Monicker

^ Stacked harmony vocals, layering her voice and singing all the parts, as she does in Little Carmen, Motel 6, White Pontiac Heaven, QotGS acoustic demo, etc. You know, the best stuff in all of her catalogue, and what i hope will someday comprise an entire album, whether it's the laptop demos or studios recordings?

Maybe she'll add Chuck in the blend on the next record

Since we're on the subject, two words: coconut oil. Every house should have coconut oil anyway (raw/unrefined, organic). It's very healthy, delicious oil (good fat!) for cooking, it's good in baking recipes for vegan and sugar substitutes, it's good on toast, it's great for your skin as a moisturizer and on chapped lips, it's good as a hair conditioner and for shaving, it's good as a deodorant, you can use it for homemade toothpaste, it's great for a massage oil, the list goes on and on. But, yes, it's the best and probably safest lube. And it smells so great!

These are good brands i recommend:

Scott Walker from The Walker Brothers? Not the governor of Wisconsin? Evilentity? LOL? Because his music is so damn dramatic? Like, Dark Paradise is a nursery rhyme compared to Scott Walker? Why am i putting a question mark at the end of every sentence? Do my friends and family know what i really think of them? How did we get here? How do you turn this damn machine off??

I really want to know what you would ask her, so Monicker if you sat her down in an interview what questions would you ask? What makes a good interview?

I don’t know, i’m not an interviewer. Good interviewing is an art. A great interview can be just as fulfilling as a good book or movie, insightful, engaging, entertaining, informative, and inspiring. But i guess that's not really going to come from radio DJs, right? If you’re wondering whether i would gear the interview toward my specific interests, i wouldn’t. But i personally wouldn’t ask questions like what is your favorite place on tour, or "favorite" anything, really. No trying to squeeze out of her whether she’s interested in collaborating with any of her contemporaries, or gossiping about celebrities. There are so many responses she gives that i think beg a “what do you mean?” She’s a nervous and awkward interview, i get that, so i understand that it must be challenging. I also understand that it's probably best to balance an interview with some light, fun stuff. The interviewer's personality and insight, i think, can really shape an interview and is likely to draw out good responses. I would just like to see someone really interesting and informed have a shot with her. I think she deserves better interviews, she's not just a run-of-the-mill pop star. I'd like to also maybe see someone close to her interview her, i think that could be interesting. But maybe she's just a boring interview. Maybe having a good interviewer wouldn't necessarily result in a good interview with her, i don't know. Maybe there’s not really anything left to ask her except future plans.

I told one of my exes that his dick tastes like honey, I'm gonna sit and wait for my song. tho

I have told some exes that they taste like guava, celery, and sweat. All 3 good in my opinion.

STACKED A CAPPELLA TRACKS? OH MY GOD. That sounds marvelous.

God, but she’s such a frustrating interview, these meandering responses that sound really uncertain or sometimes even untruthful. Though she's not as frustrating as those who interview her. It baffles me that not a single decent interviewer has gotten to her yet. What is up with that?

My mom, actually, is metaphysical?? Oy.

Someone explain to me the fascination with pop stars "collaborating" with each other. I don’t understand this. Why is this such a thing? She always dodges these questions and suggestions. God, there’s so much bullshitting in interviews.

Lana believes in GNR, but does she believe in Buckethead?

:creepy: :creepy: :creepy: :creepy: :creepy: :creepy:

^ Well, i guess it depends on what kind of relationship and level of intimacy/honesty/playfulness the two people have, no? That's a whole other discussion.

How do you tell your girlfriend her pussy tastes like pepsi cola?

You just tell her. How do you tell your girlfriend anything?

Oh come on, of course people are making a fuss about it, it's a hilariously explicit lyric.

I'm talking about the way people have latched on to it. The lyric is funny, "quirky," sure, but people have spazzed out about it. Why the fixation? This short audio interview is a perfect example. You have her on the phone on your show and could ask her anything, but you sit there like a child giggling about one explicit lyric that mentions her pussy?

This all made me think of something i think about often--this puzzling contradiction with how the US (and other western countries i imagine) is so sex-obsessed as a culture, how it’s everywhere we look and we accept this as part of the culture--it sells and is consistently used in marketing, movies, comedy, etc., every generation is sexualized at a younger age than the previous, sex is often used as a tool or a weapon--and yet we are still mostly so rigid about it when it is completely out in the open, and we continually deem it controversial and continue to validate it as taboo. One classic example is how even nudity takes precedence over graphic violence in rating a movie for more mature audiences.

Let’s think about a male pop singer singing, “My cock tastes like Pepsi Cola.” I’m going to venture to say that there wouldn't be nearly as much and as strong of a reaction to that because male pop stars being sexually explicit and even vulgar is normative (for many obvious reasons that we won't get into here). I think this is another case of patriarchy at work. When Lana Del Rey sings this line there's an exaggerated buzz around it, i suspect, because it’s a woman expressing herself in a sexually explicit manner (tee hee, look what she said), and also there's still this stupid mystique around cunnilingus and female genitalia in general.

