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daphnedinkley

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Posts posted by daphnedinkley

  1. Posted

    I'm honestly not sure where the idea that anybody criticising the production, mixing and mastering of NFR wants Lana to make polished pop (a la BTD) comes from.  :um:

     

    Personally Ultraviolence is my favourite Lana album, so believe me when I say I love the raw, chaotic, grunge/rock/blues/jazz-hybrid sound that Lana's had before. NFR could potentially be my second favourite album, because I love what it has to offer: heartbreaking and complex lyricism (Hope), trippy surf-inspired guitars (MAC, Venice Bitch), an increased sense of instrumentation compared to LFL, and so on. All of these things add to the appeal of NFR.

     

    However, what I (and I assume other people) have a problem with on NFR is that these elements (barring the lyricism which producers don't have any control over) are not taken full advantage of. I don't want these elements gone and replaced by hip-hop beats and BTD strings and synths; I (we?) want more of them. Take the chorus of MAC, one of my favourite songs, as an example: there's very little bass when the chorus kicks in, which squanders the almost anthemic feel of the track; the drums don't quite have a kick to them; on streaming services the chorus is quite scratchy and almost metallic-sounding when played at a loud volume (which is the only way to get any semblance of the rousing vibe the song intends to inspire), as if the volume of all the instruments and layers weren't balanced properly and everything is happening at the same volume, a sure-fire way to make the song sound a little messy when played loud.

     

    Compare this to West Coast, for example: those drums HIT, the layering of the instruments is masterfully done, the chorus is hazy and fuzzy and trippy but not at the expense of the production value because it feels like you hear exactly what you're supposed to.

     

    Look at How To Disappear - I like the song, but when the line "But I love that man like nobody can" kicks in, Lana's vocal track randomly jumps a lot louder on the track, probably to compensate for the bells being added so that they don't drown out Lana's voice. This, however, is incredibly jarring and definitely noticeable, and I assume a rather amateur way to go about balancing out vocals and instruments. In fact, a lot of people take issue with the bells on the song overall, but if they were done a little more tastefully instead of just being slapped on top of the instrumental then perhaps people wouldn't feel this way - I mean, everybody loves the guitar on Happiness is a Butterfly because it's subtle and artfully done. I'd also like to use Sad Girl as an example - the Spanish guitar that's added to the second verse isn't subtle but it's not exactly in-your-face either; it adds to the track without messing up the overall vibe and making the song messier than it has to be, it's perfectly blended, it sinks into the background that was already established but it's noticeable enough to considerably elevate the track and give you something to look forward to each time you listen.

     

    It's these little production "errors" that I believe people have a problem with.

     

    Cruel World is an example of a noisy, chaotic track that's beloved by the fanbase. Not everyone wants Lana to be some polished pop princess; they just want to feel as though her songs are treated with the care they deserve.

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  6. Posted

    California is a great song but i wished it had more of a climax and added bigger production for the chorus, they could've added some really crazy guitars or something to match the vocals. It comes off almost demo like

     

    I think this is exactly my problem with the track and why I can't love it like everyone else does - the messy raw vocal could work, but the song needs more of a grunge vibe to really pull it off and make the song special, and like you said with the crazy guitars that could've given an UV-esque vibe.

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  11. Posted

    Boy oh boy do I have a response to this topic  :hooker: Since this will probably be quite long I'll try to format it appropriately and not just have it as a huge wall of text!

     

    Oh Say Can You See

    I know the AKA album gets a lot of love in general, but I've seen a lot of people dismiss this track as useless and filler - I won't have it! Good lord, this song is divine. It's folk meets early Lana meets a Halloween edition of the Animal Crossing soundtrack. I know that's a weird and strangely specific mixture of references, but that's the only way I can describe it. It's so peaceful but so deeply melancholic and longing; The nighttime is almost ours. I can't even articulate what this song makes me feel. It's too magical to listen to on a regular basis, but it holds such a special place in my heart and I wish more people connected with this song the way I do. It's a beautiful, sad, quiet night translated into a 4-minute track.

     

    Come When You Call Me America

    Kind of like Oh Say Can You See, this song has a unique feel to it. It's one of Lana's weirder tracks - it's light and airy but jazzy and trip-hop-esque. It reminds me of a grown-up version of something from the Nights: Journey of Dreams soundtrack (yes, as you can tell, I'm big on video game soundtracks hahaha). It sounds the way silk feels. Maybe this song doesn't exactly count as underrated because it does have somewhat of a niche appeal, but I'm bringing it up because it's very beautiful, a little surreal and definitely one of my favourites that I never ever see mentioned!

