Anthem

I'm going! I'm so excited for Venice Bitch live.

I know I am setting myself up for disappointment but I can't help noticing Lana's Hollywood Bowl date is on Marina's birthday and Marina has a gap in her tour at that time. She performs in Vancouver the night before but that is still the west coast so she has time to fly down I doubt it means anything, but I do wonder if Marina will attend since Lana is hyping it up and saying she wants "all her friends" to come down for that date.

I think it would be kinda cool if she eventually releases like a vinyl cover/holder for all of the TOTL EPs and its like holographic so that when you look at it at different angles then it turns the nails the different colors of the covers. Has she spoken about how many of these EPs she is going to do?

Ugh Bauhaus is fucking reuniting and playing a few dates in LA but I'm so broke from buying tickets to see Lana and Marina. I missed the initial sale because I forgot and was working I literally have to go though. Is anyone else in the area and going? I think most of my friends got tickets for the Nov 3 show and that's the super fucking expensive one.

At the end of the day the record sounds like how Lana wanted it to sound. We've known since Ultraviolence that she has absolute creative control. Yes, Dan Auerbach pushed her, but at the end of the day its was her call, no one else's, and its hard to say how much head butting there even was. "There were moments when she was fighting me. I could sense that maybe she didn’t want to have anybody think she wasn’t in control" but he also said "Her demos were so good, her songs were so strong that I wanted to get my musicians in who I love and get my sound that I get here with her songs and that’s it. I didn’t want to mess it up." Its tiresome to go album cycle after cycle and hearing fans blame everyone around Lana for how her work comes out. "Chucks visuals suck," "Rick's production is bland," "Jack's production is messy" (and lol because occasionally you get "Born to Die was too polished" as well). Maybe Lana's work comes out exactly how she envisions it and you guys just don't like it? That is ok, but don't insult the people around her for it when they have track records with other people that prove they can produce good work.

I'm really conflicted because on one hand the music "critic" in me recognizes how objectively good this album is and totally agrees that she is on another songwriting planet now yet the music "fan" in me does not put this album on as often as I do songs from her other albums. I love the standouts like "Cinnamon Girl" and "California", and its a great overall mood album to put on while doing something else, but I lost interest in the deep cuts way quicker than I did for Born to Die or Paradise. I also feel dirty that if "Doin' Time" were an original then it would be my favorite on the album (except maybe "Venice Bitch"). Its so fun and light and interesting.

I read "White Hot Forever" in the same melody as "blue skies forever" from "Lust for Life". I am going to try, and probably fail, to not listen to snippets this time if she posts any. Following another artist that recently put out an album with no singles beforehand, it made me realize how exciting it is to discover a whole album at once, especially after hearing so much of Norman before it dropped. I can only imagine if my first listen to "Cinnamon Girl" had been in full and HQ. Lesson learned for next time.

The iconic line from Cola came from something Barrie said to her, according to her.

Regardless of the quality of either the music or movie, I have to say that the way she rolled it out was one of the most exciting album releases I've been through. I actually liked not knowing almost any of the songs going into it, and having a visual to remember for each song was cool. The YouTube premier was fun to be a part of. I was very skeptical going in but I like the album a lot, and it grows on me with each listen. I actually get way more of Melanie's personality from this album rather than her playing a character. If you read between the lines, she talks a lot about being taken advantage of by people in the music industry. There is also plenty of commentary about authority even beyond "Principal". I hear her point of view in her music really maturing and there are intelligent subtleties in the lyrics that I am discovering with more listens. Someone earlier said she should write about how fame has affected her life, and I think there is a lot of that in the album. I also hear a lot of progression in her vocals. I have been listening to the album without the movie today and even on its own the songs build a rich world and immerses you in it in a way that Cry Baby didn't. I don't find the child aesthetic as weird as Cry Baby, maybe because she literally isn't playing a baby anymore. I am glad we lost the bibs and cribs and got a more high-school-esque thing, which plenty of other artists sing about. I've always seen Melanie's obsession with child-like things as just her way of keeping her life whimsical. The transition from child to adult can be really tough, and she was already in the spotlight as a teen. I don't know, its kind of like adults that make kid's movies in my opinion. I don't think its much more than just liking an aesthetic for her. "Highschool Sweethearts" really surprised me, I think that is my favorite! I didn't think much of the snippet, but when it came on in the movie with that slow intro.. whew. That intro is my favorite moment on the album. I wish she hadn't teased the "Detention" chorus because that would've hit so much harder if I hadn't already heard it. Same for "Nurses Office" - I really liked it but we got a verse and chorus beforehand, so there wasn't much new to discover. I don't like the concept or the song "Teacher's Pet" and the scene in the movie was random and made me uncomfortable. They did "Class Fight" dirty in the movie. Finally, I wish the movie had more scenes in between the songs. I wanted to know so much more about the characters. There were a lot of little loose ends that just never got tied up. I did enjoy the movie overall though and I think this is a good follow album up to Cry Baby. I think she did well enough staying with the theme and it doesn't seem played out to me? If anything, I am glad we had a breather before becoming re-immersed in her world. Overall it was fun, which is good enough for me. I wonder since this album has been done for so long if her next will come quick. She's referenced writing music a ton since the album was supposedly done, so she's got to be sitting on a decent amount of material.

Norman Fucking Rockwell - 20 Mariners Apartment Complex - 14 (-) Venice Bitch - 17 Love Song - 11 Cinnamon Girl - 15 California - 14 The Greatest - 20 Bartender - 12 Happiness is a Butterfly - 12 hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but i have it - 4 (+) hang in there bby

This is one of my favorite game threads, we should bring it back for NFR! (and looks like LFL ) Cinnamon

Ok this is long and really.. complex.

