Blue Banisters - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[Let the Light In 18,642]

Omg

 

 

 

[Make me your Dream Life 87,782]

So don’t take it so badly hopefully just thinking about it figuratively, but sometimes I like to think that the banisters are a euphemism for “ribs”, as to how they’re a part of you and sometimes it takes time to heal 

[Lana Del Dufrene 10,640]

Why do people hate on blue banisters so much? I mean it’s not good, but It’s not that bad either.

[5adboy 5,015]

8 minutes ago, ts2003 said:

Why do people hate on blue banisters so much? I mean it’s not good, but It’s not that bad either.

There are a few reasons:

1. Most fans were expecting a "revenge album" with a big rollout/production/budget, after she responded to the accusations regarding glamorizing abuse and cultural appropriation 

2. It was released too close to Chemtrails, and it felt rushed

3. Majority of the songs are ballads

4. It's the album with the most leaked/unreleased songs (Dealer, Thunder, and the UV outtakes)

 

Personally I think the album it's her worst, but still a good body of work though. She should have waited until 2022 to release it; including a couple more new songs (Loved You Then and Now), at least one high budget music video, and a decent photoshoot (I love the album cover but the other pics are average)

[Lana Del Dufrene 10,640]

26 minutes ago, 5adboy said:

There are a few reasons:

1. Most fans were expecting a "revenge album" with a big rollout/production/budget, after she responded to the accusations regarding glamorizing abuse and cultural appropriation 

2. It was released too close to Chemtrails, and it felt rushed

3. Majority of the songs are ballads

4. It's the album with the most leaked/unreleased songs (Dealer, Thunder, and the UV outtakes)

 

Personally I think the album it's her worst, but still a good body of work though. She should have waited until 2022 to release it; including a couple more new songs (Loved You Then and Now), at least one high budget music video, and a decent photoshoot (I love the album cover but the other pics are average)

Oop, yeah I can see why people don’t like this album.

[Make me your Dream Life 87,782]

still my favorite album. those who get it, get it. 

[Lana Del Dufrene 10,640]

4 minutes ago, Make me your Dream Life said:

still my favorite album. those who get it, get it. 

Fair, I honestly just wish that if she was gonna use the 3 uv outtakes that she would’ve changed them up production wise. 

[heroindealer 11,041]

18 minutes ago, Make me your Dream Life said:

still my favorite album. those who get it, get it. 

i wish instead of cherry blossom and nectar she released wild one and if i die young  wild one right after dealer and if i die young between wildflower and living legend (which i wouldn’t be mad if she replaced with UFB and placed it after IYLDWM )

[Make me your Dream Life 87,782]

35 minutes ago, ts2003 said:

Fair, I honestly just wish that if she was gonna use the 3 uv outtakes that she would’ve changed them up production wise. 

See that’s the thing tho isn’t it. Bc she did the whole fan album with LFL, and with how this forum loves to pivot - fans praise unreleased tracks to the point of worship, but when it gets released it’s another story, details here n there, and even if she lost the tracks, releasing them as is fits the theme of being who she is, not what everyone expects and wants her to be. 
 

This album is a revenge album. So many people stay in more heated mindsets and they get lost in it, and she contrasts this by for the most part, keeping composed and going inward.

 

She strips what the public frames her in, intergenerational trauma, public narratives, relationships with men to finding wholeness within and of herself, the difficult relationship she’s had with her own mother affecting her own personhood to cleansing that, and on top of that, being able to find the courage and strength of instead of spreading pain, chooses to be loving and nurtures. 
 

I don’t think a lot of people today even still realize that. Bc it doesn’t fit some kind of edginess, or it doesn’t have many bangers (jargon jargon), people find it dull, but it’s honestly just a reflector on where someone might be when it comes to their own personhood and layers of self awareness and knowing. 
 

