Lana's lacking live performances - a discussion

[Barry 5,908]

Honestly, I think she just hates touring in any way, shape, or form

 

I also think that is the main problem, even though she says "except for the stage which I also call home" in HIAFDHJFKGKHJHM I have never thought she was comfortable performing live, some of her earliest performances in the BTD era give me anxiety to watch as you can tell she is so nervous and I don't think she has ever really enjoyed performing it's just something she needs to do for money.

[Dominikx4 25,399]

if shed only switch up the setlist, lower the volume of the backing track and actually sang OTTR her shows would be perfect. though i always love going to them

[electra 20,641]

But! Her song instrumentals have gotten better over the years live. Her early BTD moments and paradise tour was sweet with he orchestra but when they stray from the studio in songs like BTD, Body Electric And so on it is absolutely god tier.

 

She does know how to put on a show for her fans. She constantly changes things up to places we probably would have never seen her go in 2012 (PWYC, BB/YAB/Change, etc.) And I think she deserves credit. LATTM was really iconic, but she’s GOT to sort her sound issues out. The entire LFL era was a complete backstep and I don’t know if she knows that.

[UltraHeroin 8,803]

To be really honest, the other day I was watching her OTTR perfromance at Lolla Brazil 2018 and I just started laughing at her at one point in the bridge. I'm sorry, I know it's bad but it's true, I started laughing, she was trying so hard to make those vocals ''powerful'' while sloppily doing those stupid movements, her hands were going everywhere in the air, you could barely hear her in contrast to her really pushing herself to execute good powerful vocals, like....it was really cringy. 

 

Don't get me wrong, the songs that she does perform alone, with no choreo and no dancers, like Video Games, Ride, BTD, her medley, even SS, still sound extremely wonderful and amazing, especially with her improved vocals. But on those songs with choreo and with a ''thing'' prepared for them, the display that she puts on is kind of cringe and not good at all. 

 

When she did Honeymoon in LATTM, heavenly, amazing. Same for Yayo, amazing sounding every time. Those late-tour performances of TLY are just wonderful. But Cherry, WM, OTTR, LFL turned out to be really embarassing performances. 

Remember the first ever Cherry performance, where that twerking move at the mic was fucking REAL and hot and she sang almost everything? It turned into a hot mess, where the verses are horribly shakey, the chorus is just loud backing track and that move at the mic turned into her just crouching down on a really slow pace, nothing sexy about it. People say stuff like: Yo that Cherry performance was sooo grEaT, but...the only effort that she did was sing 2 long notes and that's it. Same with OTTR obviously, LFL was never a good choice for a live performance and the only good thing about WM is when she's sitting on the piano singing the first verse. After that, everything breaks down into another stupid cheeky/cheesy choreo that leads to a very underwhelming performance.

 

Glad that she still does West Coast sometimes, that's always good. 

I forgot about NA which is another atrocity of a performance..

 

As for why she reached this point, It's nothing but just her turning more and more basic, which is sad.

[bored 7,935]

So how do you think she got to here? Is she "just" performing on festivals for the cash they bring? Is she getting too comfortable? (nothing bad with feeling confident on stage though, she finally has it) Is she just getting lazy? Or is it something else?

I don't know, but I just feel like this can't be good when even reporters/reviewers start to pick up that half (or nearly) of the setlists are BTD songs and start to question why she's not singing.

 

I think this is what has happened. She always used to be so nervous and a little awkward on stage, relying on her Lana Del Rey persona at times. I think she's finally reached a point where she is comfortable and confident, she seems to enjoy performing the older songs and she clearly likes having the dancers around too - again maybe a confidence thing?

 

I don't think she's intentionally not trying but do I do think she has slipped into a little comfort zone which makes her appear lazy. 

 

I agree the setlist is always a little Born To Die heavy, but what do we expect? She's trying to appeal to the GP at festivals and they want to the play the hits I guess. Plus a lot of fans always say how Born To Die is her best album and has the bops so if she's putting together a setlist she might be under the impression that this is what everybody wants.

[QueenofAlchemy 186]

.And she barely even sings and lets the backing vox do all the work.

But then, most of the fans are only there to celebrate their stan-ism, to shout and cry and sing along and behave like a child. I can see why there is not really any use in putting effort into performing. If she actually hits some great notes, noone will hear it because they all scream their lungs out with their pathetic YAAAAASS-ing anyway.