     

    Hope Is A Dangerous Thing

    I'm forever seeing this at the bottom of people's NFR rankings and I guess I understand why - it's sparse, a pure piano ballad, pretty long and definitely quite a downer. Still, I feel that a lot of fans under-appreciate the lyrical power of this song; it's some of Lana's best writing to date. Lana has a lot of great lyrics but Hope is her at her most complex and most raw; there's something really special about a song that's so verbose yet still so raw and open and vulnerable. I probably sound super pretentious so pls feel free to call me a dickhead if it's appropriate  :creep: but lines like "Spilling my guts with the Bowery bums is the only love I've ever known" and "Shaking my ass is the only thing that's got this black narcissist off my back" really capture the loneliness and confusion of alcohol addiction for me (I've been an alcoholic for 4 years); "Hello, it's the most famous woman you know on the iPad / Calling from beyond the grave I just want to say hi, Dad" gets a lot of clownery online, but for me it's a heartbreaking lyric that shows the duality of fame and misery, as well as how hard it is to keep in touch with family and friends when going through a depression because it's easy to feel like a dead man walking; "A gatekeeper carelessly dropping the keys on my nights off" is a lyric so beautiful and touching yet so perfectly obscure that I don't even want to go into the million different meanings I've assigned to it! There's a lot of ways to convey meaning in a song - sometimes just a dope ass instrumental can do the talking - but this song is an example of how beautiful, well thought out, poetic lyrics can really speak to an audience. And also, did she lie? Hope really is a dangerous thing!

     

    Sad Girl

    There are soooo many things that make this song great. Among them is Lana's "sad but won't not fuck you the fuck up" attitude, but my favourite thing is that the instruments in this song are used remarkably well. While I love NFR (honestly I really really really do), this song demonstrates exactly why it hasn't knocked Ultraviolence off the top spot for me; there's some sonic depth and a constant sense of progression going on that's lacking in quite a lot of NFR cuts. It's jazzy, bluesy and it has so much to look forward to - I'm always excited to hear that Spanish-influenced guitar kick in during the second verse, then of course there's the glorious bridge. I know Lana fans love a sing-song moment, so why do I not hear more fans talking about how much they enjoy belting out "Watch what you say to meeeeee, careful who you're talking tooo!"? It's lost on me. This song deserves way more love than it gets and I know for sure it would sound incredible live, so I'm v v v v sad she hasn't performed it before.  :crossed:

     

    Gramma

    Another AKA song that doesn't get a lot of love - this one is always getting knocked out first or second in AKA Survivor games. Still, it's one of my favourites and I think it's really underrated because of the unique vibe it possesses: it's cheeky, bratty, fun, a little girly and definitely twisted. I know Lana's described this song as having an innocent meaning in prior interviews, but honestly? I'm not buying it! This song is undoubtedly naughty in a way that's SO wrong only Lizzy-era Lana could get away with it. Lana is (or rather was) so good at the whole ~feigning innocence roleplay~ thing. Maybe I love this song so much because I was a messed up kid - without being too TMI, this song reminds me of being a young teen and the early sexual experiences I had and how I knew it was bad but it also so wrong it's right, when I would sneak out of my own Grandma's house to do bad and stupid things, and all the feelings of excitement and wonder I had along with the feelings of fear, confusion, guilt, abuse and sadness. This song couples a playful cheery beat with ever-so-slightly sexually suggestive lyrics ("All I wanna do is play") and then some moments of darkness ("I don't wanna think I'm bad, Gramma") to create this strange, sinister atmosphere that's so representative of being essentially still a little girl taking on the big, exciting, scary, wonderful, terrible adult world - especially where men are involved. It also touches on that feeling of attention addiction: "I'm in love with everyone and I don't wanna think I'm wrong just for feelin' pretty" and "I wanna be the whole world's girl Gramma". There's a fine line between suggestive and outright controversial, and Lana, I believe, is just about on the 'suggestive' side - if anything my reading of this song could well be controversial! Still, there's some unbelievable skill in managing to write about such a topic in a way that's a little dark but still tongue-in-cheek without it coming across as mocking or exploitative. I really love this song and I honestly feel it stands out in her discography.

