UV's 10th anniversary is more important to me than BTD's 10th anniversary. UV was the true game-changer. While BTD was an introduction, UV was the one which literally changed the world. My top 3! This album is probably her most unique album ever, it's like an island its own. Every track means the world to me. It's going to be 10 years since her first no.1 album in the US as well! Ultraviolence was the album which paved way for the "sad grunge Tumblr" community with AM, Pure Heroine and The NBHD's I Love You. When I became a full-time fan, Ultraviolence was definitely an album that was really difficult for me to get into but once you get into it you can't escape it because it's a fucking mesmerizing masterpiece! It brought psychedelic rock and blues rock back to life in an era where EDM and maximalistic pop beats dominated the charts then. What I love the most about this album is how jazz music was blended with rock music.
Every track is so cinematic, the lyrics tell its own story. West Coast on repeat forever, my favorite song from the album. Everything about this song is so perfect, the lyrics, the production. It's like a whole new dimension. Is This Happiness and Flipside are my another favorites, they're really underrated outside the fandom but they're amazing, the storytelling and the production. It's so addictive to listen to these songs. I NEED THESE SONGS ON SPOTIFY!!! Brooklyn Baby, Shades Of Cool, the title track, Black Beauty...another hits, everything about these are so incredible - these songs also have one of her best vocal performances ever. Cruel World, one of the best intros ever, it was life changing for me when this song started hitting differently. Pretty When You Cry, Old Money, Money Power Glory, Sad Girl, FMWUTT, The Other Woman, Florida Kilos, Guns & Roses (a very underrated song!) - look at those songs, everything about these are perfect as well, from the story to the production. I loved the lyrics in it because it simply described her feelings and emotions how she went through, that's why many people can relate to this album. The production was genius - Lana, Dan Auerbach, Dan Heath, Blake and Rick Nowels were truly a dream team, everything they composed was so unique and new, making timeless songs for eternity. The perfect blend of jazz and rock, the sweet psychedelia, the amazing soaring guitar solos, heartwrenching orchestras, the melancholic drums, every pattern of it was just so spectacular that no one, NO ONE in this world could recreate it. It's like a magic, a lightning in the bottle that can be never recreated again.
This album and era made also Neil Krug famous again, can we talk about his photography and art for this era as well? These photographs were truly gorgeous, captured the era's colors and aesthetics perfectly, the album cover - as simple as it looks - it captured the album's complex mood perfectly and it was truly a game-changer for the people in Tumblr. One of her best album covers! And the music videos, these music videos were so stunning, I loved the cinematography so much, Lana was truly beautiful in those videos. Shades Of Cool was phenomenal because it felt like a movie I could watch forever and ever.
It was a hit album and did great in charts and sales then but since the pandemic years it kind of had a new life when Brooklyn Baby, West Coast and The Other Woman went viral in TikTok. While the audiences there can be really annoying, I'm really glad that Ultraviolence became very popular outside the fandom again because I think with this album people finally understood Lana's vision and her range in music. I'll never shut up about this, what a fucking brilliant album, ahead of its time! Happy 10th Anniversary, dear Ultraviolence, I love you forever, love you forever!
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