What was your reaction of the BTD to UV transition?

[Dominikx4 25,007]

i wasnt a Lana fan pre-UV. ive only heard the singles prior

 

i ended up listening to UV expecting a record thats even more pop than the BTD songs ive known, essentially thinking id dislike it, but whew. it really caught me off guard and thats how i became a stan 

[IanadeIrey 60,517]

I was so excited and beyond thrilled. I have always loved classic rock and the music that came out of the 60s/70s in general, so naturally, I was completely enamoured and captivated as Ultraviolence was coming out. I didn’t really have any pre-conceived notions or expectations about what she’d do next, but if I had any, the record definitely would have shattered them all in the best way possible. Following Blake’s somewhat-Hendrix-inspired arrangements on the Paradise Tour, a seed was definitely planted in the back of my mind regarding a rockier sound from Lana. 

[godsmonster 13,765]

i didn't like it at first. I was so hooked to the BTD era sound, it legit was like drugs to my ears.

I was a senior in high school (and grounded until when i moved out at 18) but everytime I went to my friends house i'd use her laptop and try to find any info on WC (i became a fan March 2014)

When WC came out I loved it from what I recall

but when UV came out I really didn't vibe with it, but it quickly grew on me. Summer 2014 was defined by personal freedom and Lana Del Rey. West Coast remains one of my favorite songs by her

It was't until about four years after WC release that I realized the album version and single version were different. Also the radio version is so amazing ugh

I'll always want that BTD vibe to come back. I think she could really make it so much better now, with so much under her belt

[Girl in Bel Air 1,672]

I actually liked the songs and had no problem. Around that time i was kind of venturing into more alternative rock music so that came out at a perfect time. The only thing i remember being disappointed about: the music video for ultraviolence. It was cute, but i really wanted something more grand. Although BTD is special, I think UV is more classic and I relate to it more as I age.

[honeybadger 40,620]

paradise and the paradise tour really bridges the gap between btd and uv 

[drugmunny 8,711]

 

2 minutes ago, honeybadger said:

paradise and the paradise tour really bridges the gap between btd and uv 

ITS TRUE

never thought ab it like that but it was for sure an aesthetic transition period + her covering heart shaped box on tour was like a little hint she was going rock

[West Coast 44,779]

I was a big fan of 'Born to Die', then 'Paradise', both of these were on repeat from mid 2012 all the way through mid 2014, but I think I went from fan to stan when she dropped 'Ultraviolence'. Granted, I'm not the most avid pop listener, but I did enjoy the album and EP a great deal, 'Ultraviolence' just cemented how I felt about her as an artist. I will never get over how shook I was listening to 'West Coast' the first time. I remember waking up at 5am to listen to it when it got release, being fascinated, going back to sleep, then proceeding to listen to that song on a continuous loop for weeks. To this day, this is the only song that I was obsessed with from the first listen, I usually like her songs or they grow on me over the first initial listens, but 'West Coast' had me enthralled from the getgo. 

[drugmunny 8,711]

i remember listening to UV waiting for a song to hit immediately and the only ones that did were west coast and florida kilos

i was initially disappointed after that first listen bc it was really a change from BTD where every song has radio power

ofc it grew on me really quickly but it just makes me laugh to think ab that now that UV has aged gloriously and BTD less so

[Gravitate 3,918]

Ultraviolence wasn’t disappointing for me at all. I was pretty young and a new fan when it came out, so I wasn’t so used to the BTD sound that it would completely catch me off guard. The first song from the album I heard was West Coast (obviously lol) and I really loved it. I remember being obsessed with Brooklyn Baby, Ultraviolence, and Shades of Cool that whole summer. Still to this day one of my favorite albums from Lana 

[TheBoss 13,223]

I remember fucking loving it and trying to get my friends into it lol UV was such a step up for me at that time that it kinda made me a BTD hater for a while lol, I was such a dub fuck back then

[LanaRayDelMar 2,695]

Wasn't a fan of it at first because the Born To Die era felt so short. I wanted to see what else she could give the world with the grande sound of BTD. That Ultraviolence sound in the summer hit different and when Honeymoon came around we thought she was going back to that sound but that never happened

[KingJay 2,959]