     

    In Wendy, More Mountains, There Is Nothing To Be Sorry About

    As a fanbase we tend to neglect a lot of Lana's more singer-songwriter-y type stuff, but these songs right here...... goddamn. She has a TONNE of folksy gems, but these are some of my favourites and I never EVER hear them mentioned. More Mountains is bleak and existential; In Wendy is sweet and a little blue; There Is Nothing To Be Sorry About is legitimately devastating and I genuinely can't listen to it without crying. "Remember me the way I was six months ago"... nahhhh man I just  :poordat:  A lot of Lana fans actually haven't heard these songs; this is your sign to GO AND LISTEN TO THEM! I think the only reason these songs are so underrated is because so many people completely forget about them, but wow, they take my breath away.

     

    Ok sorry for the huge post LOL I have a lot of feelings ok

    12

  12. Posted

    "you're in the art, i light the fire" - i thought this was the lyric at first and now i can't move past it bc to me it's like her man (who writes, i.e. "you write, i tour") views her as his muse; he's in the arts, but she lights his fire of inspiration

     

    "watcha been up to my baby, haven't seen much of you lately" in HTD - for some reason my brain just naturally forms the lyrics that way hahaha i feel like it goes better

    5

  16. Posted

     

    • That very first bass drop in the second chorus of Video Games... so unexpected but so impactful  :legend:

       

    • The guitar in the second pre-chorus of Happiness is a Butterfly is unbelievable, add so much to a song??

     

    The gospel-style backing vocals (the "ooooh"s) in the Ultraviolence bridge

     

    The sax/trumpet (I can't tell the difference hahaha) that comes in the bridge of Art Deco, uuuugh that takes that song from a 6 to a 10 for me

     

    For some reason I always get chills at "Kanye West is blind and gone/Life on Mars ain't just a song" in The Greatest

     

    I always look forward to "You talk to the walls when the party gets bored of you" in Norman Fucking Rockwell, probably because I dated a guy exactly like that lmao

     

    When that first chorus hits in Black Beauty it's so so special

     

    At around 5:48 in Venice Bitch when the sort of fast electric guitar (I'm not sure how else to describe it) comes in for a moment and builds up anticipation for that glorious moment at 6:04 when Lana's vocals come back and she's singing "aaaah, aaaaahhhh!" in a wild, almost shouty way  :defeated:  :defeated:  :defeated:  I love it SO MUCH it's so uncharacteristic of her to be so raw and almost out-of-tune but it sounds incredible, sad, angry and passionate all at once.  :worship:  :legend:  I'm obsessed with that part of the song.

     

    "It's not one of those phases I'm going through, or just a song, it's not one of them, I'm on my own, on my own, on my own again" in The Blackest Day... so raw and honest

     

    I honestly believe one of the most sincerely cool moments in Lana's entire discography is the part of Brooklyn Baby where she sings "If you don't get it then forget it, 'cuz I don't have to fuuuuuckin' explaaaaaaain iiiiiit" - tell them sis!!! She captures the spirit of not giving a fuck so well!!

     

    1

  20. Posted

    I think I relate to Hope more and more every time I listen to it. I loved it when it first came out, but I overdid it (like all Lana songs when they come out) and I haven’t listened much since the spring. I decided to give it a listen yesterday and it’s been on repeat for me since. I’m not sure how much personal stories are allowed here, so I’ll keep it brief but this song means so much to me. I’m a closeted lesbian and my family is v homophobic. They pushed me to marry a man, even tho I am not out to them or really anyone, I feel like they know and so now I’m married to man which isn’t what I want, but I do have hope that one day things will be better. Obviously not what Lana was referring to, but I feel on some level I understand what she means about having hope even tho it’s a dangerous thing.

     

     

    though for different reasons i relate to the song so much too!! sending you lots of love, i'm so deeply sorry for the situation you're in right now. every time i see your profile on here i'll send a little love into the atmosphere for you and hope it reaches you :) <3

    3

  22. Posted

    Ultraviolence is raw sounding, but it didn't sound unpolished? A lot of tracks on NFR have either this demo-like quality or just sound like they were recored with a cheap microphone (The title track, Cinnamon, HTD, California, The greatest) I mean I love most of these songs, but the production is extremely lackluster to me.

     

     

    I feel this!! Some songs border on painful to listen to on higher volumes, as if in the track itself all instruments / layers are being played at exactly the same volume so the entire track comes out very loud and almost scratchy sounding. Idk if that makes sense.

     

    still love the album tho  :flutter:

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