ShadesOfViolence

I know it's your opinion but rating both Sweet Carolina and Blue Banisters a 3 is mind boggling 

I know we're not getting a tour for this album, but I'm bored so I decided to make what would be my dream setlist if we were to get one for this album. I limited it to 18 songs (excluding the intro) and tried to put a bigger focus on the last few albums rather than BTD and LFL:
 
Intro - The Trio 
1. If You Lie Down With Me
2. Dark But Just A Game
3. Mariners Apartment Complex
4. Terrance Loves You
5. Violets for Roses
6. Black Bathing Suit
7. Dealer
8. Black Beauty 
9. Tulsa Jesus Freak
10. Cherry
11. Cinnamon Girl 
12. Thunder
12. Video Games (on the swing)
13. Cherry Blossom (on the swing) 
14. Yosemite
15. California 
16. Chemtrails Over The Country Club
17. Get Free
18. Wildflower Wildfire
 
And then I can see her throwing in an unreleased song every once in a while, but not Serial Killer
 
. 
 
 

i'm obsessed with this album and i've been crying to violets for roses and beautiful since it came out  god dammit, elizabeth, you got me again. 
seriously tho, this album is my favorite lana album PERIOD. i tried ranking all of the albums multiple times and everytime i do, bb and uv are top 2. she's a genius, i'm so under her spell. 
kinda scared to admit this, but i was scared she lost her spark after releasing chemtrails because i didn't really love that album (btw i love everything she puts out, so it was strange that i didn't love it), but WOW, after this record i'm head over heels for her again. this woman never fails to amaze me with her art. the production, the lyrics, the vocals, the messages behind the songs, the album cover, the vinyls/vinyl colors, EVERYTHING IS PERFECT  my poor little heart can't take the beauty and tenderness of the album, it's too much!
it's so good that i cannot even pick my favorite songs. i just know dealer is top 3, i'm so glad it's getting the recognition it deserves. but also i'm so obsessed with thunder and violets for roses. just everything about this record WOWED ME TO THE MAX, i can't describe how intense my tears were when i heard sweet carolina at the end of such a beautiful, cohesive record. i felt like i was flying (i sound insane, i'll stop here)  all hail lana del rey
 
 
 

now we come to my assessment
 
Text Book 6/10  (definitely not a bad song, but it doesn't bother me that much.)
Blue Banisters 3/10 ( it has no ups and downs. I don't listen to this song.)
Arcadia 7/10 (verses are better than the chorus. has a warm atmosphere, I like it a lot.)
Interlude -The Trio 9/10 (this is how the next album should sound like)
Black Bathing Suit 9/10 ( Born to Die says hi. One of my favorites.)
If you lie down with me 10/10 ( absolutely magical. top favorite. has what it takes to become a lana classic and is a career highlight)
Beautiful 4/10 ( boring. I switch off immediately.)
Violets for Roses 8/10 (very dreamy and special. you really have to get involved)
Dealer 8/10 .( it's a grower. I'm slowly enjoying the song more and more.)
Thunder 9/10 ( i like the atmosphere of the song very much, unique. one of my favourites)
Wildflower Wildfire 10/10 ( best song on the album. mike dean has created a masterpiece here with her. absolutely gorgeous)
Nectar of the gods 5/10 ( okay, but nothing special.)
Living Legend 8/10 ( this song is a real classic for me. simple and timeless..)
Cherry Blossom 6/10 (is quite nice, but nothing more.)
Sweet Carolina 3/10 (I can't listen to this song.)
 
 overall a 7/10
 

I thought I had an issue where I was getting bored of the ballad but then this album came out and I absolutely love every part of it. I think this is the vibe she’s currently on and she’s going to continue doing it until she feels that it’s time to move on artistically. Complaining and nitpicking isn’t going to solve anything. I love the bops too, West Coast, Shades of Cool, sad girl are some of my favorite songs of all time so it’s clear I love her more dramatic songs, and less the stripped down ones but all we can do for now is enjoy what she’s currently putting out for us and if you don’t like that then listen to her old stuff or I don’t listen at all. I think eventually she will move on from the ballads but for now we’re enjoying her current vibe. Let Lana be Lana 

