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ednafrau

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Posts posted by ednafrau

  1. Posted

    Why did they spend that much money on her?

     

    if you read the whole interview, nichtern says:

     

    I was excited. She was very original. I didn’t think she was the same as the other alt-indie girls. She also is a very intelligent and creative person. She would ride around on the subways all night sometimes, writing lyrics and stuff like that. When I was pitching her, I said, “Here’s somebody with the outer manifestation of Marilyn Monroe with the inner manifestation of Leonard Cohen.” That’s how I saw her. For people to say she’s just this created thing is wrong. She’s probably going to continue to evolve and in a way, that probably didn’t get her too much time to do that, now she’s engrossed in the public. As an artist, I’m very supportive of her.

     

    i think we can all agree that his instincts were right :oprah:

     

    i do wonder where lana would be right now if 5-points records hadn't given her a chance to showcase her talent...would she have gotten her interscope record deal? i doubt it.

    6

  2. Posted

    david nichtern, head of 5 points records, has said that lizzy had a bigger budget than she's stated and that they did invest a lot in the recording of AKA and in promoting her and getting her good gigs:

     

     

    What happened? Did she come to you guys or did you discover her?

    I had a guy, Van Wilson, who was doing A&R. He found her at a songwriting conference in Brooklyn. I don’t think she won, but I think she had a prize in it. He thought she could be good and put a lot of energy into working with her, as did I. We wanted to develop her so we signed her to a multi-record deal. Then we went out scouting for producers and we got a lot of interest from very interesting people, because she was so unusual at the time. [David] Kahne (Paul McCartney, Regina Spektor, the Strokes) was one of the first few people we reached out to and he responded very, very quickly. She and I went down and met with him and they seemed to hit it off. She was ambitious and liked the fact that he was a known producer. We gave him a deal to make the record, which is another thing. They said the budget was $10,000, which is false. Have you read that?

     

    I did read that. Was it more? Less?

    It was way more. It was an all-in budget of $50,000. And we also gave her a significant advance. So I don’t know why … I’m not sure who’s saying what about anything; it seems like people are grabbing at loose facts, but nobody is verifying with anybody.

     

    Did you retain the recording rights?

    What happened was, we first put out an EP under the name Lizzy Grant. She got quite a nice notoriety from that. A guy at Apple, who’s a programmer for the new stuff, he loved it. So we got featured based on the EP as one of the iTunes emerging artists of that year. So that was a very positive circumstance. And then we were moving towards the whole album and that’s when things shifted. She wanted to change her name, got new management, they wanted to change the record. A lot of things happened that made it difficult to figure out exactly what image she was going to have, what she was going to support, and [she] clearly didn’t seem that excited about the record. The manager came in and was insulting about the record, and I thought, “Wow, we’re an indie label, we got David Kahne to produce this record and you’re negative about it.” I think it had some masterful elements to it and a huge amount of work went into it. He worked hard to get the vocals to where he wanted them to be. It was like any of those projects: there was a certain amount of friction between the artist and the producer. I went in a couple of times to kind of make peace. I always asked Lizzy if she was okay with this, does she want to be doing this? And it was emotional, but she did. So all along the way, I told her the right way to go, with the name, but she made certain decisions. That’s why I laugh pretty hard when someone said she was put into an image. There’s no way you can do that with her. She’s very headstrong and knows what she wants. That’s a mistake, too. She wanted to be known as Lana Del Rey pretty early on. That was her name, she cooked that up, I thought it was a little wack. [Laughs.] She was this beautiful young songwriter named Lizzy Grant, it was a cool name. But she wanted to create this thing, Lana Del Rey. We put out the album digitally and at first she wanted it “R-A-Y” and then we did one version of it that way, and then she wanted to change it to “R-E-Y” so that was now the third name we were using to promote that artist. Shortly after that, her and her new manager came in and said “We want to get this off the market. We’re going for a completely new deal. We’ll buy you out of the deal.” So we made a separation agreement.

     

    So that’s why it never came out.

    They literally insisted. That’s in the contract. We can’t have any reference to it anywhere. They were following up on it weekly, “Oh, there’s an obscure website in outer-Mongolia that still has a reference to it, can you tell them to pull it down.” We did. We took it off iTunes and never released it as a hard CD. When I read that it was shelved, that borders on libelous. It’s annoying.

    (...)

     

    There was a small run of a physical CD?

    Only to sell at gigs and to give as promo to people. The hard CD was not released. We put a lot of money into getting her live act together, marketing people, promotions. I’d say we easily spent … take the $50,000 on the budget, take the advance we gave her, and then you can double that all up again. Anybody that says there wasn’t a certain amount of investment here is not telling the truth.

     

     

    the whole interview is worth reading, in case any of you haven't: http://www.mtvhive.c...cords-interview

    1

  3. Posted

    Thanks for translating, lola. This was a bit of an uncomfortable interview. She seems so defensive sometimes. Which, i guess, is understandable, but i sort of feel that fuels the criticism more.

