sjatib

Right. We're not talking about which project or song is objectively better, but our own personal impressions of NFR as a whole, sometimes in relation to her recent past.
 
Not only did she say she was burned out, but she said, in regard to the glamour girls and debutants in the Slim Aarons' book, "I'm not that," and mentions how hard it was for them to live up to some impossible social standard of beauty and decorum. Surely that is a reflection on her initial LDR persona, and why she's now presenting herself less glamorously unless she's at a red carpet event or something similar? Presenting herself perhaps as realistically as possible, as close to her real, daily self? I don't like the album cover at all, but for overall aesthetic reasons only. I like the interior shot of her standing against the sail very much. 

I agree with most of what is said here... but another thing to take into account is what Lana herself has said about her last two albums.  When promoting Lust for Life she said she made it "for the fans"... as in, she didn't make it for herself as had always been the case with her previous work.  I think that was a clear line drawn in the sand.  Prior to Lust for Life, I believe she was making the music she was truly inspired to make.  And now with this latest one, she's mentioned in every interview that when Jack Antonoff first approached her she wasn't in a writing mood, and had no desire to make an album.  Of course, she also says that "his chords" got her writing again immediately... but it's not hard to read between the lines that these last two albums are not albums that she went into with the same passion or inspiration as her earlier albums.  And I think most discerning fans, who have followed her career since the beginning, can tell.

We were talking about her identity and how being on the cultural industry surely is a huge challenge when it comes to keep a solid vision on one's own creation. Lana herself said to maybe be "burned out after all" on The Greatest, where she discusses herself this topic. The intention was to bring the matter to discussion, cause it's a very interesting one, not to made ethical judgments about Lana or her output. Even if I found this last album less interesting than her previous ones for most of it, I wouldn't say it's worse, cause there's no way to objetctively approach to it, just giving my views on it. 

Couldn't agree more with you about the identity thing. It's a very fucked off topic when it comes to any person, as it's actually nothing but some kind of unstable cultural construction, and it has become more and more questioned for everyone with the historical development of last century, I'd say. Being an artist, when all your life oscilates towards your own identity and vision of the world, the accusations of inauthenticism are always levitating around you, and the dynamics of the cultural industry -more even being a woman- have to burn you on that side very hardly. The way Lana has played with this stuff all the time on her own favour is what I think that made her and her output such incredibly interesting. Let's hope she's not actually that "burned out after all" and will be able to bring amazing art for many years, as I'm sure she will. Maybe NFR is kind of an inflection point in her artistic development, as it shows as a big rupture with what came before it.

Lana's lyricism is amazsing 

We were talking about her identity and how being on the cultural industry surely is a huge challenge when it comes to keep a solid vision on one's own creation. Lana herself said to maybe be "burned out after all" on The Greatest, where she discusses herself this topic. The intention was to bring the matter to discussion, cause it's a very interesting one, not to made ethical judgments about Lana or her output. Even if I found this last album less interesting than her previous ones for most of it, I wouldn't say it's worse, cause there's no way to objetctively approach to it, just giving my views on it. 

Feeling in a similar way about it. Even worse. Last night a friend of mine and me were wondering about how the hell the album has gotten the HUGE acclaim that the media are giving it. It's not a bad album, but it has a lot of obvious flaws, a composition and songwriting thats quite weak in many of its songs (can't understand how Pitchfork has said that she's "the best next american songwriter", really can't, even if I love her work as I do), a production that has evident and almost begginer kind of failures... Maybe I'll feel different about it in some years, but now I'll save the highlights it has -mostly the first half of the album, and then Bartender and Happiness, from my perspective - and go to listen other things. I don't get the point on keeping the hype, and yes, she's behaving in a very weird way (not necessarily in a good one), and mostly on the artistic side, which is the only one I care about when it comes to her music.

okay im all for us having different opinions but lets not speak on Lana's music as if its factually worse than it was 10 years ago. it's just your opinions that the songs aren't as good or that she's burned out. if it were objectively true, im pretty sure the record wouldn't be receiving such wide acclaim from both critics and fans. if you dislike it, that's fine. totally here for that for you. but, to claim anything about her music is factually inauthentic or undynamic is just not true.

