TEMPORARY Chemtrails Over the Country Club - Pre-Release Thread: OUT March 19th, 2021

[Alexis Del Rey 446]

I don't understand how people think she played it so safe lyrically on NFR. Hope is easily one of her most cutting and devastating songs, and the whole album is sprinkled with really great and dark lyrics throughout. 

 

I think COCC will be a progression of the themes and sounds she started in NFR, since her and Jack worked on the albums so closely together, but hopefully even more experimental the way Venice Bitch was.

They clearly are not listening. Most songs on NFR are lyrically intertwined as well for example MAC and Venice Bitch/Bartender and HIAB. In my opinion, it's her strongest lyrical album next to LFL and Honeymoon.

[ShadesOfFool 18,809]

nfr played it very safe. which is fine. she's prob tired of being called a suicidal cokehead whore every time she blinks. i cant blame her for that. 

 

for chemtrails, i just want some instrumentation back. some production. nfr was stripped back in every sense, and it was nice for what it was. but i want to hear that Big Lana Del Rey Sound™ again. 

 

lust for life was a lot more thoughtful and less gloomy, as well, but those songs are still enjoyable to listen to. there's still replay value there. nfr is a chore to sit through (in my opinion). only a couple songs actually stayed in the playlist. 

[Flowerbomb 65,555]

She definitely played it safe on NFR

[CinnamonGay 10,513]

NFR is her best album out there.

 

It has that 'Oh no I'm done. I've no one left on my side. I am so alone and I'll always be alone' feel...the desperation..she has given up. It's so fucking sad.

 

UV on the other hand has the dramatic sad bitch angry mode feel.

 

UV is her 2nd best album.

[The Greatest 8,803]

I think "safe" is a fair critique but it isn't really a complete characterization. I think it comes more from her getting more into her poetry and really being introspective writing the lyrics rather than her trying to create a different version of herself through the record like on BTD and UV. To me LFL is way more safe, pandering to what she thought other people wanted to hear.  

[daphnedinkley 12,396]

I do think she played it a bit safer on NFR, but tbh I actually don't think it was to appease critics - I think that's genuinely just where she is in life atm, she seems a lot more secure and happy. I mean from the very start of her career she's said in interviews and stuff that deep down she actually longs for quite a simple, domestic life. I think right now she's feeling that, her life is a bit more settled and she's calmed down a bit. I think the lyrics of NFR are actually really honest. When she said "you took my sadness out of context [...] I ain't no candle in the wind" I actually believed her tbh.

 

I really like the lyricism on NFR - Hope is some of her best ever - but that being said it is a bit bland and flavourless to me, just down to personal preference. I do love the drama and OTT-ness of her earlier work. But still, I don't think her writing like this is dishonest or necessarily an attempt at anything - I think she's genuinely just chilled out a bit tbh.

[gasstationkween 5,422]

People tend to forget that safe doesn’t necessarily mean bad

[Flowerbomb 65,555]

Honestly I think she's toned down her lyrics because she doesn't want to be berated online by fake woke people. I feel like that's literally the only reason for the lyricism in NFR. We know how much people love to cancel her, and I'm sure Lana herself knows this too. That's not to say NFR's lyrics are terrible, and some lines are very beautiful, but personally for me I just didn't really feel 'grasped' by a particular line like I have with her previous albums.

I do feel like Lana wants to write about more controversial things that will surely shake the table but feels a certain restraint and so she bites her tongue instead, which is sad. Obviously no one knows 100%. But I do hope COCC has some lyrics that will have that lively spark of magic and wonder. 

I'm not looking for that cocaine princess persona with daddy issues, just something where I can say "wow...I want these lyrics tattooed on my forehead" type of thing. 

[net wurker 1,890]

Album cover idea...too basic?

 

[ArtDecoDelRey 15,242]

NFR was safe - but that doesn't mean it wasn't personal, introspective, chill, or good. It's all of those things. I love it for what it's worth, but I do want her to switch it up, she never releases two things which have super similar soundscapes, which is good.

