Blue Banisters - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[cherrytropico 10,118]

bb is my 3rd fave lana album and i will not be tolerating the slander. some of you bitches haven’t healed yet so you can’t appreciate the vibes on it. meanwhile i was meditating at the park to violets for roses   it’s such a peaceful album, i remember i was having an anxiety attack and arcadia just calmed me down so much. plus to most people, the songs on it were new. the only unreleased songs i recognized were cherry blossom & nectar of the gods 

[Vertimus 8,943]

BB would most likely have been a great album if she had left off the leaked tracks and replaced them with the songs that the leakers said were originally produced for the album. As much as many of us like or love the leaked songs as songs, we've heard them a 100 times before, 1,000 times before. Not remastering them was a boner move. At least now those tracks have a wider audience, which they deserve. 

 

While I'm not a fan of the title track, I love or like everything else produced for the album (except 'The Trio'). To me, 'Dealer' comes across as a novelty track, but BBS, VFR, IYLDWM, and 'Arcadia' are really wonderful, optimistic, and relatively light in tone. TB and WFWF show her growth as a songwriter, and the 'Black Lives Matter' shout out doesn't bother me any more than the timely references to COVID on the album. It's of its time. It's one of my favorites. 

[Ultraviolencequeen 2,513]

I can’t slander BB when it has wildflower , Arcadia, BBS, and BB on it - I think Cocc had amazing potential and felt unfinished and rushed, a bit uninspired halfway through and BB was similar. I think this upcoming album is going to be unflawed and iconic

[Vertimus 8,943]

To me, there is no perfect Lana album. So I can't throw mud at BB for not being 'perfect.' Expecting 'perfect' from any album by any artist is just a set-up for disappointment. I don't think I can think of a 'perfect' album by any artist, older or contemporary, not in my opinion. 

[Fingertips 72,117]

1 minute ago, Vertimus said:

To me, there is no perfect Lana album. So I can't throw mud at BB for not being 'perfect.' Expecting 'perfect' from any album by any artist is just a set-up for disappointment. I don't think I can think of a 'perfect' album by any artist, older or contemporary, not in my opinion. 

Agreed. For me, every Lana album so far has career highlights on it, and that's the most important part for me. If I don't like a particular album (Paradise, Lust for Life, and kind of Chemtrails for me), I know that I'll have great songs come out from each project regardless.

[mssainttropez 13,409]

18 minutes ago, Fingertips said:

Slander Blue Banisters again and you'll be sentenced to the electric chai 

bb makes it into my top 3 lana albums yall 

[Vertimus 8,943]

Just now, Fingertips said:

Agreed. For me, every Lana album so far has career highlights on it, and that's the most important part for me. If I don't like a particular album (Paradise, Lust for Life, and kind of Chemtrails for me), I know that I'll have great songs come out from each project regardless.

 

Absolutely. If I find 3-4 songs on a new album I love, then I'm more than satisfied. If I find more, then all the better.

 

So far, from my POV, the new album seems to have a dark, ingrown vibe that makes me apprehensive, but we'll know nothing factual until another single drops, or an album sampler. I'd like it not to have an 'ingrown,' 'looking in' quality, but it will be what Lana wanted it to be. I'm sure there will be a number of tracks that I really like. 

[Terrence Loves Me 71,691]

23 hours ago, West Coast said:

I'm sorry but I think that's a bit of a foregone conclusion. "Omg this album was pure trash!!!1!" to you maybe? I guess I'll be the stan trying to defend Blue Banisters at least a tiny bit. 
 

Not saying it's her best, it was obviously put together rather quickly and it wasn't really an original album in the sense that most songs weren't meant for the album to begin with and had been recorded years ago. I reckon that production wise, the so-called original songs are some of the finest she has released in years. The title track alone is one of her most earnest to date too like... 

 

It was a cute, rushed album, and while it's not a career defining one, that "pure trash" comment is really irksome. Lana stans just love trashing the last album during the pre-release of the next, it's kinda tired. 

Thank you!! The blue banisters hate is tiring. None of her albums are bad in any way. I think if any album deserves a side eye, it's Chemtrails

The first three songs of Blue banisters are gut wrenching, with blue banisters being one of the best songs she's ever made. Such an underrated gem.

[ultrabanisters 37,147]

On 1/15/2023 at 3:41 PM, ldrcultleader said:

Everything we heard so far sounded better than anything from BB.

 

Even some hardcore Lana stans couldn’t deny the fact that BB was pure trash.

