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It's like almost the whole song is a chorus! She develops a melodic theme slowly over the course of the song, except for the first minute which I consider an intro.

Now that I’ve listened to it a lot of times, I think my opinion is mostly formed. Def one of my fav Lana albums, I love most of these songs. My favs are Fingertips, A&W, Kintsugi, The Grants, Title Track, Candy Necklace, Paris Texas, Let the Light In, Margaret, Peppers, Taco Truck x VB. So many fun and beautiful tracks, great production and vocals throughout. However, there are some things I really do not like about the album, starting off with Judah Smith. I’m sorry but I am not religious and I am just not down at all with giving this self righteous cishetero white man egomaniac a platform! That is so gross omg. Like why are you screaming are you OK Judah? Skip skip skip skip skip skip. A thousand times skip. I want to unlisten to this atrocious track and remove it from existence forever. The instrumental is nice though. In general I’m not in love with the religious themes on this album. Also, many heavy handed and cringe lyrics. “I’m not that smart but I have things to say”, “that’s why they call me Lanita”, “if you want some basic bitch go down to the Beverly Center to find her”. Major pick me vibes. I enjoy the kind of baroque fairy tail lullaby vibe that a lot of these songs have to an extent, but at times it all gets a little bit too syrupy for me. Like Sweet and Grandfather, I would have saved these tracks for when the Mouse comes calling and needs a song for a movie soundtrack. Or for that Broadway musical she was supposedly working on years ago. These songs are just overly sentimental and cutesy, Grandfather straight up sounds like Jesus camp music to me. So my skips are Judah, Sweet, and Grandfather. And despite some major bumps on the road, I think the album is an overall a home run. Really hope her Metacritic stays above an 80, and I feel she could have had Metacritic 90 if she had just removed a few of the cringe moments. But that’s always how it goes with Lana, we have to take the beauty with a side of chaos and cringe.

So my song that exceeded my expectations was The track that disappointed me most was

Now Lana has Rolling Stone and Billboard covers for the new album. Maybe the surprise Boz was talking about is a Vogue cover.

OMG! I needed day to process my emotions. The way we always win year after year as Lana stans. The songwriting is giving Blue Bannisters + LMLYLAW. The orchestration is giving Paradise and Honeymoon. The way the song starts chill and builds into a huge climax is giving Chemtrails song. I love BB and COCC but these are very stripped back and low key albums. Ocean Boulevard is just big and grand and powerful. If this song is any indicator, it’s seeming like this may be her best and biggest album since NFR. Also, maybe I’m completely off base here, but is anyone else hearing a subtle vagina metaphor in the title of song/album in the way she sings about this forgotten and unused tunnel, and the way she sings about her fear of being alone and unloved? “Don’t forget me! Like the tunnel under Ocean Boulevard”

Friday is the most common day for artists to put out music. So maybe we'll get a lead single and possibly an album announcement in the next 24 hours. Or maybe her team needs a week to work on the website, so the single is coming next Friday the 8th.

Loool so relieved. I guess I failed reading comprehension.

Lanaboards Instagram page posted that Lana’s Honeymoon page posted then deleted saying that Nikki Lane is on 30 Seconds at the Greek! Can anyone confirm that she posted that? Not amused at all by this news at all. I do not want Nikki on LDR 10, and that song title sounds like Coachella pt. 2. Also, I just realized that Lana might have an additional shot at a Grammy when Taylor submits SOTB to Best Pop Group/Duo. She has slim odds this year, maybe BB could win best song but it’s unlikely. If her album is great she may have very real odds next year in pop group/duo and also in categories for her own album.

White Dress is one of Lana's most gorgeous videos. It is pure art, period. It is a delicate and stripped back song. Having some huge production music video would defeat the purpose, she's literally singing about her life before she had wealth and fame and a big production budget. The video is meditative and nostalgic just like the song is. COCC MV on the other hand is corny. I love the song, but the video is just too camp. It's not a goofy pop song, so I don't know why they gave it a goofy video. Just the way they did the costuming, props, set design, cheap looking Instagram filters and cheesy special effects and editing. It all just feels very staged and childish. It just feels very 2010 pop music video, like Lana's attempt at a Katy Perry video. It's like they were going for a big production but on a tight budget, it didn't work out. I do want one or more videos this era, but its not really essential to me. I like the videos she did in NFR era like FIILY, The Greatest and Doin Time. These videos have nice cinematography and look expensive but without being over the top. They just have a nice polished look that fit the moods of their songs. I would also be fine with some home made videos too, those ones are cute and fit her more stripped back and acoustic songs.

I guess you've never heard Fiona Apple

I know I shouldn’t care about Grammys and other awards or critical success, her music is amazing regardless if other people want to recognize it or not. But I really need Lana to hit a grand slam with this one and shut all the haters up. I was watching a Tik Tok, and the video asked “which musical artist is mostly marketing and not about the music”. And multiple people in the comments were saying Lana Del Rey. So I commented on one, saying Lana barely does any promotion, barely does interviews and rarely shows up at industry events, and we’re lucky if we get one TV performance or one professional quality video per album cycle. And this girl makes an entire video response to my comment mocking me for liking Lana and chastising me like, “oh honey you don’t understand how marketing works. You think you like her because you like her music, but actually you only like her because she was marketed to you and you fell for the marketing”. As if I am some mindless robot with no ability to discern what I like and what I don’t like for myself. Lana works tirelessly, she is one of the hardest working people in the industry and she releases masterpiece after masterpiece almost every year. I’m so tired of this narrative that she is an industry plant. People have been doing the most to smear her reputation since the day that Video Games dropped. Of all of the generic and talentless pop tarts making Disney pop music, why is Lana the one that gets targeted? Like I cannot comprehend why so many people get triggered by Lana when her talent is completely obvious and evident to anyone who actually listened to her music. I seriously need Lana to just write and sing her heart and soul out on this next album so she can finally get all the praise and take home the AOTY Grammy she deserves. I just want all these haters to feel stupid that they ever questioned her talent and finally STFU about Lana forever.

