up the lyrics in quite a few places, from small changes like "let's get down" and "go to boarding school" to more significant changes like "or that crystal methamphetamine", "municipal" (I think), and "get down like your tutor taught you to and prove it", which works so much better. But I think the live version sheds light on what some of the other lyrics actually are. Though I'm not exactly sure what all the lyrics are in the line before, I think it's pretty clear she says "you let his tattooed ass beat ya". I also don't think she ever says "cruel". I think it's always "cool".
 
And then there's the Pepsi. While I concede that the two syllables before "Pepsi" begin with a 'P' sound in the live version, I still think she says "vodka" on the studio version. (I had heard the live version when I first put forward that theory.) But I'm not convinced she says "P-P-Pepsi" on the live version either (even though that would sort of make sense coming a couple lines after "f-food cravings"). The vowel sounds on those syllables don't sound like schwas to me, but more like long os, especially the second syllable. Could she be saying a slang term for a drug she's mixing in her Pepsi?

There's been a lot of drama over comments in status updates about the line "I'm a fan of pro-ana nation." I think it's an interesting subject, and would like to discuss it here, if we can avoid the drama.
 
While I agree with people critical of the line that it would be problematic if Lana were advocating anorexia, and I see the potential for anorexics to latch onto this, but I don't think that's what she's doing here. To the contrary. She's no more advocating anorexia than she is advocating drugs, drinking, getting beaten by someone with tats on his ass, or fucking your teachers. She's painting a picture of how fucked up she or other girls were in boarding school. The song is written from that perspective, but portrays that perspective as something fucked up.

I was pretty sure Lizzy was the ex-girlfriend Arthur was referring to after seeing her anti-Gaga Facebook posts and since he later password protected this entry, but after hearing "So Legit" I'm absolutely convinced.

Here's another reason why her bringing the cop to the Grammys was bad (and why she doomed herself to lose). From a 2009 Lake Placid area newspaper article about Lizzy (emphasis mine):
 

#Justice4Peggy

Alice sent me a free copy of her album. Contrary to my expectations, she's listed in the credits as "Backing Vox: Lana Del Rey". That reminds me. I was going to post some scans but never got around to it.

Here's another reason why her bringing the cop to the Grammys was bad (and why she doomed herself to lose). From a 2009 Lake Placid area newspaper article about Lizzy (emphasis mine):
 

#Justice4Peggy

This question was asked in the Lanalysis thread, but I think discussion about it belongs here, since I believe the question should be what is A.G., not who. In addition to her album credits, she mentioned it a lot on Facebook. Sometimes it almost sounds like a club or music venue (AG = Arlene's Grocery?), other times more like a support group or religious organization (AG = Alcoholics Group or Assembly of God?). Screencaps in the spoiler: 
 
Any theories?

Fantastic work. What did you use? I have some other search terms I'd like to try. 

Yeah, he captioned two of his photos of her on Flickr "She's so hot" and "Good chickie, that one." 

You can see the blog post here. Apparently Trendrr bought Wiredset. 
If you search my Early Shows subsection for "Ghuneim" you'll get several hits. One of Ghuneim's Twitter accounts is @mediaeater. A user account called "mdg" (likely Ghuneim's initials) that links to mediaeater.com posted info about her December 2, 2008 National Underground show on BrooklynVegan. Also, those shitty cell phone videos of her Mercury Lounge show were originally posted on Qik by a user named "mediaeater". So that's all Mark Ghuneim.
 

Hmm... I don't have any early show dates around this time. 

Nah, Chuck got there first:
 
Or maybe that crazy-sounding girl that made accusations about Lana and Shiny Toy Guns.
 
Is there any significance to the people who wrote the last two tweets I quoted or are they just random people that saw her? Are we even sure they're about the right Lizzy Grant? As I mentioned, I don't know of any gigs Lana had right before the first tweet, and Lana was still in the UK when the "hater"-- who's a comedian from Detroit-- wrote the second tweet.

Do we have any indication who made the cut or why?
What exactly is the history/provenance of these tracks?
How do we know they're from 2006?

GODS & MONSTERS
 
Living in the garden of Evil
Looking to get fucked hard
 
'Nuff said.

As a Midwesterner accustomed to straight flat freeways, I never batted an eye at the idea of driving 100 mph. But after driving several hours down the California coast on vacation recently, this is pure fantasy. Highway 1 is too winding to drive anywhere near that fast.