necessary sacrifice

The more I think about the possibilities of her incorporating haunting guitars again, I think she should really try engulfing this album in open tunings. Joni Mitchell used open tunings most of the time, so did the Rolling Stones, as well as lots of 60s jazz and folk musician often used them too and we know she digs all that music. She could be revisiting atmospheric guitars like those heavily employed on many songs on AKA and UV but at the same time be doing something completely new and different for her. If she and Jack are feeling extra creative, they could even fiddle around with guitars and make up there own tunings and chords that don’t follow any rules like Joni Mitchell used to do. Lana could probably even play them herself if she tried since you don’t really need much technical skill to make up your own rules on the guitar.

It might sound stupid, but I’d love to see Lana appear on Sabrina. It has that retro meets modern aesthetic and the soundtrack is full of Lana’s inspirations and it’s literally about witches. I’d even be here for her to just do a song for an episode. I’d love seeing her as a witch though, good or evil.

Omg no. I dont really like Summer Bummer. It's mostly just a background song when you're cleaning the room or driving and block out the traffic.

Something similar to LFL title track or SOTW would be rad!! SOTW is soo good.. it's a blend of LFL with a little bit UV.

Personally I feel her voice shines best when does songs like NFR or Change or Old Money(u can almost feel the strain in her voice due to the emotions). ... summer bummer is a big bonobo.

Tbh I don’t think she meant like Summer Bummer. That’s the extreme end of hip hop meets 60s girl group. She probably meant similar to songs like LFL, WM, GL, GBA, and GF. Those are the most Shangri-La’s sounding from LFL, and SOTW had a similar sound. I almost wonder if SOTW was originally gonna be on NFR now. You can even feel Shangri-La’s vibes in HIAB and TNBAR and we know those songs were early in the NFR process. Seems like NFR was almost a more organic and focused version of LFL. I hope she revisits some of the songs she scrapped that possibly have that sound for the next album. Imagine an album of songs like HIAB and SOTW? A dream!

She’ll be going to Chicago and later Texas according to a fan who met her yesterday at a radio station in Portland. I think this is legit since he has multiple pictures and videos of meeting her. https://twitter.com/jakelindner/status/1180028379606609925?s=21

If she can go to Chicago, she can come to Ontario/Quebec. I sure hope this means she’s adding east coast dates (that include Canada, otherwise idc)

I’m really hoping for the brill building meets haunting acoustic sound like Laura Nyro now. (I know I change my mind on this constantly, it’s just what I do). I really think it’d be a logical next step after NFR and would be the “HM 2.0” fans seem to be praying for.

Sorry I might sound dumb. But I'm confused.

Next album in the same sonic as NFR or the 60s Shangri La LFL type?

Or did she mean hip hop....?

 

Also does someone remember the interview where she said there were alot of bombastic 80s songs that she felt would be better on Jack's/Jesse's album so she didnt include them on NFR!?

I think she meant a blend of 60s girl group sounds (like the Shangri-Las) and hip hop, sorta like actually most of the LFL album. Like Summer Bummer is the best example of a more hip hop take on the Shangri-Las, which isn’t the direction I would hope for but it could be interesting. If she meant just hip hop beats or something attached to The Shangri-Las sound, then she already did that with almost every song on LFL so it’s confusing that she was gonna do that again. Maybe her original goal was a more cohesive version of LFL since lots of fans didn’t appreciate it and she liked the sound. I would love to hear some of these eventually though because SOTW definitely had a Shangri-Las sound so I know Jack can pull it off (possibly better than Rick, sorry Rick). I’m also very interested to hear the 80s sounding stuff someday because that’s what I originally expected when I heard she was working with Jack.

 

If her next album is more acoustic stuff, it would be cool though if she blended in a bit of the 60s girl group sound into it too kinda like Laura Nyro or Carole King would do. I feel like an album like that would be as revered as honeymoon by the fans.

But if the crowd is being too loud, how hard can it be to kindly ask them to calm down so you can hear yourself better? Honestly.

And how would the audience react if she told them to be quiet though? They probably wouldn’t listen (would they even hear her over their own screams?) and everyone on lanaboards would be complaining about how rude she is for daring to stand up to them.

 

This is what Lana really needs to do though:

https://youtu.be/WtyGupKbpfY

it's not the opera fam.

 

you can sing along with Lana. it's what I did and i couldn't even hear myself.

Well luckily you weren’t the one expected to perform the songs. If an artist can’t hear what they’re singing or even focus on it because the audience is too rowdy, how are they expected to continue? She’s a human being, not a robot. She has limitations. She also has feelings. Just because you paid money doesn’t mean you can act however you want. Singing along is fine but her fans don’t even give her a chance to start the song on her own. Plus it’s rude to sing along to an a cappella song. She doesn’t have anything keeping her in place and just hears hundreds of people shouting the lyrics at different times. You guys can sing it yourself anyway, you don’t need her to sing it. And what difference does it make if you can’t hear her? That’s why the Beatles stopped performing altogether. Their fans were loud and disrespectful and half the time they were all playing different songs because they couldn’t hear each other. And the fans never noticed because they couldn’t hear the band. They felt like people came just to scream and they didn’t see the point of even performing anymore if that was what they had to deal with.

Of course she's nice to fans usually etc no one is saying otherwise, but I just find it kind of rude to be singing The Greatest because the fans requested it and when the chorus starts you just stop and be like "well fuck it"

The audience was being loud and disrespectful. In the videos, you can see they keep distracting her and she’s having a hard time focusing on the lyrics because of it. She probably just thought what’s the point if they’re not going to even listen to her sing it? They can do karaoke anytime they want. But that was their chance to listen to her sing the song herself and they took it for granted.