Part of the reaction comes from the humor in the lyric, yes, but i think it's more than that.

I'm surprised that this hasn't been posted or even mentioned here yet.

Audio: http://soundcloud.com/triple_j/lana-del-rey-talks-pepsi

Found here: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/tomandalex/

I can't believe how much these hosts are fixated on the lyric. They're like twelve year old boys. I'll take this moment to say that the overwhelming majority of the reaction to Cola has been so juvenile and tiring. It reminds me of being in class, like in COLLEGE, and the professor says something, for example, about "the penal system" and people start giggling under their breath. Obviously she's more explicit in Cola than this example, but the reaction to it still feels like that same sort of shit. OH MY GOD, THIS WOMAN IS TALKING ABOUT HER VULVA...HA HA HA PEPSI REFERENCES...LET'S NEVER LET THIS GO.

So, whatever, now we know: it's something Barrie told her.

I suspect that the line "Everyone around me [...] just thought it was really weird" sums up a lot about reactions to her in general.

Anyway, on to more important things...what about that Cola a cappella demo she did on GarageBand?? When's THAT gonna leak?

You...deleted PMIAM?

Just came back from my favorite record dealer with the PE, no remastered versions for BTD

You're saying that tracks 1-15 use the same master?

Why is that ? Do you think they would have improved the mastering had they remastered it? I'd bet anything that if it had been/is remastered, it would have been/is for the worse--more compressed and louder.

Y'all need to listen to Scott Walker.

I do not know how to relate to people.

Well look at that, we were just talking about this, and i'll be damned, i like this photo a whole lot.

Yeah, before Western culture descended on it, apparently!

Whatever justifications you gotta tell yourself to deal with the cognitive dissonance, PrettyBaby. :creepy:

What is it exactly that i said that made you realize this again? And when was the first time i helped you realize this? Or is that wise-ass hyperbole?

Yes, the song (and entire album) could sound infinitely better from an arrangement, engineering, and production standpoint. But i don't take that to mean that it's necessarily a bad song and album though. That's just what's going on subjectively for me in this specific equation. Maybe it's because BTD is an anomaly in my record collection and i've allowed myself to embrace this and appreciate it as something out of the ordinary for me. I understand that, say, fake strings could completely ruin a song for someone. I totally get that, trust me. But, for me, as a whole, VG rises above its flaws--i see it as a great song that could've sounded even greater. And that's actually how i see the entirety of the BTD album. Its shortcomings don't ever quite pull it down all the way past the point of no return. It's this tawdry, crude yet overly polished, bloated kind of a record. I'm never quite sure just what to make of it, but i know i like it. It's real, but it's some singular, constructed hyperreality that, while being far removed from its surroundings, is still completely immersed in a larger whole. And that's in large part what Lana Del Rey is, and what i like about her. If i try to imagine the album turning out more to my tastes, it would end up sounding like a very different album. But then what fun is that? I lose what it actually is, what makes it special and unusual to me. And that spot that it would've occupied in my music collection would then seem very empty.

Evidence that music is completely subjective, that there is no good or bad, right or wrong. It's all an illusion.

For me, Video Games is almost entirely atmosphere. And it's a quintessential L.A. sound. The very first time i heard it, within the first two bars, that was the first thought that came to mind. We all have different reality tunnels, yay.

SitarDrunk, i'd like to see you on Robitussin. Down a whole bottle one night and then take to LanaBoards and just post all night. Please? Come on, i'll buy you a beer afterwards. GET DRUNK, MAN.

 

I think you misunderstand me. "Be more like a real model"? -- I expect someone that was once professionally a model to not consistently shoot so poorly. I am not expecting Kate Moss or Giselle type shots here. I just expect to see her move naturally and comfortably in front of the camera, having clear knowledge of what looks good and have that translate well in print.

 

A good amount of modelling is not "stiff and rather lifeless". Let's break this part: The vast majority of the modelling industry is commercial modelling, in simple terms: accessible, relatable (yet still unattainable enough, obviously). It's impossible to be accessible and relatable to potential buyers you are trying to ~connect with~ when you are "stiff and lifeless". This already rules out the possibility that "a good amount" of modelling is stiff. Onto high-fashion: the particular "stiff and lifeless" look is found here, particularly within the advertising for major fashion houses... which have obviously influenced newer houses and brands (see: Jil Sander -- I really, really hate this brand btw, random fact about me no one wanted to know). In magazine editorials (think Vogue, V, Harper's Bazaar, etc), the particular look you're referring to (if done) is often highly exaggerated, but done with intent and purpose. There's a difference between the stiffness of a Jil Sander model and the stiffness of Lana modelling -- one is intentional and meant to set off the clothing, the other is a person that appears to be unable to translate the image they'd like to project with their body to the camera.

 

(The other half of editorials is the absurd/surreal/off-kilter shoots. This, coupled with the idea of the Supermodel, pretty much refutes your notions about modelling. Find me one successful supermodel that primarily takes stiff and lifeless photos -- guarantee you you can't do it. I could get into this further, but I just wanted to show you exactly how small that particular look is in the scope of modeling; it's like saying, "Hey, don't the Beach Boys mostly sing about surfing?")