[Vertimus 8,917]

I agree that hope isn't safe, it's the song that lyrically most reminds me of darker past songs. But I honestly can't think of a single risky line in any of the other songs (and I also don't get why so many people say they're political?). I agree that there was some darkness but compared to her past albums it definitely felt very safe to me, and I get that. After years of criticism it was probably nice to be praised by critics. But from what she said in her "question for the culture" posts I honestly have a lot of hope that COCC will be quite different and even though Jack is the producer again, she has tried out a new style for every album. I'd also love some experimental VB stuff, but it could really go anywhere, I'm sure she'll surprise us!

 

'Hope' is obviously not a 'safe' song lyrically, and 'TG' is an interesting and unexpected take on the end of the world.

 

But the lyrics for most of the rest of the album are flaccid and toothless, and I don't think that the "you fucked me so hard I almost said I love you" lyrics came across the way LDR hoped they would. I feel like rolling my eyes when I hear them. I still feel like most of the album could have been written by LDR in her sleep; the songwriting, for me, was very, very lazy, like 'C,' 'CG' and 'FIILY.' 

Honestly I think she's toned down her lyrics because she doesn't want to be berated online by fake woke people. I feel like that's literally the only reason for the lyricism in NFR. We know how much people love to cancel her, and I'm sure Lana herself knows this too. That's not to say NFR's lyrics are terrible, and some lines are very beautiful, but personally for me I just didn't really feel 'grasped' by a particular line like I have with her previous albums.

I do feel like Lana wants to write about more controversial things that will surely shake the table but feels a certain restraint and so she bites her tongue instead, which is sad. Obviously no one knows 100%. But I do hope COCC has some lyrics that will have that lively spark of magic and wonder. 

I'm not looking for that cocaine princess persona with daddy issues, just something where I can say "wow...I want these lyrics tattooed on my forehead" type of thing. 

 

EXACTLY. She doesn't want to be trolled by thousands of "fake Woke people" and from where I'm sitting, that certainly included "fake Woke critics," all the ones who attacked her over the years for being "inauthentic," for "Daddy bought me a career," for being, in their minds, "anti-feminist,' or for, in their minds, perpetuating a "I'm nobody without a man" attitudes. 

 

But you can't appease those 'fake Woke People'--FWP--for very long, ever. They will attack anyone and dig at anyone's life or art until they find some other issue to attack. They're parasites who have no power or authentic identity of their own. They're trolls, plain and simple. 

[Cacciatore 19,346]

NFR is her safest album and that's why I think the critics liked it so much. For me this album is the equivalent of Lana saying "hey look I'm a good girl!" giving the critics everything they wanted. Of course the album has its moments (I don't think NFR and Hope are 100% safe) but for the most part the album feels too calculated. That being said, NFR is an amazing album and Lana and Jack did a really good work and it deserves all the praise it got, but I hope she goes a different route with COCC.

[Poor Stacy 11,993]

I don't think NFR was that safe. Venice Bitch in general, a 10 minute song as Track 3? Calling the album Norman Fucking Rockwell? The lyrics to Fuck It I Love You? I understand that sonically it's a little more loose and relaxed with not as many dramatic moments, but if you think Lana is safe I can't imagine how boring other artists are in comparison.

 

That said, I do want her to get completely unhinged on Chemtrails. I want her to be as raw and experimental as she can. She's already in hot water with all the morons on Twitter, she might as well say "Fuck it" and really do what she wants to do.

[Vertimus 8,917]

nfr played it very safe. which is fine. she's prob tired of being called a suicidal cokehead whore every time she blinks. i cant blame her for that. 

 

for chemtrails, i just want some instrumentation back. some production. nfr was stripped back in every sense, and it was nice for what it was. but i want to hear that Big Lana Del Rey Sound™ again. 

 

lust for life was a lot more thoughtful and less gloomy, as well, but those songs are still enjoyable to listen to. there's still replay value there. nfr is a chore to sit through (in my opinion). only a couple songs actually stayed in the playlist. 

 

Full agree. NFR is a chore to sit through, at least for me. I greatly prefer LFL, with all its failings. At least it has more 'real moments' than the narcotized NFR. 