The first album I ever heard from Lana was UV. The first song I ever officially and really heard from her is Westcoast. I was shooooook. I felt like i discovered gold or something lol. I was scared that it was going to be the only song of hers that I would like, but nope. After West coast I listened to UV and then Shades of Cool and etc. I fell in love with the whole album and thought that Lana was some grunge rock emo cool girl lol. Idk how to explain it. Anyway, after I listened to UV I moved backwards to BTD and was shocked at the huge sound difference, but I still loved BTD. But UV has a special place in my heart, that I don't believe any other album will be able to capture. Another album that comes close to UV and BTD is The PinkPrint by Nicki Minaj lol. For me UV and TPP are related, because I discovered UV all while waiting for TPP to drop back in December 2014. I needed new music to hold me over during the wait, and boom I discovered Lana

[TrashMagiq 55,292]

I remember hearing West Coast for the first time on a youtube vid of her Coachella set & I did not like it lol. I was like 12 and not aware of anything so I didn’t really have that much of a reaction to the change in sound, I just remember being like hmm idk about this one... I do remember finding the whole new aesthetic very badass tho lmao. Then when the other singles came out I was so obsessed with them, especially Shades of Cool like that was my Song like I was so blown away by it it was the best thing I ever heard. Ended up loving the album, but for some reason West Coast was just at the bottom for me.. It became a fav like 2 years later tho. Kinda wild cause now it’s literally one of my all time favorite songs.

[OverYourHead 6,090]

I hated it at first but most of the songs grew on me and you can’t deny WC’s impact but I still don’t think the album is her best work and it has one of her worst songs on it

[details 15,282]

i really became a fan when tropico dropped so i welcomed it! i knew she was up to something good but WOW  UV was beyond any expectations anyone could possibly have… i was OBSESSED, it was the only thing i would listen to day & night, it's still my favorite til this day! 

[love deluxe 8,494]

west coast was one of the first few lana songs i’d heard, after summertime sadness, video games, dark paradise, and burning desire all had me hooked as a casual listener. i remember going on spotify and searching her up after hearing all those songs, and west coast was her most recent release. i played it, and i knew from that moment on i was gonna become obsessed with her. and then i heard brooklyn baby once that dropped and was just absolutely engulfed in her music by that point. honeymoon was the first album i listened to on release day but ultraviolence was when i knew i was a fan. <3

[viktoria 3,149]

i was shocked but also amazed at the same time since most music i listened to at that time was electronic pop music

[Fart Deco 12,586]

For me the hype between Paradise and UV was huuuge! I was a fan since the fall of 2011, when I discovered Video Games, Blue Jeans and some of her unreleased songs (such as Kinda Outta Luck and You Can Be the Boss), then when the album dropped I became a full on stan I think, but I only started lurking on forums during the wait for UV (when I discovered LB, probably)... I remember that when she posted on Twitter the pic of her sitting on Dan's lap after months of silence I was electrified! And so I was when she casually tweeted the title of the first single, denying it was Meet Me in the Pale Moonlight.

After the Paradise EP I was expecting a grungier rockish era and when WC dropped I wasn't disappointed even tho the song took some time to grow on me because of the tempo change (now it's my fave song of hers and I think it's one of the best songs ever recorded).

When the album dropped I was already into the mood she set with the (promo) singles, the videos and the album trailer, so I've loved it from the get-go...

As for others, I remember some fans being disappointed by the repetitiveness of the choruses (compared to the BTD ones) more than by the switch in genre... even tho some stans later ditched her for H-word's Ratlands which was basically a BTD rehash attempt...

[Veinsineon 70,237]

Reminiscing on the Ultraviolence era LDR Instagram. What a time to be alive

[SlowGinFizzzz 15,305]

It actually felt like a very organic transition to me, even though it was quite a change in sound. Like, some of the Paradise Tour versions were already pretty rock-ish and guitar-heavy, so songs like West Coast or Cruel World just made perfect sense. And personally, Ultraviolence didn't take me any longer to get into than Born To Die or Paradise did. Also, I spent a month in California that summer, so obviously I was feeling that West Coast vibe lol.

 

For me, the transition that was pretty hard to digest was Ultraviolence -> Honeymoon. If you think about it, both Born To Die (and Paradise) and Ultraviolence featured big production, it's just that they're different genres. Honeymoon, on the other hand, was so stripped back and slow in comparison. At first I only really liked HBTB, MTWBT and especially The Blackest Day; everything else literally took me months to get into, and even today there are songs that I hardly ever listen to (or only listen to the demos because they're just light years better – looking at you, Freak and GKIT).