fruitpunchlips

she seems so basic 

Bye.
 
I hope Lana got a big cheque for this as Diana is going to ruin this.

Because I love casual Lana (when she's not wearing that aztec jacket)
 
 
 
 

The trailer ruined Over the Love for me, it's just so literal, "and I sang by the piano" and there's a clip of a piano and then she sings "I can see the green light" and there's green light and yes I can see the green light too and I just wanna kick the person that did that 
 
I feel like Florence always uses the same type of vocals, the softness heard in the beginning, then the big screaming voice and then her almost aggressive voice complete with teeth-inhalation, like she's trying her best to convey emotion but it just comes out bland Leona Lewis style (although Leona doesn't even try).
 
 
Y&B is sort of boring. The lyrics are lazy, the only part that got me excited was "...and when I get to heaven..." but then she follows that up with the "...all that grace..." part which had me cringing
 
It's strange, because the chorus seems to fit with the film but the verses sound more personal to Lana and make obvious references to Jimmy Gnecco, and they really don't fit together. It's like she had two different songs and then thought they'd be good together but it really doesn't work. It's like in the verses she's trying to create an ending "I've seen the world... had my cake" but then the chorus is a question, and even though she answers it herself, she asks the question again, leaving the song open and doubtful when she otherwise sound determined.
 
Also, the vocals have me grinding my teeth. On one side she sounds more emotional than she usually does which is nice, but they've done something to her voice, whatever it is it makes the song sound cheap and it's really off-putting.
Overall I'm disappointed.
 
 
And Beyoncé's cover of Back to Black sounds terrible.
 
 
 

It didn't work 
Not that it was bad but what Kahne had already done to it was as close to flawless as you can come but the new version just sounds overworked. However, if you pretend the new version is the only one that exists the production is great but I see no point in remaking a song that worked so well the first time. What mainly bothers me with the new Yayo is her fucking singing, she's trying really, really hard, like when she was performing live in the beginning of the BTD-era and she tried so hard her accent changed into Marlene Dietrich.
And she pronounces 'takes' in "it only takes two hours to nevada" like taste. 
 
And she won't even play it live

It didn't work 
Not that it was bad but what Kahne had already done to it was as close to flawless as you can come but the new version just sounds overworked. However, if you pretend the new version is the only one that exists the production is great but I see no point in remaking a song that worked so well the first time. What mainly bothers me with the new Yayo is her fucking singing, she's trying really, really hard, like when she was performing live in the beginning of the BTD-era and she tried so hard her accent changed into Marlene Dietrich.
And she pronounces 'takes' in "it only takes two hours to nevada" like taste. 
 
And she won't even play it live

I was thinking yesterday of a way of saying something similar, about the visual aspect of the songs/albums, or more specifically, the thematic material. They are in very different ball parks, yet, let's say, in the same neighborhood. Not unlike, say, driving through a part of town, and from one street to the next, you can see the socioeconomic makeup change right before your eyes. Yet the area's citizens all share a sort of bond in that they call the same place home. Some of the culture finds its way into all facets of the neighborhood.
 
That's a really good point you make about the production style fitting the themes and subject matter of BTD. As i've said before, there's something about how overproduced BTD is that i like and i can't entirely pinpoint why, though i wouldn't want more of that sound/style.   

this might be a stupid or flat out impossible request, but can you write some kind of like, lay tutorial on how to properly listen to music? i think its kind of hard for me to focus with my ears, so i end up hearing everything from a more... holistic perspective, without any understanding (or distinction) of the parts that ultimately complete the whole. i think my eyes have all the fine perceptual tuning that my ears seem to lack 

There is a night and day difference between Auto-Tune and similar programs being used as effect (Kanye West) and as pitch correction (Y&B). They're not really comparable situations. In the case of the former, the listener is supposed to hear it because the software is purposely being misused to clearly alter the singer's voice, whereas when it's used to correct pitch, it is intended to be transparent, unnoticeable--though, of course, there are those situations where it slips through and it can be heard. 
 
In theory, i am not against the use of it. It is, after all, just another studio tool. I don't have a problem with "cheating" in the studio. There are plenty of tricks that have been used since the advent of recorded music to get a better sound or performance. It's just that, in practice, i think it sounds bad. Something happens to the voice when you run it through the software and drive it too hard. It has the tendency to strip away a lot of the nuance, the heart and soul of a vocal and make it sound sterile (even when that's not the intention). That's my problem with it when it's used not as an effect.
 
And the thing is, i believe that even if the listener doesn't have the ear, experience, knowledge, terminology, etc. to detect details like this and determine and describe what exactly is going on with the vocal, that at a very fundamental level, most people can still feel that something is "off" without knowing what to attribute it to.

