ednafrau

I was listening to the fabulous Rich Whores recording of Yayo today, and it set me thinking about this song -- I think this is THE definitive Lana song.

 

It ought to speak to its incredible significance that it's been the ONLY consistent returner throughout nearly the entirety of Lana's career -- it was still new and shaky at the Union Pool show in June '07, and it's since reappeared time and time again, in demos, two studio albums, and live performances ranging from the Lizzy Grant club shows to the stadiums of LA to the Moon.

 

It's got all the signature Lana lyrical hallmarks: the color blue, bad boys, dependence, trailer parks, escape, hope, drugs, daddies, and a scoop of retro Americana. And, all along, it has changed shape to reflect Lana's current obsessions and styles: it's been an acoustic folk ballad, a heavy metal head-banger, a jazzy torch song, and a spooky, otherworldly laptop demo. It could fit on the kaleidoscopic debut album and the doomy pomp of Paradise just as well as it could slide into the confessional-surf sound of NFR!. 

 

In short, it's everything Lana, with none of the era-specific quirks that restrict or date her other songs -- an absolutely gorgeous anomaly in her catalogue. It's sexy, it's sad, it's wild, it's cinematic, it's timeless. 

 

I'm in awe of Yayo. 

absolutely spot-on! ♥ 

"yayo" is still my favorite song of lizzy lana's

it really is unbelievable. i'm sending good vibes to you from argentina. what the fuck has happened to our countries to come to this??? i sincerely hope everyone in brazil rallies together to vote against bolsonaro. we're on the brink of dystopia

hit and run was recorded in 2010. It has nothing to do with Harvey in my opinion even tho i see where you're coming from

 

Lana herself said she knew many industry guys. Harvey isn't the only one

 

 

Please don't take my words in this thread as a defence regarding Harvey's actions, just don't feed off theories which have been denied by sources

maybe it was her fantasy, which later became a reality. or it was about another power player.

the problem with denials that have later been proven as lies on the part of her management and sources is that you just can´t be sure what to believe.

guys, i won't repeat what others have stated, but even the "i know your wife, she wouldn't mind" fits:

The American actor Heather Graham wrote in Variety that Weinstein implied she had to have sex with him in order to get a movie role. She said he had offered her the chance of choosing a script. “Later in the conversation, he mentioned that he had an agreement with his wife. He could sleep with whomever he wanted when he was out of town. I walked out of the meeting feeling uneasy.” She was never hired for one of Weinstein’s films.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/11/the-allegations-against-harvey-weinstein-what-we-know-so-far

most of us who were around here in 2012 knew about her "working relationship" with harvey - and yes, "hit and run" is also pretty obviously about him: 

Hollywood and New York, mister major.

And there's me,
Little queen of the stage, yeah.
He's a God,
One the stars call creator.
Hail the king of the industry players.
Take off your business suit,

Sitting in your lap for my interview.

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lanadelrey/hitandrun.html

gross. if it were all against her will, would she write about the affair in that light? 

so many were victimized, but i'm not sure this is lana's case (it would seem she was turned on by his power). although if it wasn´t, better, i guess, so that she isn't traumatized...

Definitely AKA. She was at her most experimental there, both profound and playful, free and unencumbered by expectations of a certain style or genre. I'd like to hear her creating from that inner space again, playing with words and sounds and themes. Since she no longer has the impunity that anonymity grants (pun intended), you'd think it would never be possible again, but maybe she is at a level of fame now - past so much scrutiny - that she's free again, almost beyond reproach, so she could very well truly do whatever she wants now. I'm really curious what music she'd make with David Kahne or Steven Mertens now 

I painfully have to kind of agree... The song is amazing nonetheless in my opinion and goes way above everything getting played on the radio, but I feel like... I dunno... Shes done better lyrically. I was frankly let down by the bridge. Still an icon though and the lyrics are good don't get me wrong just not her absolute best

i agree. i liked the IG video where she sings "to feel young and have love in your heart". WHY didn't she make that the lyric, at least in the final chorus? it's a much deeper sentiment and it would've transformed the message of the song into something more all-encompassing.

unpopular opinion here, but i DON'T want a political album from Lana. every time she even remotely touched a political or social theme in interviews, results were awkward at best & downright disastrous at worst. and a couple of citations on instagram aren't enough to convince me that she now has a nuanced & in-depth understanding of politics, in any case not one warranting a political album. lbr, she's white, upper-class & presumably straight; considering this + what i said before, she'd probably just be setting herself up for a world of hurt. and we all know how homegirl deals with harsh criticism.

you make a good point. even so, i hope lana explores other themes in her new work. i liked "honeymoon" but, at times, it's soporific, and there's only so much you can elaborate on repetitive subjects. writing in another frequency could be stimulating for her. she's always questioned reality, not just metaphysically, and she's as accute an observer as she is occasionally solipsistic. i think this change in her songwriting could be interesting: she admires many musicians, as well as writers, that have been able to express both broader and/or more singular experiences beyond their own. i'm not saying she should totally abandon her more personal, introspective lyrics, not at all, but if she is really inspired and moved by what's going on, i think she could write songs from different perspectives, capturing the zeitgeist, or maybe with a combination of imagination and an informed point of view, she could compose songs putting herself not in someone else's shoes, but trying to truly imagine through a profound empathy, how she would feel, as an "other" (which, in a certain sense, she has felt). protest songs can be existential and not explicitly political. it's a difficult, artistically (perhaps commercially) risky feat, but if done right, as she is lana del rey, she could reach a pop audience that could really benefit from awareness and compassion. the time is right for this shift, in my opinion, but i don't know...i'm rambling and in need of caffeine to help articulate my thoughts

"confessions of a mask" by yukio mishima.

regarding the mystery of AKA's lack of sales or repercussion, i can't say i'm dumbfounded: her music was hard to classify, and thus was poorly marketed (5 points definitely didn't excel at that), starting by chuck's hideous artwork and the amateur design and fonts*. i think she would've found her niche with time, but it's hard to fathom that without the whole persona to accompany the sound she would have been the worldwide phenomenon she has become.