Maybe not as full out pop maximalism as some of the songs on BTD, but I'm thinking she'll meet somewhere in the middle. The lyricism and maturity of her new work, with the cinematic grandiosity of her old work. She did say that there will be full orchestras on this one. And the way she's dressing now, she just gives the feeling like she's ready to have fun again and do something big. You don't have to agree with me, but I can just feel it.

I think that the way Lana dresses during each era reflects the mood of her music. BTD she was the glamorous pop starlet constantly serving flashy looks. Paradise was the same but with a bit more of a tropical vibe. Ultraviolet she was the denim and leather rocker chick. Honeymoon she was feminine and sophisticated, old Hollywood glamour and always looking mysterious hiding behind giant sunglasses. Lust for Life she was all flower power in crochet mini dresses and 60's and 70's colors and styles. NFR she was a California beach bum in denim cutoffs and swimsuits and tshirts. Chemtrails and BB she was kind of anti-glamour, wearing flannels etc, reflecting the more folky and serious sounds. Now seeing her at the Gucci party dancing to Summertime Sadness remix, and seeing her dressing up in high fashion for her shoot for W Magazine, and reading how she is feeling like she is "allowed" to have fun with fashion again, I can tell something shifted in her mood. I think all signs point to a more high glamour, cinematic, dramatic, fun and maximalist album.

When she said wordy I thought of Blue Bannisters or Hope is a Dangerous Thing. Also hoping for a bit more glamour from this one though. The way Ben praised it twice implies that he really thinks this album is something special. I can't ever remember Ben gloating about Lana to that extent for any of her past albums.

Lana seems to be very social and active these days, hopping from getting her portrait drawn in Central Park to Marc Jacobs Heavn party in Brooklyn, to a gay Bahamas wedding, and now in Italy all in barely a week and snapping pics of herself the entire time. I feel like we’re seeing a little bit of the old Lana, after Lizzy died but before Lana became tired of the fame. No more California homebody beach bum vibes for this album. Here’s manifesting another New York City socialite album. Queen of the downtown scene, intimate Brooklyn dance floors with mixed queer and straight crowds, deep and jazzy house producers that are too cool for us to know about, diva tier vocals, global jet setting, white lines and black beaches and blood red sangrias, 6 AM afterparties, art dealer boyfriend, depleted seratonin levels, summertime sadness, island hopping in the Mediterranean, Italo-disco, lounging by the beach club pool in the VIP area, hiding from the world behind oversized Gucci sunglasses, glamour and ennui. This is the LDR 9 I need.

Earlier I listened to Big Thief's new album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You. It is GORGEOUS and it will definitely appeal to Lana fans, it is delicate emotional indie rock music with soulful female vocals, with some country and folk and light electronica mixed in very similar to Lana. I highly recommend it to anybody, but if you wanna just hear the best songs, start with Little Things, Change and Simulation Swarm. Then I listened to the new Leon Vynehall album which was decent. I recommend it if you are a fan of deep house but its not essential listening. Now I am just starting the new album from Low. Two tracks in it is very moody with sad whispery female vocals and grungy guitars. I'm liking what I hear so far. EDIT: I thought I was listening to the new Low album but actually I was listening to their album from the 90's. Now I put on their new album and it sounds much more noisy and aggressive. Not as into it.

I haven't really followed Lana news since the release of BB. Did anything noteworthy happen? Any evidence of upcoming music? Catch me up!

Agreed. I like Textbook but it always sounded a bit clunky and out of place to me. If only half these songs can stay then Textbook unfortunately has got to go.

1. White Dress 2. Arcadia 3. Wildflower Wildfire 4. Wild at Heart 5. Tulsa Jesus Freak 6. Thunder 7. Dealer 8. Blue Bannisters 9. Nectar of the Gods 10. Cherry Blossom 11. Living Legend 12. Let Me Love You Like a Woman 13. Chemtrails Over the Country Club Shocked at the amount of people that didn't include Blue Bannisters the song. Not only is it one of the best songs on both albums but it's also lyrically and thematically the foundation that ties the album together.

I just watched the Lana Colbert performance. It was beautiful and the vocal performance was flawless, but I don't understand why she always does the prerecorded performances that look like MV. I don't consider it a true live performance since pre-recorded allows for taking multiple takes, splicing them together, pitch correction, etc. I'm not saying Lana does all these things but that's just the impression that it gives when she submits a prerecorded performance instead of sing for a live audience. What's weird is that Lana is fully capable of singing for a live audience and she does it perfectly at her concerts. I feel like Lana is still traumatized by her SNL experience. I hope she can move past that and give a truly live TV performance again. I would love to see her return to SNL to redeem herself.

My general impressions about the album

I really hope that Chuck and Rob aren't singing. I am hoping that their vocals are like a spoken word outro, like maybe they are reenacting a conversation over family dinner that was meaningful or nostalgic to Lana. Or maybe it is like a spoken word collage, people close to Lana saying things about her, laughing, little clips of conversations that take Lana back to a different time and place, etc. It would be like the song equivalent of the Video Games MV which is a video collage.

Now it’s only two weeks away, it means the vinyls and CD’s exist and are gonna start shipping all over the world, so BB will surely leak soon. I’m going to avoid the temptation to listen to the leak this time. I want my first listen to be with friends, having some red wine and edibles, through a nice sound system. For COCC, my first time was on the day it leaked, sitting at work listening through headphones. Need to show BB more respect than that so I need to be patient.