 

I’d rather this than the Black-Mirror/White-Bear shit ‘fans’ did at the show I went to ‍

[LanaFlowers 8,751]

(copy/pasting something i posted on a different thread, but i mean i stand by this):

 

i wish she'd go back to singing in smaller venues, it feels more intimate and she seems far more comfortable performing like that. all the fans defending her dancers say she's more at ease & confident with them on stage with her, but she's never looked more awkward or out of place imo... there's just something incredibly awkward, disorganized and often robotic about the way they all...move. because you can't really call it dancing lmao. and she moves like a puppet on a string

 

i know this is going to sound mean but i can't help but cringe now every time i hear her call herself "dance queen" in some of her older songs

[TheBoss 13,477]

To be really honest, the other day I was watching her OTTR perfromance at Lolla Brazil 2018 and I just started laughing at her at one point in the bridge. I'm sorry, I know it's bad but it's true, I started laughing, she was trying so hard to make those vocals ''powerful'' while sloppily doing those stupid movements, her hands were going everywhere in the air, you could barely hear her in contrast to her really pushing herself to execute good powerful vocals, like....it was really cringy. 

In her defense she always had cringy vocals imho, I still cringe to a lot of MDM, OTTR, YCBTB, and Body Electric performances

 

And a super unpopular opinion, I love the dancers! I think they're super fun and blend really well with the whole show, If it wasn't for them I would've litteraly been seeing an empty stage the whole time lmao.

 

The only thing I would change is that I'd like them to do the backing vocals, that woild help Lana with getting rid of the backing track and maybe with filling the lines she skips.

[PARADIXO 32,925]

She doesn't hate touring. She said it multiple times.

[Fetish 284]

Why do people apologize for critiquing her live shows? If you pay to hear her sing live and she's barely singing, don't you deserve a refund? Or at the very least, the right to complain lmao

 

Hearing how people save up money to see her and then get subpar performances is sad. You paid money to see her, yes you are entitled to a good performance that had effort put into it.

 

Her older performances were really good, where she gets into the song and she's alone on stage. Her vocals were unique, everything was uniquely Lana. From the dropping down low during body electric, the way her hands would move during songs and her hugging her lead guitarist during solos. It's sad to see how 'dead' she's become. I think criticism over time really wore her down. She's also mentioned having health problems.

 

And god, digressing but her performances on that one french show, she looked impossibly beautiful. I'm always sad I got into Lana so late that I completely missed 2012 Lana. OH AND THAT ICONIC LANA AT THE SWEDEN SHOW, where she does The Hairflip during Cola. RIP that Lana.

[Noel 675]

I really miss her passion, if she's still expressing the same passion when on stage I'm personally missing it every time. It doesn't look like she's overwhelmed, or having fun, or nervous. She's just there- like Clampi said she used to be out there cry-singing or smiling with certain lines and it didn't matter that there were no dancers or props because she was so present and expressive. It's like her own lyrics don't effect her anymore, her own story doesn't effect her anymore- and if it doesn't that's fine! She's years away from Lizzy, so I wish she would fill sets with songs she connects with, that bring out emotion in her now.

 

I loved when she would dance around the stage but it wasn't choreographed, when she just did what she felt and went with the moment. I loved seeing her at Lolla Brazil last year, I think we got a little taste of that Lana back. She looked like she was having fun and not trying to hit choreographed or pre-planned movements around the stage.

 

I know I'm out here beating a dead horse lmao

[Doll Harlow 12,366]

I really miss her passion, if she's still expressing the same passion when on stage I'm personally missing it every time. It doesn't look like she's overwhelmed, or having fun, or nervous. She's just there- like Clampi said she used to be out there cry-singing or smiling with certain lines and it didn't matter that there were no dancers or props because she was so present and expressive. It's like her own lyrics don't effect her anymore, her own story doesn't effect her anymore- and if it doesn't that's fine! She's years away from Lizzy, so I wish she would fill sets with songs she connects with, that bring out emotion in her now.

 

I loved when she would dance around the stage but it wasn't choreographed, when she just did what she felt and went with the moment. I loved seeing her at Lolla Brazil last year, I think we got a little taste of that Lana back. She looked like she was having fun and not trying to hit choreographed or pre-planned movements around the stage.

 

I know I'm out here beating a dead horse lmao

Yeah, I think the purest performance we've gotten from her lately was How to Disappear. Probably because she actually relates to those lyrics at this point in her life.

[LanaFlowers 8,751]

Her older performances were really good, where she gets into the song and she's alone on stage. Her vocals were unique, everything was uniquely Lana. From the dropping down low during body electric, the way her hands would move during songs and her hugging her lead guitarist during solos. It's sad to see how 'dead' she's become. I think criticism over time really wore her down. She's also mentioned having health problems.

 

And god, digressing but her performances on that one french show, she looked impossibly beautiful. I'm always sad I got into Lana so late that I completely missed 2012 Lana. OH AND THAT ICONIC LANA AT THE SWEDEN SHOW, where she does The Hairflip during Cola. RIP that Lana.