BLUE BANISTERS CAN HIT THE TOP5 IF SHE GET +2K USA STANS GO BUY MULTIPLE VERSIONS AND STREAM THE ALBUM AS MUCH U CAN

She’s written about things that aren’t entirely real in the past but she’s actually still writing about things that aren’t entirely real now too. Throughout her songwriting she’s always used her lyrics as a method of manifestation for things she wants in her life, when she was living in a trailer park she’d write about living in the glamorous part of hollywood and diamonds, getting fame noteriety and rivera’s etc, and these were often fantastical ideals that made the music to me at least very interesting. They became true for her when they manifested themselves eventually with the weird way the universe works or whatever she’s been able to get the things she writes about, almost prophetic
 

 
 
now she’s still trying to manifest a simple life, “give me children take away my pain”, “i’ve got a kid and two cats in the yard”, “A simple life, I chose this”, these things may not have manifested yet but she’s still writing about things that aren’t entirely real in an attempt to like bring them into her life but there really is not much interesting about the imagery she’s associated her songwriting with currently it isn’t fantastical or as you said dreamy, theres nothing too exciting about a simple life with a child and being in the backyard but it is what she thinks will give her happiness 

Are we still fighting about the quality of the lyrics? Christ. Just because they read like a diary doesn't automatically make them bad, just like repeating "I'm a sad girl i'm a bad girl i'm pretty when i cry x5 times" doesn't make the songs on UV any less emotionally evocative 

Damn, it would have been an easy #2 or maybe #1 if they didn’t fuck up the physicals. If dealer keeps getting more traction this week it could probably do a little more too

I think regardless if you find her writing compelling now or the BTD era, this is a huge level of vulnerability she is exploring with BB.
 
You go from saying “I got a taste in men much older” in Paradise to “I guess you can call it text book, I was looking for the father I wanted back” in BB. From “my mother’s glamour” in UV to “my father would never step in when his wife would rage at me” and “I’m not friends with my mother” in BB.
 
you might really find her dreamy musical landscape/persona from BTD/Paradise/UV more compelling but that’s all they were. Dreamy. They’re no less beautiful or complex, but they weren’t entirely real. Lana’s getting more raw and open in every record, and that is growth and not at all comfort imho. 

Looks like projections are up a little. Top 10 isn’t bad at all. Maybe it can still increase if her team pushes Dealer more. Her team sucks for messing up the physicals. 
 

i’m trying to discipline myself to not listen to BB until i’ve heard all her albums in chronological order for the hundredth time so i can rank BB fairly but the urge to listen to BB is so strong it’s like a craving ?!!!! the way the songs just pop into my head. masterpiece. this woman is a goddess. top of her craft. 

a wet dream for sure

a wet dream for sure

She keeps implying things about her karmic lineage & stuff like that, I wonder if she means her ancestors were like terrible or something   

a wet dream for sure

after having a think on it, i really do think BB is a masterpiece. literally runs laps around some of her other records.
 
it's unbelievable that this record came from the same mind as LFL. to me they are complete opposites with LFL representing her most mainstream, formulaic work centered around industry standards and BB representing her tearing down those restrictive industry-imposed boundaries and exposing her most raw thought and emotions.
 
it's also so interesting how even between BB and COCC, you can hear such a difference in how her creative choices in production are loosened to mirror her authenticity and individuality. I remember her saying during the chemtrails era that she wanted Jack to really let go on the production end and ultimately "wanted more." On BB we see her finally being able to let go of convention and it's immaculate. revolutionary. 

COCC wasn't a bad album but yeah BB doesn't have any ~true~ skips. I'm still not keen on WW but I can handle not liking one song out the ones I do like

a wet dream for sure

1. Dealer (feat. Miles Kane, Nikki Lane and Alex Turner)
2. Thunder (feat. Ariana Grande)
3. Unidentified Flying Bill / Summer Wine / If You Lie Down With Me (Medley)
4. Boom Like That instrumental playing while she announces LDR9, prod. by Mike Dean and David Kahne
 

like the paramount signs sparkling
.
.
.
sparkling just for me

a wet dream for sure

a wet dream for sure

This album really doesn't have any skips. All the songs are wonderful and memorable for me. I can't say the same for COCC, where only a few stuck out to me- the title track, White Dress, Yosemite mostly.

A bbc1 live lounge with miles would be so good for the era