I'm hearing "all of your Vogues and all of your Rolling Stones", "travel wherever, how far", and "the Santa Ana moves you". For the last one, she could be referring to the Santa Ana winds which would kinda make sense with the lines about the weather before that. This song is just.. incredible.

Not to get on a soap box, but songs like Drama Club, Black Beauty, and The Next Best American Record are why leakers really shouldn't leak songs. A common viewpoint is that these songs weren't going to be released anyways, but we just don't really know that for sure. Artists could sit on songs for years before putting them on a record. Maybe Betty Boop Boop was never going to see the light of day, but other leaks that are more recent could really screw up an artists vision. Anyways, I'll definitely be watching this. Nurse's Office is my favorite snippet (how do we know this is the title? Shazam?) and I hope she puts an official one out too. After hearing so much from Norman Fucking Rockwell, its actually kinda neat to have an album drop and have only heard a few snippets of each song (except Drama Club, which I haven't really listened to that much). I almost prefer no singles over having half the album before the release.

I'm sad that there isn't more gushing over Cinnamon Girl. I am so excited to hear that one and thought for sure everyone would be losing their minds over it. I guess if there is no bridge then its probably because Lana herself teased half the song on instagram.. maybe it will change when the album is out in HQ. I was also really hoping that the verse we had was actually a bridge. It seems like a weird melody to start a song with. I'm looking forward to Happiness is a Butterfly, California, Bartender, the title track... and obviously Cinnamon Girl.

The bridges thing is so weird, its almost like she did it on purpose to make some kind of point, simply because most all of her other songs do have them. The songs are pretty long even without bridges though, so maybe that was the reason. I remember one of the old interviews with Rick where he said he thought bridges made their songs more "timeless", but oddly enough I feel the opposite - like there is something old-timey about only having verse chorus verse chorus. And the songs on this albums so far are some of her most "timeless" work I think, bridges aside. Side note, I also thought he sounded crazy in that interview when he said "no one writes bridges anymore". I have a hard time coming up with more songs by comparable female artists that don't have a bridge versus than ones that do. They are usually pretty weak bridges, sure, but they are there.

You made it this far, stay strong!

I can confirm that I also see the banner. I didn't at first, but then I went to Lana's page in Spotify then back to the homepage and it was there.

My dream setlist for this tour: Mariners Apartment Complex Norman Fucking Rockwell Cherry Cinnamon Girl Music to Watch Boys To West Coast Ultraviolence Summertime Sadness Video Games/Beautiful People/Ride (medley) Hope is a Dangerous Thing Venice Bitch Next Best American Record Love Happiness is a Butterfly Doin' Time [stronger deep cut from NFR] Flipside

Ugh can't wait to see her and Marina in LA within a week of each other. I've been lucky to see her every year since 2014, truly thought this year I wouldn't. Really hoping they have VIP!

Just got VIP Box seats for her LA date, it'll be my first time seeing her live!! And I'll see Lana less than a week later omfg.

I love the part near the bridge of Cherry where she says "bitch!" and the sample'd guy voice goes "yep!". It just makes me laugh every time I hear it. My favorite swear word line is "we just want the fucking truth". I think she comes across as forced sometimes even without swearing, like In My Feelings. I haven't found the swearing in the NFR tracks that bad, except surprisingly HIADT. It just rolls off her lips weird when she says "fucking white gown".

Ha, I find it so interesting now that people think Ultraviolence is the greatest thing, because when it first came out there was a significant amount of people that were underwhelmed. Coming off of the BTD/P era, UV was much more low-key and the production wasn't this big grand polished work of art the way BTD/P was, and we certainly did not get the same level of videos and promo. Compared to the eras since, UV seems like a dream now.

It seems like almost every time some kind of detestable information has leaked it has turned out to be true, so I am nervous about these lyrics. They stylistically do fit in with what we've heard, and I feel like there are risky choices that were made if someone was trying to be deceptive. No one thought the tracklists for UV or LFL were real until she announced them because of titles like "Sad Girl" and "Heroin", no one believed the HM cover at first, no one believed Coachella would be on the album, etc. Who knows what is real at this point for NFR, but I won't discount the possibility until I officially see otherwise. I really hope these lyrics aren't real because the potential racial implications would probably be enough for me to abandon her on the spot, and that's after 7+ years of being a huge fan. If I had only seen the HIADT lyrics beforehand and read the "black narcissist" line, I may not have believed that either but here we are. While that was questionable word choice and just vague enough to give her the benefit of the doubt, these new lyrics are not. They would be at best willful ignorance and at worst outright racism and I can't support either explanation for something so important.

I've warmed up a lot to L+F. Its catchy feel-good pop which is not what Marina has given us before, but it still resonates with me more than what most other artists that put out music like this bring to the table. I've found that while I love Marina for her dark depressive music, I do have room in my musical palette for music that is more upbeat and happy, and I am glad that Marina is now an artist I can go to when I am both deeply upset and feeling super positive. I feel like I've grown with her in that way. L+F is a little over the top and cheesy in some places, but she's got plenty of music on the opposite side of the spectrum that is overly dramatic in its sadness. I think it is just easier to criticize happy music because its less risk for the artist rather than when they pour out the dark spaces in their souls. As a writer myself, I can also attest that it is so much harder to make not-corny happy music than it seems.