I can tell you for sure that it's the digital reverb they use on her vocals but i also just detected Auto-Tune, which i hadn't noticed on the first few listens. It's transparent throughout the whole song except for one section where it's especially noticeable, even blatant, on one word specifically, but i'm not going to say where and be that guy that ruins it for everyone 

Mmmm, sometimes I dream about Million Dollar Man, Carmen and Without You done in Kahne style    (and I'm one of few that actually like Haynie)
 
 
 
But it's really hard to imagine how it'd sound like because visually they're quite different. Like, when you listen to AKA it makes you think about trailer parks, gas stations and so on, and it's very americana in a stripped back sense. BTD is different because it's more glamorous, extravagant and lavished, still americana but the theme sticks to opulence, which is why I liked what Haynie had done with BTD, I felt like it was supposed to sound too much and overproduced because that's what that album was aiming for.
 
So I don't think it'd work releasing BTD as Lizzy Grant because it needs that melodrama and excessiveness, and AKA couldn't be released as Lana (and probably why the remake of Yayo didn't work) because the production has to be spare and in moderation to fit with the visual side of her music.

Mmmm, sometimes I dream about Million Dollar Man, Carmen and Without You done in Kahne style    (and I'm one of few that actually like Haynie)
 
 
 
But it's really hard to imagine how it'd sound like because visually they're quite different. Like, when you listen to AKA it makes you think about trailer parks, gas stations and so on, and it's very americana in a stripped back sense. BTD is different because it's more glamorous, extravagant and lavished, still americana but the theme sticks to opulence, which is why I liked what Haynie had done with BTD, I felt like it was supposed to sound too much and overproduced because that's what that album was aiming for.
 
So I don't think it'd work releasing BTD as Lizzy Grant because it needs that melodrama and excessiveness, and AKA couldn't be released as Lana (and probably why the remake of Yayo didn't work) because the production has to be spare and in moderation to fit with the visual side of her music.

Mmmm, sometimes I dream about Million Dollar Man, Carmen and Without You done in Kahne style    (and I'm one of few that actually like Haynie)
 
 
 
But it's really hard to imagine how it'd sound like because visually they're quite different. Like, when you listen to AKA it makes you think about trailer parks, gas stations and so on, and it's very americana in a stripped back sense. BTD is different because it's more glamorous, extravagant and lavished, still americana but the theme sticks to opulence, which is why I liked what Haynie had done with BTD, I felt like it was supposed to sound too much and overproduced because that's what that album was aiming for.
 
So I don't think it'd work releasing BTD as Lizzy Grant because it needs that melodrama and excessiveness, and AKA couldn't be released as Lana (and probably why the remake of Yayo didn't work) because the production has to be spare and in moderation to fit with the visual side of her music.

The trailer ruined Over the Love for me, it's just so literal, "and I sang by the piano" and there's a clip of a piano and then she sings "I can see the green light" and there's green light and yes I can see the green light too and I just wanna kick the person that did that 
 
I feel like Florence always uses the same type of vocals, the softness heard in the beginning, then the big screaming voice and then her almost aggressive voice complete with teeth-inhalation, like she's trying her best to convey emotion but it just comes out bland Leona Lewis style (although Leona doesn't even try).
 
 
Y&B is sort of boring. The lyrics are lazy, the only part that got me excited was "...and when I get to heaven..." but then she follows that up with the "...all that grace..." part which had me cringing
 
It's strange, because the chorus seems to fit with the film but the verses sound more personal to Lana and make obvious references to Jimmy Gnecco, and they really don't fit together. It's like she had two different songs and then thought they'd be good together but it really doesn't work. It's like in the verses she's trying to create an ending "I've seen the world... had my cake" but then the chorus is a question, and even though she answers it herself, she asks the question again, leaving the song open and doubtful when she otherwise sound determined.
 
Also, the vocals have me grinding my teeth. On one side she sounds more emotional than she usually does which is nice, but they've done something to her voice, whatever it is it makes the song sound cheap and it's really off-putting.
Overall I'm disappointed.
 
 
And Beyoncé's cover of Back to Black sounds terrible.
 
 
 

The trailer ruined Over the Love for me, it's just so literal, "and I sang by the piano" and there's a clip of a piano and then she sings "I can see the green light" and there's green light and yes I can see the green light too and I just wanna kick the person that did that 
 
I feel like Florence always uses the same type of vocals, the softness heard in the beginning, then the big screaming voice and then her almost aggressive voice complete with teeth-inhalation, like she's trying her best to convey emotion but it just comes out bland Leona Lewis style (although Leona doesn't even try).
 
 
Y&B is sort of boring. The lyrics are lazy, the only part that got me excited was "...and when I get to heaven..." but then she follows that up with the "...all that grace..." part which had me cringing
 
It's strange, because the chorus seems to fit with the film but the verses sound more personal to Lana and make obvious references to Jimmy Gnecco, and they really don't fit together. It's like she had two different songs and then thought they'd be good together but it really doesn't work. It's like in the verses she's trying to create an ending "I've seen the world... had my cake" but then the chorus is a question, and even though she answers it herself, she asks the question again, leaving the song open and doubtful when she otherwise sound determined.
 
