DUKE

What an interesting thread idea. That being said, I have to admit that I have no idea what everybody is talking about besides a little bit of terminology here and there. However, I find Lana's vocals to be extremely interesting and by lengths more colourful than those of fellow other pop musicians. She uses her singing voice in so many different ways. Yes, especially during live performances this sometimes may sound odd, but I enjoy hearing her wide timbre and seemingly endless vocal possibilities. She has a distinctive way of conveying emotion since she does not have a typically trained voice. Really looking forward to see that in concert.

Lana Del Rey - "Damn You"

Here you go! http://www.thedent.com/charms.html

Thrilled to know which pewter charm you'll have...

to

But you do know that European musicians have evolved these sounds and genres... not to mention all the European (and British) masterminds of electronic music.

Doesn't all this apply more to America itself other than the United Kingdom? I really don't want to get into a cultural scientific discussion where people end up being offended because their patriotism kicks in, BUT the points you make sound very biased, and extremely typical of what the American stereotype thinks of the UK. Quick reminder: war time is over, rock'n'roll and chewing gum is now international and not exclusively American. Malicious tongues might even claim that the US is a little behind culturally... which is why it imports British music acts into their rather homogeneous and charmless repertoire of popstars. But only malicious tongues, you know... When you say that "there's no creative energy in the UK" I can only shake my head. Forgive my bluntness but who are you to say that? The overall sense I get from your posts is not the worry of a fan, but rather total misconception, prejudice misjudgment of and about three entire nations (four if you include Northern Ireland).

My love and admiration for the artists whose releases I would collect will never go away. However, the intensity with which I madly collected everything over the course of the past ten years, spending thousands of euros on that, has faded. When I started collecting, I was - as I see now - filling some void and I didn't know exactly what it was that was being replaced. Music, or art in general, has given me so much more in its pure essence other than its physical manifestations. This probably sounds extremely ridiculous, but that's the way I feel about all of that. At some point, I did only collect for the sake of collecting, and not because I was fundamentally enjoying it. I enjoyed the music, but my OCD mind kind of tricked me into having all those things complete. I can now say that after meeting one of my idols who has helped trough... well, quite some really dark times, all this focusing on material things is nothing but gone. I have grown up, but I have not grown out of my passion which is nothing but music. I got rid of all those little distractions around the simple enjoyment of music, though. I will not sell any of what I've collected through the years, among that are a couple of rarities that are sold for ridiculously high prices on eBay that make me shake my head. And trust me, I am far away from being normal, nor will I ever get there - ever.

I guess so, but every case is individual. And for me it was a process of growing up, not growing out of a hobby. Didn't intend to offend all the collectors out there. Problem?

I used to be quite a collector and I'm sure to have spent quite a few thousands through the years on collecting all kinds of formats, releases and whatnot. But it doesn't really excite me anymore. I have a billion collector editions of various albums and singles, tons of CDs and vinyls, but with Lana I really do only have the albums: Born to Die - Deluxe Edition (Vertigo Berlin) and Paradise - EP (Interscope/Polydor). I've been thinking about buying the Paradise Edition vinyl-set which holds the Deluxe Edition of Born to Die, too, but it seems kind of pointless to me. Maybe I've just grown up.

Me too.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Same goes for 'their' and 'there' and, in rare cases, 'they're.'

Off-topic, but those kind of tweets make celebrities or people who think they are celebrities look like stupid six-graders attacking each other on Facebook. Seriously, get a life outside of Twitterland.

This caught me totally off-guard.

Usually, she's been on tour throughout those four years but I can't really imagine that she's begun working on new material. The Biophilia project seems to be far away from being finished...

Björk - "Who Is It (Carry My Joy On the Left, Carry My Pain On the Right)"

Am I the only one who has a hard time kind of getting into other people's lists? Not that this is a fundamental problem in my life or probably anybody else's but my imaginative power seems to be restricted to my very own list. I'm sure that if I heard those lists live, it would make sense to me. But only written... hm... So much for my pretty pointless contribution to the topic.

This would be my exact choice, too.

Congrats to her! Well-deserved, well-deserved...

Once again you don't get what I mean. You claimed that Ray of Light is the album which is [i'm quoting you] "known as the album [which] launched eletronic music in the mainstream." Which is wrong. That is my point. By extended logic this means that it was only in the year 1998 that electronic music could be heard in the mainstream, whatever this mainstream might be. Really, I'm not going to argue from there on. Madonna didn't do mistakes. She had her peak. What follows is the slow but save decrease of quality, and the returning celebration of past achievements. And it's happening since Hard Candy. Keep on bringing up your numbers, yes, she will always be a massive touring act. Because of her past achievements, not because of her recent achievements, or rehashes if you will. That's why she focusses on it, she knows that her time as a first class musical act is over. It's not working out. There is a new generation of popstars that are taking the place where she used to be. She is entering the league of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Cher and thousands of other artists that had their peak, have been revolutionary but - again - have had their peak. Their time as leaders is over. Read about her and you will know what I mean. She is tired of the business. She is too old for it. She is a superstar from another time. I cannot but repeat that over and over again. I don't want to discuss this anymore. I think you have made a lot of great points, but if you are really interested, read read read about her. Not short media portraits. She is, as you pointed out multiple times, fascinating. But the myth is just a myth. And not reality.