Poor Lana probably couldn’t even hear herself over all the fans and they’re mad at her for not finishing the song? She clearly couldn’t focus with everyone screaming the lyrics back at her. She should at least get to start the song alone. The chorus is the logical time for the audience to join in, the respectful time to join in. I’m proud of Lana for ending the song like that. That’s exactly what Joni would’ve done.

 

If you ever watch the Isle of Wight festival from 1970, Joni scolds the audience when they’re being too loud (tells them they’re acting like tourists) and she can’t focus or hear herself. And guess what? The audience sat down and shut up because they wanted to hear her perform. She also gets over playing Chelsea Morning at one point and stops after the first verse and starts another song. The audience were loud and rowdy and disrespectful so she had no obligations to be their obedient little songbird.

 

I’m glad Lana’s taking a page out of her book. Hopefully she eventually has the guts to full on chastise the audience for their behaviour just like Joni (Lana’s still a little too polite and submissive towards her audience at this point). Anyway, good for her! A large portion of fans really need to learn some concert etiquette and I’m here for her being passive aggressive to them until then. You want a song? Be polite.

so.. what color(s) do y'all think the vinyl's gonna be?

I almost expect it to be pretty much any colour except white if she keeps the name. She usually likes things a little contrary to what people expect.

Between this and the "For Free" cover, man, Ann Powers really got in her head with that backhanded comparison to Joni Mitchell. Living "for free" in there.

Lana’s been on a major Joni kick since before that article though. She references her work constantly on this album and periodically throughout her other albums. For years she’s been hinting she’s a devout Joni fan (any Joni fan could’ve put the clues together years ago), so no, I don’t think she’s focusing on Joni right now because she’s hung up on Ann Powers’ review. (Although, I wouldn’t doubt she came across the review initially and chose to read it because of the Joni Mitchell comparisons)

“your beloved Joni and Stevie” omg they thought they were interviewing me haha

 

Also I’m so exhausted for her having to constantly clear up that she doesn’t have a persona. You’d think people would get it through their heads by now.

Ok so I was a little disappointed with the full version of Happiness is a Butterfly. It was the song I was most excited for with the release of the album. The chorus is just insanely gorgeous. However, the verses don’t seem to fit with it as well. I’m always caught off guard when the chorus starts. It’s like 2 songs were morphed into one. It doesn’t flow smoothly imo. Does anyone else feel the same or is it just me?

 

Edit: honestly it sounds kinda like 3 songs morphed into one. 1) the verses 2) the chorus (“happiness is a butterfly”) and 3) the post-chorus (“I said don’t be a jerk”). The chorus and post-chorus flow better together than the verses and choruses, but they each could be parts of a separate song imo.

The Beatles have a song called A Day in the Life that has been joked about being “at least three great songs” because it sounds like, well, three songs mashed together. We should start saying that about Happiness is a Butterfly. HIAB truly is “at least three great songs” as well.

I think in a way, both are very introspective in different ways. As a whole, I feel like Sirens is more consistently introspective, but NFR has some songs that are a waaaay more introspective than anything she’s done before like HIADTFAWLMTH-BIHI or MAC. In a way, Sirens is probably technically more introspective since she had no one helping her out with the songwriting so it all came from only her. But even on Sirens, she seemed to be holding back a bit from getting too deep below the surface, which is understandable. I do think she has improved her craft over the years, so I find she’s able to express her experiences in better words now. With every album she seems to be more comfortable showing us the inner workings of her mind. In the end, I’m probably gonna go with NFR because she seems to be ready to really face her demons with more accountability than ever before, even if she has more moments of sarcastic fun on NFR than on Sirens.

 

(Side comment: If she really does ever release an official unreleased compilation, I hope she includes some Sirens era songs or even just officially releases Sirens instead since it technically covers the criteria anyway)

For Free (Joni Mitchell Cover)

 

https://youtu.be/ssyMwsc8rhc

Lana was born to sing this song. Her voice and emotion are perfect for it. I’d love for her to do a whole tribute performance of Joni Mitchell songs someday. She has the exact perfect vocal register for Joni’s compositions, plus lots of their songs have similar themes and attitudes. They really are two of kind

I wonder if she’ll be keeping For Free on the setlist for the rest of the tour or if it was specifically for the Canadian show. She might do a different cover at each stop.

 

(Hopefully if she adds east coast Canada dates later on, she performs a Joni song again. This is so my niche!)

Penguins

Lately I’ve been unable to stop thinking about what White Hot Forever will be like, not just in sound. I’m so excited to find out her direction for this project. I wonder what the album cover will be like and what the song titles will be like and what the lyrical themes will be. She always has a very clear vision for her albums so I can’t wait to see it materialize.

Imagine WHF ends up being kind of in the vein of SOTW production and genre wise. So like brill building-esque with heavy reverb, kind of like a Jack take on UV-meets-LFL. Just came to mind since they probably started working on the new album around the time they worked on that song.

 

The most exciting part about knowing nothing about this album is all the possibilities.

I don’t get the complaint that the sound is sometimes too loud or too quiet. Most music is like that. It’s an effect used on purpose. Joni Mitchell did this all the time, and yes, it was on purpose. The Beatles often did this in their later years too. It’s supposed to add emphasis. I get so jazzed whenever the vocals switch takes like heck yes here we go! It adds anticipation on repeat listens. Lana probably just wanted to try this effect, and it works so well with her voice too. I’m sure you guys will get used to it and learn to love it too!