Also, the vocals have me grinding my teeth. On one side she sounds more emotional than she usually does which is nice, but they've done something to her voice, whatever it is it makes the song sound cheap and it's really off-putting.
Overall I'm disappointed.
 
 
And Beyoncé's cover of Back to Black sounds terrible.
 
 
 

florence's song sounds pretty much exactly like every other florence song i have ever heard

Alright, I'm putting on a bulletproof vest now...
 
 
 
 
I sincerely hope that I'm relatively alone on this though. It would be great if Y&B became widely appreciated! And maybe I'm not a completely lost case after all, since I really disliked Cola for quite a long time and now it's one of my top 20 favorite Lana songs.

all part of the plan

I have noticed this repetitive lyrical drought, too, but I don't think it's due to a sudden lack of creativity. I see her early material as the result of many years in which ideas evolved and thrived that later found their output on AKA. Same thing can be said about Born to Die: there are dozens of expressions and phrases found on Born to Die that originate from post-AKA unreleased songs. An important factor in the creation and development of both, AKA and Born to Die, is time, I think. Back then, when she wrote both albums there was little pressure and she had enough time to think and experiment. With the re-release of Born to Die last November, which I think was terribly rushed, it almost feels like they took unfinished new material which eventually became Paradise. She uses the same words all over again on Paradise which, admittedly, has its charm in terms of 'her lyrical architecture' but at the same time it testifies a certain rashness. Universal clearly wanted to boost the success of Born to Die and Paradise became the incomplete manifestation of it. Which is very sad as I think of her as a talented writer in the first place, someone who appreciates words on another level than other people. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that it takes time and independency for her to fully develop her ideas and mold them into songs. She didn't have this time with Paradise and I think it shows with most songs on that album.  
 
That being said, I don't quite see how this lyrical drought continues with "Young and Beautiful." When I heard it yesterday, it did by far sound not as monotonous and similar like all the other Paradise tracks. At this point, I'd like a confirmation on wether the song has been written for the film, or if it's indeed a left-over from Paradise. In case of the latter, I can see why it got omitted on the album as it is pretty much in "spiritual" vein of her upcoming album. Spiritual not because of the mentioning of God and heaven, but I think there is a more subtle and profound side to the song. 

I was going to wait until tomorrow (ive waited like 5hrs already!) but I caved and gave Y&B a listen right now.

Love the build-up to this part:

"I’ve seen the world, lit it up,
As my stage, now.   <--- (immediately pictured the setting in the Ride mv, right after the monologue, where she's 
Channeling angels in,                     on stage in her red dress)              
The new age, now.                         
 
Hot summer days, rock and roll,
The way you’d play for me at your show.
And all the ways I got to know,
Your pretty face and electric soul."

I realize this song is for The Great Gatsby, as it does fit with the tragic love interest and grand lifestyle surrouding Gatsby & Daisy, but looking at this song by itself , it doesn't excite me lyrically. the production though >>>>>
Plenty of us have noticed how she recycles certain ideas or lyrics in the majority of her songs. What part of all this repetition is because of meaningful intention and what part is just lazy songwriting??  
her word choice is the same in everythinggg, im >> b o r e d
Paradise Edition & Young and Beautiful are tired out ideas from Born to Die. I feel like she's just churning out sloppy songs while the hype is still alive.
....I'm hoping her upcoming "spiritual" album is a breath of fresh air and she ventures onto other topics or at least expresses her ideas in a NEW way. 1 of the main reasons that I was drawn to Lana  in the 1st place was bc she was so different, now she's literally beating to death the same themes in all of her recent songs. -__-
 


 

i think she should do sth more urban and creative (e.g. off the races, national anthem, unreleased songs), her ballads are starting to be more and more rip-offs of her previous songs.  

(No hate, still I love Y& B)

I love the production so much! 
I can already see the profile pics of those 13 years old facebook girls "wilL u still luv m3 wen i'M no l0nger yung nd buTiful? <33"   

I like this song because it makes me feel like the whole AKA/Nevada - Born To Die - Paradise era is over and she's ready to move onto another era. It seems like a concluding song because of all of the self references (some of them are kinda reaching but still).
 
I also really like how the intro sounds like Ride mixed with Video Games, like the hums of Ride with the bells of Video Games. It gives a concluding feel to it (idk)
 
I really like the first part of the bridge "dear lord, when I get to heaven, please let me bring my man .when he comes, tell me that you’ll let him" because it reminds me of "I'm hoping that the gates, they'll tell me that you're mine" lyric from Born to Die.

I think an Emile Haymie Brite Lites would work really well tbh
 
And if Jump had that hip hop sound that diet Mountain Dew does that could work too
And I can imagine in my head Gramma in the vein of TIWMUG and I'm liking it

I kind of just imagine Lizzy's take on BtD to sound like the BtD demos. You know how the Video Games demo is completely stripped back, a little faster and she sings slightly higher. That's Lizzy.
 
While I feel like a lot of the AKA songs would lose their charm if they were Lana'd up, I'm here for an orchestral Queen of the Gas Station any day