 

I want the confident, deveil-may-care LDR back again, the breezy goddess who was above it all and didn't give an apparent damn what the critics or anyone else thought. Far from being a 'Lolita lost in the Hood,' the early LDR was a strong, dynamic woman and individual, who could be vulnerable and philosophical--as on the BTD title track, 'Bel Air,' 'Yayo' and on 'Old Money'--or absolutely crushing, as on 'Cola' and 'West Coast.' 

[daphnedinkley 12,396]

People tend to forget that safe doesn’t necessarily mean bad

 

also this. the lyrics to Venice Bitch aren't anything wild or crazy but their simplicity really works and makes the song beautiful and slice-of-life in a kind of melancholic way

[Vertimus 8,917]

NFR is her safest album and that's why I think the critics liked it so much. For me this album is the equivalent of Lana saying "hey look I'm a good girl!" giving the critics everything they wanted. Of course the album has its moments (I don't think NFR and Hope are 100% safe) but for the most part the album feels too calculated. That being said, NFR is an amazing album and Lana and Jack did a really good work and it deserves all the praise it got, but I hope she goes a different route with COCC.

 

EXACTLY. She realized, finally, what the 'fake Woke people' and 'fake Woke critics' wanted from her and gave it to them. She appeased them and hit the nail on the head. They knew she was kissing their bums, and so gave her their approbation. They were controlling her, as they wanted to. They tamed her, heeled her. 

 

I don't see 'VB' as being unsafe from a certain vantage, because it was a little safe snippet of a song that Jack then created a 7-minute instrumental for.   

[Veinsineon 70,500]

It’s not the lyrics on NFR it’s the mixing and production that weigh it down. Get it right.

[Lemonade Tears 1,574]

But the lyrics for most of the rest of the album are flaccid and toothless, and I don't think that the "you fucked me so hard I almost said I love you" lyrics came across the way LDR hoped they would. I feel like rolling my eyes when I hear them. I still feel like most of the album could have been written by LDR in her sleep; the songwriting, for me, was very, very lazy, like 'C,' 'CG' and 'FIILY.' 

Omg I thought I was the only one who hates that line! Completely agree with the rest of your post as well.

I don't think NFR was that safe. Venice Bitch in general, a 10 minute song as Track 3? Calling the album Norman Fucking Rockwell? The lyrics to Fuck It I Love You? I understand that sonically it's a little more loose and relaxed with not as many dramatic moments, but if you think Lana is safe I can't imagine how boring other artists are in comparison.

 

That said, I do want her to get completely unhinged on Chemtrails. I want her to be as raw and experimental as she can. She's already in hot water with all the morons on Twitter, she might as well say "Fuck it" and really do what she wants to do.

Music is dominated by rap and hip hop right now. Saying fuck isn't shocking or even slightly surprising anymore. Also what lyrics in FILY do you mean? But I agree with the second part, I hope she doesn't let the past drama get to her. I'd love something really experimental and some risky lyrics!

[99centlips 8,518]

Omg I thought I was the only one who hates that line! Completely agree with the rest of your post as well.

Music is dominated by rap and hip hop right now. Saying fuck isn't shocking or even slightly surprising anymore. Also what lyrics in FILY do you mean? But I agree with the second part, I hope she doesn't let the past drama get to her. I'd love something really experimental and some risky lyrics!

i also have a strong unexplainable distaste for that line. it’s so off putting idk? and the fact that she was so proud of it lol. kinda ruined the song for me.

[strange weather 1,950]

Full agree. NFR is a chore to sit through, at least for me. I greatly prefer LFL, with all its failings. At least it has more 'real moments' than the narcotized NFR. 

 

I want the confident, deveil-may-care LDR back again, the breezy goddess who was above it all and didn't give an apparent damn what the critics or anyone else thought. Far from being a 'Lolita lost in the Hood,' the early LDR was a strong, dynamic woman and individual, who could be vulnerable and philosophical--as on the BTD title track, 'Bel Air,' 'Yayo' and on 'Old Money'--or absolutely crushing, as on 'Cola' and 'West Coast.' 

 

You said it all. I'm hoping she gives up the woke/pc bullshit and makes interesting art again that may piss some people off. Not for the sake of being controversial, but for the sake of being honest and free.