fulltimedaddyy

I get where you're coming from, but I feel like such a broad interpretation is taking her sadness out of context - that context being a deep sense of grief over the almost daily mass shootings in present day USA. The only aspect of the past she's yearning for with this song is one where Americans in general did not have to live in fear of mass shootings; it's not any deeper than that.

I went to school in Dayton and most of my friends live there, and the Oregon district, the place the shooting happened, is a place I spend a lot of time at. So to have an emotional connection to, and to relate with this song.. I don’t think it’s a reach to consider her as being nothing less than genuine and hurt. If you don’t like the message don’t listen, but to me it means a LOT. Especially the proceeds being donated. 

Did everyone try the chicken? I thought the chicken was lovely

Sorry to interrupt but isn’t Lana filming her 50’s Grease inspired video today? Her makeup artist posted on her IG story that she used red lips - it feels so long since we saw Lana with gorgeous, red lips.

I get your argument, but she's only a singer. Are you really frustrated at Lana Del Rey for not being able to reform gun laws? I understand how it can come off as tone deaf considering her privilege but the average person is not that well informed about the entire history of mass shootings in general. I doubt they taught that subject in depth in schools so can you really blame her. Regardless, I think its wrong to invalidate her feelings about the shootings just because she isn't well informed. The lyrics are written from the perspective of an average person who is understandably shaken. Yes, she's a celebrity but when it comes down to events like these, she's just a civilian like the rest of us. Even if the lyrics don't address the entire history of mass shootings, it does show a sense of awareness and willingness for things to change in light of recent events. I think that sentiment rises above any shallowness or superficiality that may be present in the lyrics.

I lost a friend at the Thousand Oaks Borderline shooting. Is it bad that I’m happy that she made this song? I’m really getting tired of the fake wokeness of some of y’all and as a leftist I think that’s saying something). We had 3 mass shootings in a week, like let the sis breathe.

People can get pressed like paninis at this hot take on the subject but it's an important shift in social discourse that we need to be seeing more of    Maybe a Lana thread isn't the best medium for it, I'm sure we'd much rather be discussing the colour of the vinyl, but we can't be blamed for bringing it up when the queen mutha herself made it "political".     

Looking for America already getting excellent reviews from NYTimes, Rolling Stone, and Time (among others)
 
“Written on Monday, teased with a snippet on Instagram that same day, and then released in full on Friday, Lana Del Rey’s “Looking for America” is a rapid-response protest song — following a slew of mass shootings — from an artist whose tortured relationship to an idealized America has always been central to her persona. “Pulled over to watch the children in the park/We used to only worry for them after dark,” she sings, lightly vibrating with anger. What makes this protest so striking is that Del Rey sings about the country’s fall from grace (“I’m still looking for my own version of America/One without the gun, where the flag can freely fly”) with a convincing wistfulness, the sort that jingoists think is all their own.” The New York Times
 
“The song is as spare and simple as a Sixties folk epistle. Its theme of American travel and discovery evokes Simon and Garfunkel, her voice is as plaintively beautiful as Joan Baez’s, and her ability to turn grim news into potent art is on par with the Bob Dylan of “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” or “A Pawn in Their Game.” Those songs were recorded in response to racist violence during the Civil Rights era, chronicling moments of terror amid a rising tide of hope that America was on the verge of historic change and expanding promise. There’s hope in “Looking For America” too, but it’s growing faint, fading into a darkness we may never come out of.” Rolling Stone
 
“Lana Del Rey has rarely sounded so ethereal and angelic as on “Looking for America,” a lullaby of a song that hides in its delicate acoustic folds a deep melancholy and a timely, gentle protest. “Pulled over to watch the children in the park/ We  used to only worry for them after dark,” she sings. “I’m  still looking for my own version of America/ One without the gun, where the flag can freely fly.” It’s an indictment of the ongoing gun violence in the U.S., a mourner’s attempt at expressing grief. (She said that she wrote it just after the recent El Paso and Dayton attacks, with an assist from Jack Antonoff.) The song is a salve and an attempt at solidarity for a nation continuing to cope. And for Lana, whose artistic image has always been intricately tied to a mythologized Americana aesthetic, it’s a start at reckoning with the darkness she has often embraced.” Time magazine

I get where you're coming from, but I feel like such a broad interpretation is taking her sadness out of context - that context being a deep sense of grief over the almost daily mass shootings in present day USA. The only aspect of the past she's yearning for with this song is one where Americans in general did not have to live in fear of mass shootings; it's not any deeper than that.