We’re used to people’s opinion being treasured expectantly and entitledly, but at the end of the day when you strip things to the bottomline, you’ve got an artist sharing more tender offerings. That’s just incredibly brave and it’s never so much about us, and yes the relationship btwn art and audience, but I think it takes a certain fortitude and finesse to realize that she’s been wanting to be understood for a long time. Not to be thought of binarily, but to just have a safe space where she’s allowed a little more patience than what’s she might’ve been deprived of for so long. Her fanbase no less. So she did it for herself. 
 

Focus that on personal experiences in your own life, and it can connect so beautifully. Yes you might find it boring bc what she wants for herself might be this wrote about thing of wanting kids/ family a simpler life, but it's more so of reclaiming yourself and living your own life, however you want to. That's another thing people seem to miss (to seemingly berate her for that shows a kind of double standard when all she's ever wanted to do was be herself). 
 

This isn’t directed directly towards you, I’m just passionate in defending this album and how it’s a real treasure that’s often misunderstood or written off for not fulfilling some kind of standard, when in reality, it IS it's own kind of standard and work. 
 

Just cus it seems soft or sweet, doesn’t mean that it didn’t take hell for it experienced, and what more, if the latter, how amazing is it to have very much retained it’s very essence and despite what she’s had to’ve carried for so long. It’s a dissipating, dispelling and disarmingly beautiful thing, only if you’ve found the secret of being aware of it.

[Lana Del Dufrene 10,640]

10 minutes ago, Make me your Dream Life said:

See that’s the thing tho isn’t it. Bc she did the whole fan album with LFL, and with how this forum loves to pivot - fans praise unreleased tracks to the point of worship, but when it gets released it’s another story, details here n there, and even if she lost the tracks, releasing them as is fits the theme of being who she is, not what everyone expects and wants her to be. 
 

This album is a revenge album. So many people stay in more heated mindsets and they get lost in it, and she contrasts this by for the most part, keeping composed and going inward.

 

She strips what the public frames her in, intergenerational trauma, public narratives, relationships with men to finding wholeness within and of herself, the difficult relationship she’s had with her own mother affecting her own personhood to cleansing that, and on top of that, being able to find the courage and strength of instead of spreading pain, chooses to be loving and nurtures. 
 

I don’t think a lot of people today even still realize that. Bc it doesn’t fit some kind of edginess, or it doesn’t have many bangers (jargon jargon), people find it dull, but it’s honestly just a reflector on where someone might be when it comes to their own personhood and layers of self awareness and knowing. 
 

We’re used to people’s opinion being treasured expectantly and entitledly, but at the end of the day when you strip things to the bottomline, you’ve got an artist sharing more tender offerings. That’s just incredibly brave and it’s never so much about us, and yes the relationship btwn art and audience, but I think it takes a certain fortitude and finesse to realize that she’s been wanting to be understood for a long time. Not to be thought of binarily, but to just have a safe space where she’s allowed a little more patience than what’s she might’ve been deprived of for so long. Her fanbase no less. So she did it for herself. 
 

Focus that on personal experiences in your own life, and it can connect so beautifully. Yes you might find it boring bc what she wants for herself might be this wrote about thing of wanting kids/ family a simpler life, but it's more so of reclaiming yourself and living your own life, however you want to. That's another thing people seem to miss (to seemingly berate her for that shows a kind of double standard when all she's ever wanted to do was be herself). 
 

This isn’t directed directly towards you, I’m just passionate in defending this album and how it’s a real treasure that’s often misunderstood or written off for not fulfilling some kind of standard, when in reality, it IS it's own kind of standard and work. 
 

Just cus it seems soft or sweet, doesn’t mean that it didn’t take hell for it experienced, and what more, if the latter, how amazing is it to have very much retained it’s very essence and despite what she’s had to’ve carried for so long. It’s a dissipating, dispelling and disarmingly beautiful thing, only if you’ve found the secret of being aware of it.

