longtimeman

To be clear, I agree with you. The guy is a scumbag troll, but the difference between him and anonymous message board trolls is that he's making a living out of it. Why? Because people like to believe they've got secret knowledge that somebody else doesn't, and that by seeing through the worldwide conspiracy, they're able to feel superior to the rest of us who enjoy listening to music and watching movies.
 
Of course, it also allows them to never actually try to do anything that will improve the world, because they're 'fighting the good fight' against a vast invisible enemy, so you can't expect them to actually do anything productive. 
 
I've seen what people who have a slight public profile have to deal with on a daily basis - I can't even imagine how much bullshit somebody with Lana's profile would have to deal with every minute of the day if they followed social media (which makes it completely understandable why she doesn't spend much time on twitter/facebook/,...).

I've always loved "Been trying hard not to get into trouble but I've got a war in my mind" from Ride.
Also that whole bit in ITH "You're a hard man to love and I'm a hard woman to keep track of". 
 
 
BB is so lovely. What lyrics in particular were you thinking about choosing? 

Nicole Sia at Wondering Sound is yet another journalist that has come to the conclusion that our girl is not an act, but rather a real person telling her story through her music, and sometimes painfully honest interviews.
 
http://www.wonderingsound.com/feature/lana-del-rey-ultraviolence-review/
 
 
On Ultraviolence, her second album since her Norma Jeane-style transformation from bottle-blond folk singer to pin-curled indie lightning rod, Lana Del Rey tells us a secret: She was once the Other Woman.
 
Self-identifying as a mistress may feel like a minor revelation, but it gives context for the self-destructive Lolita persona that’s become Del Rey’s trademark. On one hand, the role can be read as a metaphor — the artist fully embracing her identity as the music industry’s beautiful, dirty shame, derided and cast off by critics while her debut album quietly moved 7 million copies worldwide. Or we can read it as autobiography, the experiences of the woman born Elizabeth Grant bleeding into the Lana Del Rey mythology like a red bra through a translucent collared shirt. Each of her aesthetic choices — the girlish pout, the baby-doll register, the “It’s you, it’s you, it’s all for you” pathology — are the lamentations of a woman forced to define herself through stolen moments and dark corners. It’s a dangerous line to take, to cop to being a home wrecker. No one pities the mistress, and Del Rey knows this. But the singer isn’t concerned with forgiveness. Half confession, half redemption and written from a safe remove, Ultraviolence is, instead, a medallion of recovery.
 
“I’m finally happy now that you’re gone,” she sings on opener “Cruel World,” flexing her muscular lower register over steady tom-tom rhythm. “I did what I had to do, I found another anyhow.” Album closer “The Other Woman” is even more on-the-nose: “The other woman will always cry herself to sleep/ The other woman will never have his love to keep.”
 
For a singer repeatedly taken to task for her lack of authenticity, on Ultraviolence Del Rey comes across both honest and unguarded. Produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach (that’s his indelible wah-wah on “West Coast”) the album strips out the sonic Webdings that plagued Born to Die (the incessant “Blue Jeans” “Shyah!” sample; the self-conscious boom-bap of “Diet Mtn Dew.”) Instead, the album evolves the full-band sound of her Rick Rubin-led 2012 Paradise EP into something raw and unadorned. It’s also steeped in pop history: The symphonic guitar work on “Cruel World” summons visions of Magical Mystery-era Beatles. The fuzzy saxophone drawl on “The Other Woman” recalls Gene Pitney’s “Town Without Pity.” And a more oblique reference to the classics appears on the title track, which cribs lyrics from the Crystals’ “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)” — the ’60s pop-progenitor of negative feedback loops in dysfunctional relationships.
 
And there are subtle nods to her own past: The strings on Ultraviolence‘s title track reuse the chord progression that opened “Born to Die.” The synth glide in the last minute of “West Coast” scans as a cute wink at Born to Die‘s hip-hop non-sequiturs. “Brooklyn Baby,” with its arch references to rare jazz records and hydroponic weed, and “Fucked My Way Up to the Top,” with its tongue-in-cheek title, come off like fuck-yous to the canon of think pieces written in her wake. Del Rey, as this writer was once assured, “reads everything.”
 
So, she’s most likely caught wind of the backlash to her recent open-for-interpretation sound bite about feminism. “For me, the issue of feminism is just not an interesting concept,” she told The Fader. “Whenever people bring up feminism, I’m like, god. I’m just not really that interested.”
 
Indelicately put and poorly timed, the quote got her in hot water, critics’ hands already full with young Hollywood star Shailene Woodley distancing herself from the F-word. But let’s be fair: Del Rey’s personal indifference and Woodley’s feminist dodge — “I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance,” she told Time — are two different opinions. Perhaps Del Rey, who’s been held over the fire for perpetuating anti-feminist ideas is done with being forced into a conversation she never sought in the first place, just as she’s over her Million Dollar Man.
 