     

    I’m glad a journalist finally asked her where she’d be without the internet, i think it's a good, if predictable, question. And i’m glad to hear her say that she doesn’t understand the internet. I mean, who does?

     

    I love that she said this:

     

    "I'll write a comment, ordinarily, under my real name. That will set off excitement on the internet. I just have to write 'Shut up' somewhere and Millions of people think it's great. I find that creepy."

     

    It is weird and kind of unsettling how so many people jump on the tinniest little things that she does. It must be a fucking nightmare to be watched, scrutinized, and even admired like that on that level. I still don't fully understand how people could desire fame. I mean, i do, but at the same time i don't at all. It's like an abyss.

     

    i agree so much, monicker! i never in all my life wanted to be famous...to me, it's as sartre said: "hell is other people's gaze" (this is a translation from spanish - "el infierno es la mirada de los otros"). anonyimity is freedom! the thirst for the spotlight has to stem from a lack of recognition as a child, or maybe it's the influence of our fame-obsessed culture? it's probably more complex than that, but either way, people should think long and hard about what they're getting themselves into. as i've previously said about lana: she got what lizzy wished for, and it's a double edged sword, no doubt.

    1

  4. Posted

    yes! thank you lolalitahey! ♥ learning german (beyond my basic level) is one of my pending missions!

    i, for one, think that at times she sounds kind of obnoxious in this interview, and i usually enjoy her musings - however repetitive (and this is usually in direct correlation with most interviewers' questions) :pft:

    i did find very interesting what she shared about her childhood, from her belief in santa until she was 12 to her very limited access to tv viewing. quite insightful. i think this explains a lot about how she became this very exotic (hothouse) flower, imaginative and obsessive, fantasy-driven, creative and full of impulse yet (perhaps unconsciously) taught to be wary of it, thus rebelling and eventually living the extremes we know and suspect.

    3

  5. Posted

    There is, perhaps, nothing greater in life than reading the words “if you listen to Ween” coming from PrettyBaby.

     

    i loved that as well, awesome and unexpected! oh, the chocolate and cheese memories... :grin:

    though, personally, i instantly and inevitably associate sitar's sig with the residents.

    residents3.gif

    1

  8. Posted

    the "hit me, my darling, tonight / i don't know why but i like it" i always thought was a metaphor for rough sex, not domestic violence...i mean, britney's "hit me baby one more time" i'd like to imagine wasn't about her asking for a punch in the face! :horror: "push me down" references this kink (?) as well, with the hair pulling bit and other not-gentle things she clearly craves and enjoys. anyway, i think jimmy gnecco's mean-ness was more like a moody, inconstant, artiste thing (i will never forget he didn't even "like" her post of "yayo" on his FB! :aheh: )

    also, as an ours fan for over 10 years, i don't think jimmy was a drug dealer...consumed, possibly maybe. the band had some troubles with labels and shit, but they were relatively successful. at least i hope he didn't sell :defeated:

    regarding the tattoo, lizzy could've first thought it was a snake and though then realized it was a dragon, she just preferred how it sounded (the fact that he's covered in blue ink reinforces it's about his tattoos, and not one of the other billion tattooed guys on the planet). "i like the draaagon on your taaaatoo" doesn't "roll off the tongue" so much ;)

     

    EDIT: i was just re-listening to "push me down" and i think it's about jimmy, too. first, he's her "rock n'roll king" (though arthur and reeve carney rocked out a bit, they don't qualify that much as kings of rock n'roll - remember J was "on another level" ;)). also, and this is probably far-reaching on my part, but this line - "in the dark you can do whatever you want to" - reminds me of "lolita"'s "kiss me in the d.a.r.k. dark tonight" (which some of us had previously spectulated was about JG as well - even if she isn't a lolita in the "dolores haze" sense, she felt that way - J's 12 years older than her, and she was, like, 19 at the time and was his "baby doll") - and it connects with her lyrics on "jimmy gnecco": "jimmy, jimmy, jimmy, take me to the park - buy me a hot dog, kiss me in the dark". i'm guessing theirs was more of a night-time relationship :shh:.

    additional speculation (this is LANALYSIS, ain't it?): even though the highs & the lows in their relationship - i suppose - made her suffer somewhat, jimmy, who is certainly intense and creative, excited her and inspired her to be free, to let go and express herself as an artist, beyond labels like "guitar-slinging acoustic folkie babe" à la the "sirens" and WLSC era. i think this little "push me down" line is relevant: "you’re my mr. rock n’ roll king / make me wanna sing, sing for them all". remember that on "you're gonna love me", she sang "jim, imma dedicate this whole album to you / you told me to get my way and that's exactly what i'm gonna do". this might be a reason.

    to finish my rant, these verses on "raise me up" tie in nicely with abandoning the image-conscious, high society pressure to be a pretty "little lady" (which she rebelled against as soon as she became a teenager, and is related perhaps to why she and her momma didn't "get along"), as well ignoring the limiting indie cred "demand" of being "original" and allowing herself, as a person and as a musician, to be as eclectic and politcally incorrect as she wanted to:

    Just like you said, It's all been done before

    I don't have to talk pretty for them no more.