I get it, I just personally feel that the uv outtakes that leaked and were put on bb felt out of place, and if she wasn’t gonna rework them (like she did thunder) then she should’ve saved them for another project (aka unreleased album project that she keeps teasing)

[Make me your Dream Life 87,782]

Just now, ts2003 said:

I get it, I just personally feel that the uv outtakes that leaked and were put on bb felt out of place, and if she wasn’t gonna rework them (like she did thunder) then she should’ve saved them for another project (aka unreleased album project that she keeps teasing)

knowing her, part of it's probably out of spite ngl. 

but also, thematically, people also forget how amazingly satirical and sarcastic Lana can be. exhibit A, her re-work of TNBAR in NFR, that can be seen as vapid/ but totally fits the overall theme of what kind of man Norman might be, to that clearing into figuring out more so of what she wanted, and not being caught up in a man, more so like him. 

I personally think they fit the album's theme, and at least personally, them being the same sorta honors her artistry by simultaneously having them stay the same, while meaning something more supercharged and new to cohabit this record's themes. 

[Lana Del Dufrene 10,640]

Just now, Make me your Dream Life said:

knowing her, part of it's probably out of spite ngl. 

but also, thematically, people also forget how amazingly satirical and sarcastic Lana can be. exhibit A, her re-work of TNBAR in NFR, that can be seen as vapid/ but totally fits the overall theme of what kind of man Norman might be, to that clearing into figuring out more so of what she wanted, and not being caught up in a man, more so like him. 

I personally think they fit the album's theme, and at least personally, them being the same sorta honors her artistry by simultaneously having them stay the same, while meaning something more supercharged and new to cohabit this record's themes. 

I Never thought of it like that. That’s actually kinda cool

[shadesofblue 15,448]

1 hour ago, ts2003 said:

Why do people hate on blue banisters so much? I mean it’s not good, but It’s not that bad either.

I actually love this album a lot, I think people just don’t get it which is fair. I love a lot of the songs, but it’s prob her least cohesive album. So I understand why people don’t like it as an album. 

[Vertimus 9,555]

15 hours ago, Make me your Dream Life said:

See that’s the thing tho isn’t it. Bc she did the whole fan album with LFL, and with how this forum loves to pivot - fans praise unreleased tracks to the point of worship, but when it gets released it’s another story, details here n there, and even if she lost the tracks, releasing them as is fits the theme of being who she is, not what everyone expects and wants her to be. 
 

This album is a revenge album. So many people stay in more heated mindsets and they get lost in it, and she contrasts this by for the most part, keeping composed and going inward.

 

She strips what the public frames her in, intergenerational trauma, public narratives, relationships with men to finding wholeness within and of herself, the difficult relationship she’s had with her own mother affecting her own personhood to cleansing that, and on top of that, being able to find the courage and strength of instead of spreading pain, chooses to be loving and nurtures. 
 

I don’t think a lot of people today even still realize that. Bc it doesn’t fit some kind of edginess, or it doesn’t have many bangers (jargon jargon), people find it dull, but it’s honestly just a reflector on where someone might be when it comes to their own personhood and layers of self awareness and knowing. 
 

We’re used to people’s opinion being treasured expectantly and entitledly, but at the end of the day when you strip things to the bottomline, you’ve got an artist sharing more tender offerings. That’s just incredibly brave and it’s never so much about us, and yes the relationship btwn art and audience, but I think it takes a certain fortitude and finesse to realize that she’s been wanting to be understood for a long time. Not to be thought of binarily, but to just have a safe space where she’s allowed a little more patience than what’s she might’ve been deprived of for so long. Her fanbase no less. So she did it for herself. 
 

Focus that on personal experiences in your own life, and it can connect so beautifully. Yes you might find it boring bc what she wants for herself might be this wrote about thing of wanting kids/ family a simpler life, but it's more so of reclaiming yourself and living your own life, however you want to. That's another thing people seem to miss (to seemingly berate her for that shows a kind of double standard when all she's ever wanted to do was be herself). 
 

This isn’t directed directly towards you, I’m just passionate in defending this album and how it’s a real treasure that’s often misunderstood or written off for not fulfilling some kind of standard, when in reality, it IS it's own kind of standard and work. 
 