I agree as well, though I gave NFR as a whole only a 'C' after two days, and I still feel that way. I lost interest in it immediately.
 
C'mon--it's not a folk record. That's an absurd description. I think I see what she thought she was accomplishing, especially with the title track and the album as a whole, but she failed at that. No one, ever, in the years to come, is going to describe NFR as 'Lana's folk record.' 
 
There are a few great and very good songs, but also a lot of tepid, undynamic material that just sort of sits there and goes in circles. 'Hope' is a powerful song in many ways--but is it what more than a handful want from LDR? Except for a few hundred Stans, I don't think so. It's not what I want from her. To me, it's like her 'Sister Morphine,' Marianne Faithfull's failed commercial attempt at an 'artistic' song that came at the end of her 60s pop career. 
 
Like so many pop stars before her, especially female pop stars, from Marianne Faithfull to Joni Mitchell and Madonna and on, I think LDR started out happily producing songs with a broad range, from the BTD title track (which I love) to 'Radio' and 'National Anthem,' but then forces in the industry, including critics, male pop stars and female competitors, snidely said, 'Look at her--another disposable pretty girl pop tart, blindly enjoying her fifteen minutes of fame, thinking she's all that," and when those words reached LDR's ears, instantly she did the same thing that Faithfull, Mitchell, the Wilson sisters from Heart, Madonna and others have done: she decided that she will prove to the world that she's an artiste--not a silly flash in the pan--and with a vengeance! 
 
And so the playful, seductive LDR of 'Cola,' 'American,' 'Summertime Sadness' and 'Diet Mountain Dew' vanished, and the 'serious,' spooky LDR of 'Money, Power, Glory' and 'Ultraviolence' appeared. And that's led us right to NFR, after a detour through some of the songs on LFL, which were weak attempts to create commercial pop songs again. Do I think she's sure of the road she's on, and has been sure? No. I think she's had nothing but anxiety about her public persona, who she is as an artist and where she's going since releasing 'Paradise.' 
 
But this is certainly what can happen when, within 12 years, you adopt the name and think of yourself as Elizabeth Woolrich Grant, Sparkle Jump Rope Queen, May Jailer, Lana Del Ray, Lana Del Rey and God only knows what else. 
 
I'm not blaming her for anything--I'm saying this is what can happen when you mess around with your identity and persona. We see actors reporting it all the time--Joaquin Phoenix just said it,again, like Heath Ledger before him--that playing the Joker for a few months really messed with his mind. 

Feeling in a similar way about it. Even worse. Last night a friend of mine and me were wondering about how the hell the album has gotten the HUGE acclaim that the media are giving it. It's not a bad album, but it has a lot of obvious flaws, a composition and songwriting thats quite weak in many of its songs (can't understand how Pitchfork has said that she's "the best next american songwriter", really can't, even if I love her work as I do), a production that has evident and almost begginer kind of failures... Maybe I'll feel different about it in some years, but now I'll save the highlights it has -mostly the first half of the album, and then Bartender and Happiness, from my perspective - and go to listen other things. I don't get the point on keeping the hype, and yes, she's behaving in a very weird way (not necessarily in a good one), and mostly on the artistic side, which is the only one I care about when it comes to her music.

Feeling in a similar way about it. Even worse. Last night a friend of mine and me were wondering about how the hell the album has gotten the HUGE acclaim that the media are giving it. It's not a bad album, but it has a lot of obvious flaws, a composition and songwriting thats quite weak in many of its songs (can't understand how Pitchfork has said that she's "the best next american songwriter", really can't, even if I love her work as I do), a production that has evident and almost begginer kind of failures... Maybe I'll feel different about it in some years, but now I'll save the highlights it has -mostly the first half of the album, and then Bartender and Happiness, from my perspective - and go to listen other things. I don't get the point on keeping the hype, and yes, she's behaving in a very weird way (not necessarily in a good one), and mostly on the artistic side, which is the only one I care about when it comes to her music.

