Thunder Revenant

And now that's exactly what she does on Instagram rn - I can't.

Ok, so the core problem about ADIAML is that everything - the singles, the visuals, it's (allegedly) overall topic - SCREAMS motion, exciting production, fast tracks, lyrics about sociopolitics. But then halfway through, it just turns into a bunch of "the usual Marina business" ballads about breakups and self-acceptance. It's not that the songs are bad, it's just that they feel out of place on an album that put all of it's focus on 5 tracks that are not representative of the experience you get when listening to it. And now she's doubling down on that with the deluxe tracks. Happy Loner is a cute song, but it's basically Solitaire 2.0. with more on-the-nose-lyrics and does nothing to compliment the album. It's just another (solid) track for the long-tail. Kinda disappointing. Apart from that - were her "relateable" lyrics always that cringy? I'm not sure whether her songwriting changed or if it's just about me not being in my teens anymore but edgy-tkes like "Waking up late, I feel demotivated, everything's wrong, guess my thoughts escalated. When I'm alone, things are under control, when I'm alone, I can turn off the world. I try to escape, but I can't lose my mind- that's why I can live a cOnVenTiOnAl LiFe" or "They don't understand, why I like being alone. I don't wanna be so accessible, emotionally I'm on the edge of a knife. That's how I learn, that's how I learn to SURVIVE!!11!1!" are just so f*cking pretentious and cringeworthy. It's the song equivalent to people who constantly share "introverts are like this"-memes on social media, acting like preferring to stay inside and read instead of going to a party makes them some sort of special, unique and mysterious person.

An EP announcement for something that will come out in 3 months and will feature a remix of OMG

Imo even most of the better songs on CotCC - the title track, DBJAG, TJF, WAH, Yosemite - pale in comparison to even weaker tracks on other albums. The only big exception is White Dress. The rest of the tracklist is filler quality at best. I would agree with the "harder to connect" part if there was some coherent quality in it. For the first 6 songs, it has the potential to become an "acquired taste" kinda thing, but then the second half is just so extremely bleak, bland and lifeless that by the end of For Free, I really feel like that album sucked any bit of energy out of my body.

You mean - the album that reaks of "I really don't know what to do with these songs", including her most bland and bleak soundscape and career "highlights" like Not All Who Wander Have To Make A Hollow Song About It, Let Me Love You Like A Woman What's This Even Supposed To Mean and Dance Till I Can't Think Of Names To Drop Anymore is better than the carefully crafted, perfectly curated piece of art that is Blue Banisters?

for real?

Yeah I also feel like the album's biggest problem is how it starts out like a power stomper, with bubbly production and lyrics about social topics and then just kinda disgresses into a bunch of break-up ballads. While Pandora's Box, Flowers and Goodbye are nice songs and textbook examples of Marinas signature writing, I would have preferred her to actually stick with the route she seemingly wanted to take for this album - both sonically and thematically. And it seems like the Deluxe will just double down on this problem with songs like Happy Loner - which is something I'm really excited to hear but is also another step away from the first half ofthe album and into Marina's comfort zone. Aaaw ... you really think you showed me, don't you?

Even though I was a bit sad that UV lacked the Hollywood-glam feeling of BtD, I remember being EXTREMELY excited and happy about this transition. It was everything I needed back then

Why do y'all feel the need to bump that thead with the 101st edition of album rankings right now? Everytime I see this thread on the front page, I think there are some news about the Deluxe and then it's just some of you fighting whether EH is her best or worst album ever 💀

Around the very same time I discovered her in general. When VG was released to german radio stations, I was extremely impressed an intrigued. The first songs I found on YT when looking her up were Lolita (the orchestral demo version) and Kinda Outta Luck (which was actually used in a TV commercial of a big german tv-station back then). It did not take long to find AKA (even back then it was mentioned in almost every article talking about her rise to fame), and I think that I also regularly listened to the Diet Mountain Dew demo, You Can Be The Boss and She's Not Me before BtD dropped. Other unreleased tracks that had a firm place on my MP3-player during my early fandom days were Put The Radio On, Hundred Dollar Bill and Heavy Hitter, all of which still reside among my favourite Lana unreleased

Blue Banisters actually ages like good wine. While I was realyl excited about it when it came out, I was unsure whether I'd like it on the long run. But right now, I reeeeally enjoy listening to it