Just cus it seems soft or sweet, doesn’t mean that it didn’t take hell for it experienced, and what more, if the latter, how amazing is it to have very much retained it’s very essence and despite what she’s had to’ve carried for so long. It’s a dissipating, dispelling and disarmingly beautiful thing, only if you’ve found the secret of being aware of it.

Beautifully said. I agree. I find it hilarious that it's thought her worst album by some, though I accept it and it's a fair enough opinion.

 

For me, it's leagues better than Ocean Boulevard, which I find redundant (Sweet, Fishtail, and The Grants especially), maudlin (the title track), badly produced and vocally shrill in parts (Grandfather), and self-sabotaging (Margaret would have been much better without the spoken outro). Taco Truck, to me the most interesting song on the album, seems like a wasted opportunity by merging into VB. 

 

BB has to be looked at objectively as an album, not as a record that was released too soon after COCC. 

 

I don't care for the BB title track, wish the unreleased tracks had been cleaned up or remastered, prefer the earlier version of Thunder, and the Ennio Morricone track doesn't serve a purpose, but Arcadia, BBS, IFLDWM, WFWF, Textbook, and VFR are fantastic, and certainly more invigorating than Let Me Love You Like A Woman or TJF, for example. Beautiful, to me, is not offensive and something like the milder tracks on NFR! Sweet Carolina is perhaps too personal a song to be wildly appreciated, but I think we can all understand if not directly relate to its lyrics. 

 

I realize some find the BLM lyric in TB exploitive, superficial, or in bad taste, but I don't personally. She's writing of her time, just as she refers to the pandemic in BBS and VFR. 

 

I'm glad Lana shared what she did on WFWF—it's pretty scathing to me, and, as a piece of songwriting, one of her best. Like Hope, it elevates her as a songwriter, even if, again, not everyone can see themselves in its words (I can). 

 

As a revenge album, she certainly does get some revenge on Arcadia, BBS, and WFWF. I expected more revenge too, but I like what I've found. 

I predominantly look for beauty and melody, and the subtle but pure melodies of IYLDWM and VFR are among her best for me. I'm glad BBS is on the pop side, just as WAH was on COCC. A little levity is a good thing. 

 

There's always a lot of sociology going on on Lanaboards, and it's true that members often express love for unreleased tracks until they're officially released and then the knives come out for them. 

 

I think BB has a bad rep on Lanaboards because of sociology and mass influence. As I've said before, I would love to learn what members would think about a particular song or album over time if they were unable to access the internet and Lanaboard and had, over a period of weeks or months, to come to their own conclusions about a record. I think we'd see a different outcome, maybe a very different outcome, than "NFR! is hands-down Lana's best!" and a lot of the other opinions we typically see expressed over and over and over. 

 

My apologies for accidentally posting it before I had finished. 

[Pico Ocean Boulevard 41,089]

Nectar Of The Gods always had and always will have a special place in my heart  and it kinda hurts me to see it is one of the least streamed songs on the album But having it on streaming services and on vinyl is still a win even if it's a YouTube rip

[honey dew 11,776]

Why did she tell us to listen to Arcadia like we listened to video games but then she said she didn't want anyone to listen to this album? 

[ever 1,435]

i've been so obsessed with nectar of the gods recentely, i hope there's somenthig that sounds like it on lasso

[rightofjupiter 16,591]

On 3/14/2024 at 6:19 PM, Ocean Boulevard said:

Nectar Of The Gods always had and always will have a special place in my heart  and it kinda hurts me to see it is one of the least streamed songs on the album But having it on streaming services and on vinyl is still a win even if it's a YouTube rip

 

one of my all time fav lana songs tbh, the longing is so palpable

[Vertimus 9,555]

What a great album, I am still not tired of it. 

[brandon 13,317]

sometimes i remember cherry blossom is now an officially released part of her discography and im like wow that’s crazy