M

WHF to have this sound
https://youtu.be/2WxV6UfpOSA

nvm

I have one album per artist as a rule, otherwise it'd be stupid lol
 
1 hounds of love kate bush
2 the velvet underground and nico the velvet underground
3 norman fucking rockwell! lana del rey
4 violator depeche mode
5 after the gold rush neil young
6 in the court of the crimson king king crimson
7 faith george michael
8 the rocky horror picture show richard o'brien
9 my beautiful dark twisted fantasy kanye west
10 closer joy division
 
honorable mentions to:
1990 daniel johnston
animals pink floyd
​blackstar david bowie
blood on the tracks bob dylan
days of future passed the moody blues
good kid, m.A.A.d city kendrick lamar
illmatic nas
the infamous mobb deep
in the aeroplane over the sea neutral milk hotel
laughing stock talk talk
led zeppelin iv led zeppelin
nevermind nirvana
nina simone sings the blues nina simone
pet sounds the beach boys
queen of denmark john grant
sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band the beatles
​songs of leonard cohen leonard cohen
souvlaki slow dive
 
I kinda cheated lol

Born to Die: Paradise Edition - Lana Del Rey Ultraviolence - Lana Del Rey Grace - Jeff Buckley Goodbye and Hello - Tim Buckley Powertrip - Monster Magnet Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins The Fame Monster - Lady Gaga The Pale Emperor - Marilyn Manson Love - The Cult Live Through This - Hole  
 

Cool thread idea!

No order:
Ultraviolence - Lana Del Rey
Teen Dream - Beach House
Among My Swan - Mazzy Star
OK Computer - Radiohead
Nina Simone Sings the Blues - Nina Simone
Butterfly - Mariah Carey
One in a Million - Aaliyah
If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears - Mamas and Papas
Lost in a Dream - The War on Drugs
Tusk - Fleetwood Mac

I’m forgetting a lot I already know

I believe music can tell you a lot about that person. So Idk if there was or is anything like this on this forum, but I would love to get to know all of you through your music!! So share your top 10 albums of all time and feel free to discuss them!
 
Mine are definitely
 
01. UltraBIBLE - Lana Del Rey
02. Tusk - Fleetwood Mac
03. I. - Cigarettes After Sex
04. Animals - Pink Floyd
05. Pure Heroine - Lorde
06. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpkins
07. Number 1 Angel - Charli XCX
08. Magdalene - FKA twigs
09. The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
10. Pang! - Caroline Polachek
 
Honorable Mentions
 
 
 
 
What about you?

Cinnamun. in mi dentist's occupation 

It sounds as when some 8 year old asks "why they don't do more money so no one's poor?"
 
Anyway, she's improved miles from her beginnings when surely she didn't even wonder about some subjects, or not in a political frame, at least. And it's always good that people with such a big media influence as hers propose sociopolitical conflictive topics for discussion, even if from such a basic approach.
 
I saw somewhere it was supposed to air on september 9th

What in the Coachella is this
 
https://twitter.com/musicnewsfact/status/1169992758666203136

Imagine a cover of Phil Collins 'In The Air Tonight' on this album.
She could make that song sound hot and seductive and make me cry and scream at the same time.
And the production in that song is not too far from what more I'd expect from her

Just found this on the web and sure you'll enjoy
 

 
-best part of it is the flying Duke's belt-

I think all of the song (NFR) has a lot from Fiona. In particular, from Never is a promise and Love ridden. But it feels for me more as an homage than as any other dirty thing (plagiarism),

I guess you'll have to laugh for whole a three-part video, then
 
I'd say she's just pretending... Why if not should Chuck obviously avoid to film her hands while she plays?