I was referring to the broader public

I hope those bonus tracks aren't just MORE slow ballads

I kinda disagree. On the one hand CoCC was a safe game, she did not really stray away too much from NFRs sound but also didn't get too same-ish either. I doubt that the album would have been acclaimed if it came out after LFL or HM. Apart from all the fandom-whales pushing it's commercial performance by buying 301 vinyl versions, I feel like most people outsie the core fandom were prompted to buy/order CoCC since they liked NFR a lot and read positive things about it. And in the end, there was nearly as much long lasting hype and acclaim around CoCC than there was for NFR. Unrelated to my personal dislike for that album, I seriously think CoCC's success was more of an NFR-afterglow and less of an original source of acclaim.

I can actually see her doing BB, knowing that she also did HIADT. However, I agree that we probably won't hear Text Book. I kinda doubt she will do IFLDWM, I feel like that's out of her comfort zone. But yeah, Arcadia, Beautiful and possibly Violets For Roses are tracks she could very likely perform, same for Cherry Blossom, Living Legend and Sweet Carolina.

And I'm sure noone would have cared for CoCC if it wasn't for NFR

The way she heavily downgraded both BAR and Thunder when she reowrked them kinda makes me wish that IF she includes another older song in future projects, it will just remain unchanged like Living Legend, NOTG, Cherry Blossom and Yosemite. However, finalized versions of Fine China and Yes To Heaven would be nice. The good sisters waited for such a long time and are definitly due for an official release. And - since it's such an old tune - a rework of Trash Magic would be cool as hell. Maybe not even with the same lyrics but using the wonderful melodies and vocal deliveries

Wasn't the melody kinda used for Groupie Love?

Yeah I feel you. Her message about accepting- and standing up for yourself was something that drew me towards her in the beginning, but lately it's just turned into her appearing to be completely full of herself - not even talking about her Elon-Musk-level delusionism about technical progress and green-washed-capitalism. The music still slaps though

So, she seemingly launched a new era. After all of those wonderfully produced Homunculus short-movies aviable only for a limited time and the Oh My God-Remix, she seemingly focusses on an android alter ego called Dahlia now. First track "The Great Hope Design" is out now. It's pretty impressing, mixing up her "usual formula" with some new twists.

It's so funny that if commercial best-of-albums were still made, a LDR one would include mostly her most famous singles and a few promo singles that either performed well or were released as a single to promote its respective album - Video Games, Blue Jeans, Born To Die, Summertime Sadness, Young & Beautiful, Ride, West Coast, Brooklyn Baby, High By The Beach, Love, Lust For Live, Mariners Appartment Complex, Venice Bitch, Hope Is A Dangerous Thing, Doin Time, LMLYLAW, CoCC, Blue Banisters, Arcadia - and then SUDDENDLY there'd be the screaming masterpiece that is Dealer, which only made it's way on the compilation because streaming (rightfully) made it become a big thing

Can't believe that lackluster and uninspired epitome of boredom CoCC ends up on all the "Best Albums of 2021" lists, when the artistic masterpiece that is Blue Banisters is sitting RIGHT THERE

Tried to give it another chance, but this is just such a sorry collection of "heard-before"s. Everything that is not a 21 or 25 rehash sounds like it's an outtake from Duffy's Rockferry. And then there are those few tracks like Oh My God that sound straight out of 2012, when mainstream pop rediscovered sad songs. It's solid but it's definitly not worht all the limelight and praise it gets. At this point, I seriously doubt most people actually listen to her music, they just hype it for the sake of it since the GP decided that "ADELE IS GREAT!" at some point.

I recently fell in love with Kira Skov's music, and a lot of her songs really make me crave for a Lana album with this kind of gritty and artistic style. This would be a great option for Lana to stick with the "lyrics upfront" kinda style she pursuied since NFR/CoCC without everything being focussed on subtle piano instrumentals

Yeah dito. I like her new approach but I could see it become pretty stale on the long run. I don't expect her to go back to a fully set BtD/Paradise/LfL kinda sound, but something in the vein of UV/HM would be nice to have again. She's still sneaking in moments like that, like on The Greatest, but 'd love a full album that's a bit more focussed on the sonical plane again