translucent blue -
 
Norman Records: https://www.normanrecords.com/records/177705-lana-del-rey-norman-fucking-rockwell
 
Fnac: https://www.fnac.com/a13690467/Lana-Del-Rey-Norman-Fucking-Rockwell-Exclusivite-Fnac-Edition-Limitee-Vinyle-transparent-bleu-Vinyle-album

this is lowkey such a good description of lana though tbh lmao 

there were terror attacks before 9/11 but people generally didn't really fear them, they were shootings before the recent years but people didn't really fear them, there were forrest fires before but people didn't really fear them in the way they do now, there were food shortages before but people generally don't fear them at this particular moment in history because there hasn't been a drastic food shortage lately and it's not the topic that's getting discussed atm.
 
it's not that deep.

wow y’all are so woke i never knew america was bad even i live here. thanks for the info!
 
can we talk about something else now? will she perform sotw on tour?

Okay OT from LFA (technically it has its own thread) but if NFR le*ks will you ladies listen to the whole thing? I think I’ll just listen to HTD, Cinnamon, HIAB, & NFR since we’ve been waiting so long for those and also Bartender bc its so gorgeous. And then save the last five for the day her record drops

just kidding im using this as the looking for america cover
 

There are things that I've been reading in the last few pages and that truly horrify me. Not gonna quote everybody, it's seriously tiring, concerned people will recognise themselves.
 
To the person who said Lana wrote about straight rich white kids and not about black kids or homeless gay kids: I thought it was pretty obvious that this song's about ALL kids no matter their origin and their sexual orientation, moreover why the fuck would she talk about homeless gay kids in a song about massive shootings??? And yeah, Lana could've written a song about homeless gay kids, but at this point, everybody could've. There are many bisexuel or gay artists out there who don't even write about gays and you come at Lana for writing a song about her wish of an America where ALL kids would be safe instead of writing about homeless gay kids? Think twice before posting that kind of useless shit.
 
And to all the people who think she should've not released this song because she's a rich white woman, I truly don't understand. What's the problem if she wants to write about what concerns her the most? How the hell is being rich and white a problem to the point she shouldn't write about massive shootings? If you always think that there are other problems in the world that should be talked about and that mass shootings shouldn't be the affair of a rich white woman, you'll never make anything get better. I truly believe some of you don't fully get the meaning of that song. It's rationally impossible to blame Lana for writing about that.

Did everyone try the chicken? I thought the chicken was lovely

Did everyone try the chicken? I thought the chicken was lovely

Did everyone try the chicken? I thought the chicken was lovely

Did everyone try the chicken? I thought the chicken was lovely

I just have this to say. LFA was Lana’s most honest way of looking at what’s happening right now. In her post about the song, she even said she’s not a politician and isn’t trying to be. This was just what she might have needed to do for herself. Remember, a lot of times she releases music FOR HERSELF. Remember UV? I don’t think it’s un-genuine. I think that a lot of us are changing our views on guns (even if it just means more strict regulations to getting said guns vs. outright banning all automatic guns)

I’m just really glad that the really cheap, GarageBand preset-esque trap beats (Coachella, In My Feelings, etc) are gone. I love when Lana dabbles with hip hop influences but I much prefer it when it’s produced properly with samples and depth and shit rather than sounding like some anonymous instrumental ripped off Soundcloud.

Guys, this is completly random, but I would just like to say thank you for making up LanaBoards. I've been lurking on and off since 2014 and after my show last month I started to become really excited about Lana again and I decided to come here more often and keep up with y'all. Not only it's nice to be in a place where I could read or write and fangirl about the singer I hold the most close to my heart with other people who somewhat feel the same, but it's been really important to me to find a distraction. I'm on summer vacation, don't have that many friends or things to do (or the will to do something more elaborate), and I'm going through some sort of heartbreak right now and trying to relearn how to go through my life without having someone in my life the way I used to have.
There's some drama around but that keeps me entertained too. It's amazing how we have so many different views about something. You're all pretty funny and talented. Looking at some of your posts has been really comforting these past days when I'm currently feeling the most alone I ever did in years, so, yeah... Thank you  
This is cheesy but let me heal in peace. One post short from page 3000.

Our girl was not training to be a pilot, she has been studying to become a chef because she cooked for us a whole damn FEAST!

Then this gay can wait I think