 

(It is a common misconception though, with the prevalence of those print ads and the media's exclusion of commercial modelling from the ~industry~)

 

My concern is not that Lana become more like "a real model" and be ~fierce~, it's just that she works better with the camera. From a technical POV, the shots I linked to are not good, regardless of whether you're a high-fashion or commercial model, or even a model at all. But the fact is, she did model so I am picking this out. If it were Katy Perry or Beyonce, I wouldn't expect them to deliver on good shots the majority of the time because they don't have this sort of background.

 

I don't know how much of this can be attributed to the photographers -- although they obviously do play a part. I really do think a lot of this rests on Lana though: when a former model is consistently posing in an unflattering manner and this has been published across a variety of publications, it raises the question: How well does she know her angles? How experienced is she? I have no doubt that a better photographer would draw out better photos, but how much good would they be when the subject appears to be unknowledgeable on how to pose in a flattering manner?

 

Because of the relatively small pool of photographers + photoshoots I drew from, I will wait until we have a greater variety of shoots to choose from before making my final decision. Something tells me a lot of it is Lana, but I hope to be proven wrong and blown away by a batch of photos not dependent on a prop to model with or any sort of environment to act in. :3

 

I knew i was going to get called out on that line. I had reservations about saying that. But that’s why i worded it as “a good amount...” That’s pretty open-ended, no? What is "a good amount”? Modeling is so, so vast (and consider all the different eras). It’s kind of like asking, “Isn’t a good amount of music disposable pop?" Well, yes it is, but it obviously also isn’t at all. It depends entirely on where you’re looking. These are both subjective assessments anyway, and with the case of “stiff and rather lifeless,” it’s not necessarily inherently negative, right? It’s an approach/specific style. What i was trying to get at was that a lot of modeling is generally associated with that quality. I guess, also, our ideas of what “stiff and lifeless” entail could be different because i feel that i can find you plenty of successful supermodels who shoot stiff and lifeless. There’s no way to objectively define that quality though--it would simply be my interpretation.

I don’t think you necessarily think this, but what you wrote sort of gives the impression that being a professional = being good at what you do. But, particularly in the field of entertainment, aren’t professionals not always good at what they do? I still think you’re giving Lana too much credit and overemphasizing the fact that she was a "professional" model. Are you using those old Ford shoots of hers as a measure of her professional experience? When you look at those shots, does that really seem like pro modeling to you? Also, do we know how long she did that for? Seems like it was very short-lived. And was it her career?

I also think you’re not giving the photographers enough credit. It’s incredible how much the way in which a photographer shoots someone can change their appearance and deameanor. I'm not talking about modeling, but photography in general. Like with movies, no matter how good an actor is, her/his performance within the context of the film is greatly affected by the director. If Lana is doing something, say, unflattering (which is subjective--as we’ve seen even in this very thread, different things look “good” to different people) it is, after all, the photographer who is behind the lens seeing the shoot as it unfolds, thus at the best vantage point to gauge the model’s look and the results of the overall shoot. I've shot people before where despite them trying to steer the shoot in a certain direction or emphasize certain things in themselves, i may have gone completely in my own direction because i had a different idea in mind and ultimately the decision was up to me. I just generally see exceptionally bad photography with Lana and that has to color the way she comes across in photos.

As you said originally, the editorial part has a lot to do with it too, i imagine. But, in the end, isn’t Elizabeth Grant an awkward person? All i was trying to point out in my first post was that i don’t think it matters that she doesn’t model well because she’s a recording artist. I think the problem lies with the photographers and the quality of work, that is why i think so many of her photos look bad. Imagine if (at least some) photographers just shot her “normally,” like portraiture or photo journalism. Obviously that’s never going to happen.

I appreciate the BB/surf music analogy. Believe it or not, i apply that very analogy when approaching many things.

You know, Nabokov was really into butterflies--studied them, collected them, catalogued them, wrote about them, etc.

Unpopular Lana Opinions, Pt. 2: The New Thread

Dang, that's harsh, loon. You're a feisty lil bird. R U DOPE & FRESH2DEATH 2?

Oh my god, Hellion, i just now noticed the tag on this thread. I luv U.

Is that Auto-Tune on "like you"? If so, I actually really like this use of it.

Sounds like it to me. Definitely one of the least offensive uses of it, if so.

Gosh, i was just listening to the song, and i have to say again--the transition into the ending (as well as the whole ending itself) really knocks me out. SO good.

I don’t think she needs to be more like a real model (isn’t a good amount of modeling stiff and rather lifeless anyway?) She’s a singer-songwriter. I think she just needs better photographers to shoot her. I think the problem is that she is often shot by REALLY generic, uninspired fashion photographers who really bring nothing to the photos except this sort of plastic commercialism and a heavy hand of the worst kind of photo editing--something that is actually symptomatic of a wide media/cultural problem that is only getting worse. That sort of shit is poison.