Or perhaps she’d prefer to let her music speak for her. Because taken as a whole, Ultraviolence is her most feminist work to date. It presents, without judgment, the ecstasy and agony of one woman’s choices — a bird’s-eye view of a woman suffocating, then escaping from under the weight of her man. She treats her former self tenderly: “The Other Woman is perfect where her rival fails,” she sings. But that was then. Now she’s got a cool boyfriend in her band, “but he’s not as cool as me.” And she’s out for money, power and glory. Hallelujah

I thought it was worth updating this thread to what will probably be close to the final score (I can't imagine too many other journals putting out reviews now, a month and a half after release). The Metascore is 75 (31 reviews), but more interesting is the breakdown: 22 positive, 8 mixed, and only 1 negative.
 
That's a pretty strong showing - I checked the highest scores this year, and aside from classic re-releases, the only records other than Roseanne Cash and St Vincent to get higher than 86, were only reviewed by very few (up to 10) reviewers. Combined with hitting #1 in so many countries, Lana can be proud of what she's achieved.

I thought it was worth updating this thread to what will probably be close to the final score (I can't imagine too many other journals putting out reviews now, a month and a half after release). The Metascore is 75 (31 reviews), but more interesting is the breakdown: 22 positive, 8 mixed, and only 1 negative.
 
That's a pretty strong showing - I checked the highest scores this year, and aside from classic re-releases, the only records other than Roseanne Cash and St Vincent to get higher than 86, were only reviewed by very few (up to 10) reviewers. Combined with hitting #1 in so many countries, Lana can be proud of what she's achieved.

im an embarrassment to my family

While we're living in a fantasy world, how about a DVD with the tour documentary that Chuck was shooting.

There are more at Just Jared, none with her and James Franco, though: http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/3167626/lana-del-rey-supports-james-franco-child-of-god-premiere-15/

I thought it was worth updating this thread to what will probably be close to the final score (I can't imagine too many other journals putting out reviews now, a month and a half after release). The Metascore is 75 (31 reviews), but more interesting is the breakdown: 22 positive, 8 mixed, and only 1 negative.
 
That's a pretty strong showing - I checked the highest scores this year, and aside from classic re-releases, the only records other than Roseanne Cash and St Vincent to get higher than 86, were only reviewed by very few (up to 10) reviewers. Combined with hitting #1 in so many countries, Lana can be proud of what she's achieved.

I absolutely love her make up in these pics which has that glow effect and not the matting one. Makes her look fresh and beautiful.

There are more at Just Jared, none with her and James Franco, though: http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/3167626/lana-del-rey-supports-james-franco-child-of-god-premiere-15/

So beautiful ...

Just watched. Fuck, it is utterly beautiful. Don't care what anyone thinks.
It has the vintage seventies feel, it is poetic and romantic. Lana is so sensual. Amazing!
She is dressed like a bride but seems to be mourning someone. And that smile at the chorus.... killing!
 
(Yes, it is a tangerine.)
 
:rock: :rock:
         

i liked it 
 
was anyone else reminded of the veil parts in the yayo vid?
 

While we're living in a fantasy world, how about a DVD with the tour documentary that Chuck was shooting.

While we're living in a fantasy world, how about a DVD with the tour documentary that Chuck was shooting.

I agree - there's absolutely no motivation for Lana to (re-)release the two things I'm most keen for - the original Ultraviolence and her first album. If either of them are received well, it will reflect badly on what she's doing now, and if they're received badly, she'll be accused of cashing in on sub-par music. 

I just saw both excerpts and I'm sold. It looks incredible.

The lovely pop songs on some Velvet Underground records, like on "Loaded" or "V.U."

i saw cat power live in 2001 and she was mesmerizing but so awkward onstage...lana is a showgirl in comparison! but they both show how the focus should be on the voice ♥
i love this song of hers (it's a cover, actually, but she made it her own), and i think it's kindred to UV's vibe:

Lana's mentioned Cat Power a few times lately - I wouldn't have said she sounds like BTD era, but these songs might suit you if you like the UV era
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3XmDc9WZSo

Rob tweeted not too long ago supporting gay marriage, and Lana has worked with plenty of gay men, etc. The difference with Kurt Cobain is that when he was speaking out against homophobia, the world, and particularly the rock world, was much worse than it is today, so he was actually being brave. (A lot of people at the time assumed that he would have to be gay or bi himself if he was standing up against homophobia). If Lana came out and made a statement about it now, she would get shit for it for taking on something that now seems like a 'motherhood' issue, particularly in the entertainment world. There was a lot of crap written recently about Macklemore not being the 'right kind' of pro-gay artist, and knowing how people respond to LDR, she'd get the same, or worse.

I agree - remember how negative people were about Brooklyn Baby based on the 'teaser'? I'm excited for anything she produces - that doesn't mean I'll always love it, but it's always fun to see what she's doing, especially when she's in control.

It does if they're going for a Source/Father Yod vibe.

I agree - remember how negative people were about Brooklyn Baby based on the 'teaser'? I'm excited for anything she produces - that doesn't mean I'll always love it, but it's always fun to see what she's doing, especially when she's in control.