    I can talk what I want, how I wanna

    I don't have to talk tastefully for you, mama

    No, no

     

    i may be pushing it with this last part, but, well, i feel like i can do that here :oprah:

    9

  12. Posted

    Oh. That makes much more sense than returning three days later. So that probably means she'll be just as nervous for the rest of it. Did it seem to anyone else that she was almost as nervous here as she was in her televised performances from early in the year, as if she had regressed?

     

    that's exactly what i commented yesterday, it's good to see i'm not alone in my perception. i think it's because jools holland is legendary and has a worldwide audience (though everything does with youtube nowadays, but the impact and repercussion is more tangible, at least in the music world). this makes me think that if she ever goes back to SNL, it might not be slamdunk that she'll be better than the first time :( she had progressed so much in regard to live performances! but, well...it goes to show how important the psychological aspect is (and i feel for her, i'd be the same). in some way, that initial insecurity of performing as lana del rey still betrays her in high pressure stages (i can't help but observe that her lips might have been a bit fuller last night :toofloppy: , too). when she was playing as lizzy she was so much more at ease.

    1

  13. Posted

    i think the changes she made in the end of the verses (going up instead of down, or lower), as well as the lack of the high notes in the "crazy" and subsequent "i just ride" are because she was extremely nervous. you could sense it, just like when she first sang "video games" there, in her first ever live tv performance. and i get it, jools holland is a big deal and she didn't want to possibly mess up. but i was like, damn, she sang "ride" so beautifully on that dutch tv show last week! did anyone notice she was wearing huge hoop earrings like she was in that first performance on jools? maybe they're like a lucky charm? ^_^

    1

  14. Posted

    i think these photos are a bit more helpful in indicating a recording timeline for AKA :)

     

    tumblr_mbfgh3YydH1riniogo1_500.jpg

    tumblr_mbfb5fkCCz1riniogo1_1280.jpg

    22.jpg

    tumblr_m99u49j9J81rr0bkio2_500.jpgtumblr_m99u49j9J81rr0bkio1_500.jpg

     

    lizzy's hairstyle suggests 2007, maybe even late 2006 (her hair's length and color are similar to the yayo rock version performance from mid-2007 and in line with the look she sported in the jezebel wlsc concert, though maybe a bit longer)

     

    P.S. i think she looks so cute like this! i wonder if she'll ever go back to this style (i doubt that she will, for now)

    3

  16. Posted

    Lana's not exactly a reliable source in matters concerning her age...

     

    THIS. sometimes i don't know if she's lying, or just (rightfully) vague or perhaps a bit of a spaz regarding dates and stuff (this is the least likely option, but i have a couple of friends who basically use me as their biographer, because they can't remember exact years for the life of them, if not for me they'd just say 5 or 10 years ago or something that was 3 years ago or 7 years ago :facepalm: )

    in my opinion, i definitely don't think "axl rose husband" is her oldest song, in fact, as we've discussed in LANALYSIS, it seems to be about mike m., plus add to that the fact that it was posted in her sparkle jump rope queen myspace, which could indicate it is more recent (2008/2009?). we obviously can't know for certain, but my vote goes for "fordham road" :)

    0

  19. Posted

    Congrats, Hellion! :mariah:

    This interview is further evidence that you rock rock rock rock rock! ^_^ (though i think you probably won't get this reference because of your indifferent-to-unreleased attitude! i think you should definitely check out "delicious" ;) - and go on slamming the basic bitches of the world!)

    1

  22. Posted

    i do think she played the guitar on some songs, but of course we can't be sure on which. the older demos are most likely, i think.

    apart from what david kahne said, david nichtern, the head of 5 points records, recalled: "When she first came to us, she was playing plunky little acoustic guitar, [had] sort of straight blonde hair, very cute young woman. A little bit dark, but very intelligent. We heard that. But she very quickly kept evolving."

    i have to search for it, but if i remember correctly, another interview - i think with one of the davids, but i'm not sure cuz i read it almost a year ago - stated, looking at a new picture of lana, that it was strange not seeing her with her guitar. so yeah, even if she didn't "play good guitar", she did play well enough to record and her style, although maybe a bit rudimentary, was really personal and affecting, imo. no need to be virtuoso to be good :)

    2

  23. Posted

    I've seen a few scenes from various episodes and I tried to stop watching but I was so hooked :O I should watch from the start

     

    you really, really should! :excited:

    0
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