^this right here is what I think about when I see fans gush about "new, confident lana" vs "old, nervous mess lana"

 

like did y'all completely miss 2013-2015 and actually most of 2012 too? she did seem quite shy and anxious on stage during the first few months of the BTD tour but i honestly can't think of more than a handful of instances where she messed up. and 2013-2015 lana was fucking KILLING IT

 

i think some people are confusing boredom & aloofness with confidence, bc the last thing she seems to me is confident these days

[fl0ridakil0s 3,959]

To be really honest, the other day I was watching her OTTR perfromance at Lolla Brazil 2018 and I just started laughing at her at one point in the bridge. I'm sorry, I know it's bad but it's true, I started laughing, she was trying so hard to make those vocals ''powerful'' while sloppily doing those stupid movements, her hands were going everywhere in the air, you could barely hear her in contrast to her really pushing herself to execute good powerful vocals, like....it was really cringy. 

 

 

 

She didn't sing OTTR at Lolla Brazil 

[pawn shop blues 2,346]

i mean, her effort has taken a big hit since 2016, but it really hasn't affected her shows/ticket sales at all, so why should she care? her shows have only gotten bigger, she can go down to the barricade and recognize a lot of fans because of the number of times theyve come to her shows, a lot of her fans scream/sing the lyrics and completely drown her out, a lot of BTD songs were written close to or over a decade ago, all of her performances are just for the fans so it's not like she has to worry about going on TV and getting criticized in the media for putting in a bad performance. 

in 2012-2015 she was still proving herself, first as establishing her persona and then having to show that she wasn't a one hit/one album wonder, as well as fighting off the "she doesn't know how to sing/she's not authentic" criticisms thrown at her. she was also experiencing fame for the first time after having worked for it for a number of years. a lot of the 2012-2015 performances I loved (especially 2012-2013) because they just seemed so cathartic for her, which is way more interesting to watch. but now she just seems over a lot of it. Over the songs, over the LDR persona, over trying to climb higher on the fame ladder. She seems just to want a more simple life at this point (with occasional private jet flights). Unless she makes bad financial moves, she can probably retire right now from the money she's made (and continues to make in sales and show tickets). She's experienced enough of the bad parts of fame to probably not want more of it. On top of that, she has finally earned respect in her industry which she didn't have at all before. People know she's the real deal and there's nothing more to prove. She accomplished what she set out to accomplish in life (at least in this point of her life). 

I don't blame her at all, but I also can't buy when people say she's just comfortable on stage. She's never looked less comfortable. I really miss her new york "take me or leave me" energy she had at one point and when she seemed to give more of a fuck. 

[UltraHeroin 8,803]

She didn't sing OTTR at Lolla Brazil 

Oh fuck, you're right, it was that other performance where she looked almost exactly the same, the dress was like a dark blue, with tiny flowers, but her hair looked the same

sorry

 

It was Lollapallooza Chile 2018 

[Beautiful Loser 48,619]

So... if I can bring back my original question so this thread doesn’t become a black hole of negativity, why do you guys think she changed the way she sings on stage? (And I suppose she hasn’t changed it with intention)

[UltraHeroin 8,803]

So... if I can bring back my original question so this thread doesn’t become a black hole of negativity, why do you guys think she changed the way she sings on stage? (And I suppose she hasn’t changed it with intention)

Well, I think there definetly was a slight intention to spice up her shows a bit so in 2016 she got her dancers to just experiment, see how it works, but then things just developped and here we are.

As for her vocals, I definetly think it was a natural shift, you know. I doubt people criticizing her voice had any effect on that, cause she was ripped to shreds in 2012 and she still sang that way a lot after that. But she just grew as an artist and her voice grew with her. I guess she gained a lot more confidence over the years too and that played a part in her vocal shift 

[evalionisameme 13,888]

(copy/pasting something i posted on a different thread, but i mean i stand by this): yeah I love her but girl got no rhythm at all lmfao.

 

i wish she'd go back to singing in smaller venues, it feels more intimate and she seems far more comfortable performing like that. all the fans defending her dancers say she's more at ease & confident with them on stage with her, but she's never looked more awkward or out of place imo... there's just something incredibly awkward, disorganized and often robotic about the way they all...move. because you can't really call it dancing lmao. and she moves like a puppet on a string

 

 

i know this is going to sound mean but i can't help but cringe now every time i hear her call herself "dance queen" in some of her older songs

 

Her peak was the endless summer tour and from there everything just went downhill

[TheBoss 13,477]

So... if I can bring back my original question so this thread doesn’t become a black hole of negativity, why do you guys think she changed the way she sings on stage? (And I suppose she hasn’t changed it with intention)

 

I mostly think it might be because she has gotten so used to doing ballads or slow songs, that some songs just don't work with her voice right now.

 

2011 Lana could pull through her baby voice nicely on song like OTTR because she was still recording songs with her baby voice around that time, for example Making Out, plus she had used it a bunch from 2010-2011.

 

Imho songs like OTTR, Paradise or National Anthem NEED that baby voice if you're trying to replicate the studio version, If she stripped fro example National Anthem like she did on iTunes Fetsival in 2012, maybe the song would have worked way better with her 2018 voice, but nah we ended up with messes like this: