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I, for one, am very glad that the media finds more worthwhile things to report on than Azealia Banks causing drama on insta for the 10289394th time

If you have to question why it's not racism when Azealia body-shames Lana but IS racially insensitive for Lana to call out a roster of primarily POC female artists, then... I don't know what to tell ya It doesn't have anything to do with what those women sing about or what kind of reach Azealia has, versus Lana's -- that's all totally irrelevant to the issue that's been brought up of race Azealia's a real shithead and says some totally problematic stuff, but claiming she's coming from a place of privilege bc she disrespected your fave is a bad look, not at all sorry bout it But why am I at all shocked that we're getting cold takes in the Azealia Banks thread on Lanaboards... disaster begging to happen right there

when she said "you put mayonnaise on the grilled cheese... mayonnaise AND butter..." i felt that

Bartender always gives me Lizzy Grant vibes, and I wasn't sure why, for a while, but I think I've figured it out -- it's very much written in her Lizzy Grant mode. Excuse the following spill, but I'm an English major and I can't help myself The fact that the Lizzy Grant era fell between the very different writing styles of the May Jailer/Lizzi era and the LDR era makes it an odd mix of both -- it's partially slice-of-life, confessional lyrics, akin to a track like Blizzard, but it's also got a heightened, unreal edge, which Lana would ~fully~ embrace by the time Born to Die rolled around, where her lyrics became less about telling straightforward stories and more about loftier sets of ideas, imagery, and emotion. For example, take the trio of Drive By, Kill Kill, and Dark Paradise, all connected by the theme of the "dying man." Drive By is Lizzi telling us a story, with few frills and few digressions, but plenty of details -- K is her friend, K killed someone, and K is serving time. It's sung basically as it would be told, save for her questions posed to K in the choruses, and the rhymes between lines -- and that's part of the charm of the May Jailer recordings; for the most part, they're simple and unadorned and seemingly pretty apt documents of what Lizzi Grant was feeling and thinking in 2005. Skip ahead to Dark Paradise, and you see what's almost a full 180: the story is mostly to be inferred -- all the listener knows (context about Lana's larger body of lyrics and her life put aside) is that Lana's lover is ostensibly dead, and she can't deal with his absence. It's not not a story, but it's far from the detailed account given in Drive By, spelled out down to the number of years K is going to serve. Another striking contrast is that Dark Paradise brims with artistic lyrical devices, as opposed to the plain quality of Drive By -- so much so that it reads as pretty melodramatic, what with all the grandiose death metaphors and ghostly images. Then, you look at Kill Kill, written right in the middle of the two other tracks. There's still a defined sense of storytelling and a slice-of-life, confessional quality held over from the May Jailer era: Lizzy is "in love with a dying man," he "bounds up the stairs" while she's "in the shower," she asks her lover to "tell [her] about Ray and his girl," because "Ray is going to meet [him]." There's nothing inherently artistic about these lyrics; they could just as easily come from a conversation as they could from a song, just like in Drive By. However, Lizzy uses this grounded base to lay her more oblique and artful lyrics on, with lines like "stars fade from your eyes" or the cryptic bridge of "One, two/Make it fun/Don't trust anyone." There's definitely a story here -- the heroine is leaving her dying beau -- as there was in the May Jailer era, but it's as if we've only been privy to snippets of the story: who is Ray, and why is the dying man meeting him? Why is Lizzy leaving her lover? How does the bridge relate -- who mistrusts who, and who's playing the situation like a game? Therefore, a song like Kill Kill -- and much else of the Lizzy Grant canon -- succeeds because of this blend: the listener is given pieces of a story, modified by occasional cryptic phrases and florid lines, that creates lyrics that feel real, but also decidedly off-kilter and unreal. I think the best comparison really is David Lynch, who presents realities that are recognizable, but just strange and off-beat enough that an unsettling, unusual atmosphere is created. So, for a long time, I think Lana had mostly moved out of this mode of writing -- Born to Die through Lust for Life feel to me like they're in the same vein, with the balance moving more towards the emotion and conceptuality present in her lyrics, with little definite story -- hence the rise of Lanalysis that sought to attach more definite stories to her songs by making connections to her personal life. However, NFR!, I think, represents something of a return to form -- it's not identical to the Lizzy Grant style of writing, because the songs certainly feel somewhat more grounded in reality than her LG works, but it's much closer to that style than anything she's released in a very long time. It sees her acting as a storyteller again, first and foremost, and using those stories as a base for the larger emotions and ideas she wants to express, rather than flipping that around and using vague stories to connect her emotions. (Of course, this isn't to say that that means of writing isn't great -- it's responsible for Lana's golden age, and without it, we wouldn't have the same quintessential LDR persona and era.) This is all lead-up to say that I think Bartender is a track that exemplifies this matured form of the Lizzy Grant writing style: the story is present, based in reality, and has a confessional air, with Lana intimating her quests to meet her lover and avoid the paparazzi, along with day-in-the-life descriptions of her exploits with her girlfriends. However, as she did then, she modifies this story with an edge of surreality and drama: the "ladies of the canyon" are "dressed in black" or "dressed in white" and play "games of levitation," her conquests to avoid being photographed are framed as "the little game that we play," and she, somewhat sinisterly, compares the poetry she thinks up to a warm gun, resting inside her. It's all based in her real life, but is told with just enough unreality to be incredibly intriguing. In essence, she's once again balanced her songwriting bents: the straight storytelling she began with, and the grand melodrama she became famous with -- and what she's doing now is not at all unlike the transition period that was the Lizzy Grant era. And, did I mention how much I love that?

I think I love this song a little more with every year that goes by -- it's gorgeous and such a slow-burner; definitely one of her best unreleased imo

fuck she's serving me Manhattan Mobile Home Park

F - Big Bad Wolf M - Fuck it I love you K - Angels Forever, Forever Angels Scarface Maha Maha Go Go Dancer

F - HBTB M - Bel Air K - Art Deco Million Dollar Man California The greatest

okay the Lizzy vibes have caused me to re-stan Baseball Mom hat saved my life

just added L'Officiel USA and C Magazine, thanks to the lovely @99centlips now at a grand total of 4 magazines

new Por Vida cover image, which has def been added in the past couple days: she's pretty, i dig it! kinda funny how this is the third Por Vida cover tho lmaodofhdk

just got NME 2017 in the mail today -- only my second Lana mag (NME 2015 was the first), but now I can really say it's the beginning of a collection!!

Meant to post this here:

I'm still so intrigued by Talking Like an Answering Machine -- the title's all we've got, but it's an exceptionally interesting one EDIT: I totally meant to post this in the "That One Song You CRAVE For" thread, but made a wrong click -- I'm sleep-deprived

She’s not saying she’s angry we’re not giving her enough because she’s *not* losing listeners or her money, lmao. She’s pretty much ensured her coin no matter what promises she drops for the fans — I’m sure the fanbase and what we expect of her is not very pressing on her mind. If she wants to be unconcerned with the fan base and make art on her own terms, I don’t think many of us would deny her that. What’s not cool is being at this weird middle point where she drops a crumb from time to time and then doesn’t deliver. She should either tell us nothing and release stuff whenever she gets around to it, so no one’s left hanging, or actually follow up on her word — that’s the issue.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about a very singular era of Lana's career: the transition period lasting from roughly late 2006 to early 2008, moving from the acoustic, folky sound of Sirens to the classic "surf noir" sound of AKA. I see this as kicking off with the Ben/Run Motorcycle/YGLM session, and lasting until she began working with Kahne -- there's a darker edge in these works, and her songwriting was at, I believe, its peak: songs like Pin Up Galore, Pawn Shop Blues, Yayo, and Elvis all came out of these years. So, I tried to put together a little playlist of some songs that exemplify this period. It's kind of rough, simply because it's a mix of finished studio tracks, rehearsals, self-recorded acoustics, and studio sessions, but I tried to cull the best of her songwriting and cultivate a very specific tone: the desperate, deep South-flavored, dive bar gloom that only barely peeks out on AKA -- the original, largely forgotten brand of LDR sadcore. Featuring an edit by @@Trash Magic that came at the perfect time and was weirdly exactly what I was imagining, here's "FLORIDA DARK":

Plus, I love using queer bc it's a great midpoint between rigid, overly-specific labels like gay, bi, etc. but it feels a lot less clinical than the LGBT+ acronym

You make a good point! So, since I *don't* know the demographics of the fandom, I'll say that gays are often a more vocal or open majority. (Also, I can't find it now, but there was a demographics survey conducted on the forum a couple years back, which would be super interesting to take a second look at now!!)

I agree that generalizations can be damaging, but to refer back to PARADIXO, who said it so well: I don't think anyone here is trying to claim that being LGBT+ is the reason we must like Lana, but it's undeniable that she has a large proportion of LGBT+ fans -- especially gay men -- so it's interesting to explore that correlation. Not all gay people like LDR, and not all LDR fans are gay, but there IS a link, and we're talking it out.

It’s so hard to say without generalizing, but I feel like part of the draw could be that Lana appeals to the gay affinity for camp — especially in the BtD era, Lana verged on campiness, even though she seemed to take it all very seriously. Her meld of influences also ticks some classic ‘gay culture’ boxes, what with pop music/classic Hollywood glamour/etc. — and then she exaggerates it all, creating a perfect, campy, gay storm. I think that’s at least part of the reason that her persona switch to wannabe-baddie White Girl Wednesday matcha drinker at Churchome has jarred the fan base so much — unreality and excess has always been a part of Lana’s story, and knowingly or not could be the reason a lot of people were drawn in — especially the gay fans.

Night Talks - Jackie Stabb

Such a cute project I'll ofc always have an attachment to the original Honey Baby/Pablo and the live recording of I Want War, but these are fantastic versions -- and it's so impressive that she did these all on her own!! I'm glad she decided to share these as a little gift As for how different Honey Baby is, I feel like this is more of a reprise or pt. 2 than it is a replacement for the original song, you know? Like it's such a good companion to the original -- you can listen to them back to back and not feel like you heard the same song, but still get the same concepts running through

Angel Baby - Rosie and the Originals

Ram On - Paul McCartney

if this is fax then poor Rich