(it’s fine if you like it for what it is, a random collection of cute songs)

i've been a stan since 2012 and a 'hardcore' stan since 2013 and blue banisters is one of my favourite records from her. blue banisters (song) alone is to me one of her best releases, and the original songs written for the album are (as another user said) some of her finest

 

it's fine that you don't like the album (i really dislike nfr which most of you think is her best) but to say its pure trash is so unnecessary lol. theres a way to display your dislike without being disrespectful 

[West Coast 44,806]

11 minutes ago, Terrence Loves Me said:

Thank you!! The blue banisters hate is tiring. None of her albums are bad in any way. I think if any album deserves a side eye, it's Chemtrails

The first three songs of Blue banisters are gut wrenching, with blue banisters being one of the best songs she's ever made. Such an underrated gem.

Miss worst taste actually coming through with impeccable taste and delicious freshly brewed tea! 

[palemoonbaby 13,466]

fact i associate BB with warm sumny autumn with some wind and weather was like that at day release at place where i live

[x VB 12,512]

I just came back to this version of Arcadia and noticed how they used the same vocal takes as the album version in some parts of the "performance". Could it be a demo with scrapped takes?

 

[taco truck 28,740]

Textbook would be one of the best songs on the album if it wasn't for that god-awful tone deaf BLM lyric

[Veinsineon 70,613]

On 1/8/2023 at 12:55 AM, PatentLeatherDoOver said:

I just noticed the voice saying, “Okay,” at the beginning of Sweet Carolina

It’s rob 

15 minutes ago, taco truck said:

Textbook would be one of the best songs on the album if it wasn't for that god-awful tone deaf BLM lyric

Just takes me out of the song every time. 

[taco truck 28,740]

On a BB hate train today, but I really cannot get over the off beat random cymbals in Black Bathing Suit... the love for that song will forever be an enigma to me

[ByDayAnother 1,862]

On 1/19/2023 at 8:39 PM, taco truck said:

On a BB hate train today, but I really cannot get over the off beat random cymbals in Black Bathing Suit... the love for that song will forever be an enigma to me

Compositionally it taps into the history of jazz, which antagonised (and revolutionised) the structuralism of what we refer to as classical music. Furthermore, conceptually, the rhythm, as in, the foundation of the song, is bursting at its seams, the lattice of the clothing’s fabric breaking, unravelling, which invokes the image of the black bathing suit being the only thing that fits her, her weight fluctuating just like the time signature of the song multiple times throughout, before totally melting away by the end. It’s just chaos.

 

I hope that didn’t sound like mansplaining, I adore this song, it’s among my favourites of hers, but I can totally understand why people wouldn’t enjoy it - our brains are pattern-making machines, hence why we find music enjoyable because it’s a self-resolving sonic pattern. The change in the pattern is inherently uncomfortable - but not without reason.

 

On a separate note - I actually love Beautiful. It can be argued that it is trite, and if I’m in the wrong mood listening I can actually agree. But the run-on sentence and melody is, singing-wise, from a technical point of view I think, genuinely impressive. My one critique is, in line with the following song Violets For Roses, I wish she sang “Beautiful like me” as opposed to “beautiful like you”, as it would drive home that her sadness is part of her, part of the package of her experience and is part of her process, and whilst painful, has its narrative place.

 

love u bb, you’re messy, but it’s cause you’re cooking up the ongoing push in lana’s songwriting craft

[evalionisameme 13,513]

 I like blue banisters but it’s got some very middling songwriting to me- it’s pros for me are lanas vocal talents on Arcadia and the mixing while lacking in mastering/muffled has the guitars, other instruments etc more in front-I also like it’s diversity. 

 

a prime example-

Lay your hands on me like you're a Land Rover ??
 

 

[ultrabanisters 37,147]

1 minute ago, evalionisameme said:

a prime example-
Lay your hands on me like you're a Land Rover ??

this lyric is genius idc it can be interpreted so many ways 

[evalionisameme 13,513]

Just now, ultrabanisters said:

this lyric is genius idc it can be interpreted so many ways 

 Cmon it’s a poor oxymoron at best, interpret it for us please 

[Fingertips 72,117]

4 minutes ago, evalionisameme said:

Really? I like blue banisters but it’s got some very middling songwriting to me- it’s pros for me are lanas vocal talents on Arcadia and the mixing while lacking in mastering/muffled has the guitars, other instruments etc more in front-I also like it’s diversity. 

 

a prime example-

Lay your hands on me like you're a Land Rover ??
 

 

WHAT A GENIUS