*they are now endearing to me, but objectively i don't think they are on the same level of quality as the music, and i can't imagine people being drawn to the album at a record store without prior information on it. whether we like it or not, aesthetics do play a part in intriguing you enough to reach for something unknown (hence the later success of LDR).

@@sparklrtrailrheaven @@longtimeman please correct me if i'm wrong, but i think i was the first to find that article way back in the day! you know, david nichtern is also one of the foremost buddhist meditation teachers in america, and i hope his practice was a useful tool to deal with the - to me - unjust hand he was dealt. without his (and his label's) gamble on lizzy/lana we probably would never have discovered her. it's likely she would have eventually achieved mainstream success in one of her incarnations or facets, but i know i wouldn't have been such a huge fan without "AKA", which is still my absolute favorite album of hers. imagine a world in which that record never existed, or amounted to simply a handful of demos in lana's laptop! i'm so glad that wasn't the case, and that you created this thread @@sparklrtrailrheaven, because even though we longtime fans, many of us from the original LDR.FM, are well aware of these facts, it's great to have them grouped together coherently, with evident love, for everyone - oldtimers and newbies alike - to discover and revisit both the information and the album, and celebrate its wonderful, bizarre "cohesive yet kaleidoscopic" glory! ♥

wow! i'm so glad you liked mick! he is still pretty underground and definitely deserves more recognition

here's another older song of his i like:

oh, you are going to love kendrick! he is so incredible i don't even know where to start!!! if you enjoy jazz-inspired productions, then "to pimp a butterfly" is for you, though the previous album, "good kid, mA.A.d city", the one i discovered him with, is also indispensable ♥

just a couple of highlights:

"alright"

"swimming pools (drank)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLCqSMDEQsA

you might also enjoy his collaboration with flying lotus (a producer who is john coltrane's great nephew):

is there any good french hip hop you'd recommend? i remember alliance ethnik from the 90's

vince is awesome! i went to see him live while i was in san francisco in february he was great, albeit a little pissed off (duh, right?)

let me add my favorite, "blue suede":

i love hip hop, too aside from the amazing kendrick lamar, i can recommend another artist you might not be familiar with: mick jenkins (i also saw him live in new york, and he rocked)!

"jazz"

"P's & Q's"

this whole album is fantastic (i think lana would enjoy it):

he's been around for years and not too many people know him, though macklemore sure did

check out "value village" from 2011:

@@annedauphine i don't mean to jack your vince thread, just thought i'd echo the praise and introduce you to someone i consider kind of kindred to vince ♥ (maybe you already knew him!?)

i got FREAK, too!

@@National Anthem it really is!

this is my current favorite:

SO beautiful ♥

Smarty! 

"You are a truly unique individual. No one has a face or voice like you! You make people feel like Christmas time even in the heat of summer. Stay true to yourself and you will go far."

Loved it

amo esta traducción   incluso con las partes argentinas 

 

---

 

Hey y'all why don't we change this thread to "LanaBoards sings in other languages"?

 

Just say what language you're gonna be translating into and it'll be ok i think 

what a great idea!!! what do you think @@GangstaBoy ?

@ muy bien tu "high by the beach"! sólo cambiaría "veo" por "miro"

One more before I go:

"Pretty When You Cry" (Linda cuando llorás)
 

Let me give it a try

Carmen
 

(Excuse my extremely Argentinian translation )

In Lolita she says 'I want my cake and I want to eat it too' and in Y&B she's saying how she's seen the world and 'had her cake'

Btw, the lyrics sound so beautiful

The video though

@@Gecko she's referencing an English (or American) saying: "you can't have your cake and eat it, too." Ridiculous, I know, but the meaning is similar to the Argentinian saying: "querés el pan y la torta" o "querés la chancha y los veinte". I recently used this regarding a guy who's married and has kids but also has lovers and wants to be free and alone whenever he feels like it. I mean, you can't have it both ways, you know?   All of this to say Lana means she wants to have it all, without having to choose only one option in "Lolita" and in "Y&B" it's like, she already was able to live this. At least that's my humble take

Here's some help with this

 

http://www.churchofpop.net/topic/576-taylor-swift-has-stolen-lanas-without-you/#comment-7854

taylor seriously has no shame!

and you didn't even mention that after lana's "ride" she chose that same video director, anthony mandler, and REEVE CARNEY as her bad boy paramour for her "i knew you were trouble"

i suspected lana's influence, but you've made it clear she is a total copycat @@PARADIXO she is so fake...i can't believe people buy her persona!  

OMFG

this shot is giving me total lizzy grant vibes, i love it!!!

there's another old image the photo above resembles that i can't find right now, but this one is a bit in the same spirit

these are all amazing!!! ♥

it shouldn't be so hard to make lana look as gorgeous as this...clearly, most magazines are just lazy, or gauche

as @@Trash Magic said, this is real styling.

cheers, to the return of lana del rey, fashion maven!

wow! i just discovered nicole ♥ i feel as though i'm about to fall into a musical rabbithole!

@@Blythe you are wonderful! i'm so glad you decided to share your wonderful, disturbing, affecting, beautiful music with the world