"Lust for Life" Album Recording/Writing Timeline and Creative Process Discussion

[lanaismamom 11,544]

Just like "«Tropico» discussion thread", I wanted to create a separate thread for a discussion and systematization of Lana's fifth studio album's sessions, that would later become "Lust for Life". Here's a timeline of sessions' development based on facts we know of (if I'm wrong anywhere let me know):
 

Spoiler

Sessions for "Honeymoon" ended in June 2015, but some "Honeymoon" outtakes already were earliest ideas of the sound Lana was aiming for the next record, and after recording the first demo of the song "Lust for Life" in that similar style in early September 2015 the sessions for the fifth studio album began. We know the least about the fifth studio album sessions, given the volume of songs made in that era (Rick Nowels made more songs for "Lust for Life" than he did for any of her other albums, and we only know 19 [of which 15 have just been released)]). But in a December 2015 interview, Lana says, "I already have early thoughts about what I'd like to do with my next album." And from the beginning of 2016, Lana starts making a lot of new music, and by November 2016, the original version of the album was completely finished. During 2015-2016, Lana made the following tracks:

- "Lust for Life" (first version made in September 2015; the track was worked on for a very long time and underwent many structural and sound changes, began to take shape of the version that ended up on the album, presumably, by September 2016, around the time The Weeknd allegedly appeared on the track);
- "Groupie Love" (the track is one of the first written for the album, and was originally a solo song, and was reworked throughout 2015, 2016 and 2017; this track has the most existing versions for a Lana song at 392 mixes);
- "Heroin" (first made in December 2015; one of Lana's favorite tracks made during the "Lust for Life" sessions);
- "Best American Record" (track made in 2016; was supposed to be the second single to the album, but was canceled);
- "Love" (early version was called "Young and in Love"; first made in April 2016; music video was shot in July 2016);
- "13 Beaches" (an early version was made in May 2016 and was called "Something Real," which remains unleaked);
- "Fine China" and "Say Yes to Heaven" (both tracks were send to a number of producers in 2015-2016);
as well as a large number of tracks made with Rick Nowels that remain unknown, and on which Lana has been working for "months" (e.g., "LA Who Am I to Love You").

Alleged tracks made before November 2016:
- "Malibu" (the track would later be reworked into "Get Free");
- "Yosemite" (Lana shared that this is her favorite song made during the "Lust for Life" sessions; was not released on the album because Lana said it was "too happy" for it; the version released on "Chemtrails Over the Country Club" is the original version from the "Lust for Life" sessions);
- "Beautiful People Beautiful Problems" (the track was made in 2014, but would later be released on "Lust for Life"; it is unknown whether the track was on the original version of the album or not, for Stevie Nicks did not appear on the track until March 2017);
- "Tomorrow Never Came" (the track was originally a solo, but Lana originally wanted someone to perform it with her; it is unknown if the track was in the original version of the album or not, for Sean Ono Lennon only appeared on the track in March 2017).
 

In November 2016 Lana shoots a video for the second single of the original album - "Best American Record" (at that time the album was called "Best American Record"). In the same month the elections in the United States of America take place, after that Lana's creative work has become more political. In the same month Lana records her first political song - "God Bless America - and All the Beautiful Women in It". In January 2017, Lana records a second political song, "When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing," which she says she "took out of the tracklist and put back in". In this regard, some changes were made to the original album, as Lana confirmed during a Feb. 24 interview with BBC Radio 2 following the release of the lead single "Love." "I've been writing for the last fifteen months, and I guess at first I thought the whole record would be in the spirit of the '50s/60s, with influences from The Shangri-Las and early Joan Baez, but I don't know, as the political climate got more and more tense, I found that lyrically everything was geared towards that (political changes). Because of that, the sound was just very updated, and I felt it was more about wanting to talk to the younger part of the audience that I have. I think it's a bit more of a socially aware song ("Love"). There's kind of a global feel to it." But the most likely pivotal event in the life of the original album was the leak of the "Best American Record" track online on Feb. 27, 2017. An insider elaborated on the event, "Rich Lee (video producer) was assigned to shoot music videos for the first two "Lust for Life" singles, "Love" and "Best American Record." Sometime in late 2016/early 2017, before the "Best American Record" video was fully done, someone must have either hacked or tricked Rich into getting the video for "Love" as well as the reference audio for the "Best American Record" video. This led to distribution and leakage, which caused massive behind-the-scenes drama and ultimately the rejection of "Best American Record" as a whole. We're lucky the leak happened so late, because who knows, if it had happened sooner, Lana might not have recorded the video at all. It could also be one of the reasons for the changes in the 'Lust for Life' tracklist, but I don't know that."
 

After that, Lana changes the tracklist, subsequently adding new songs that were recorded between March and May. Such tracks are:
 

- "Roses Bloom for You";
- "Tomorrow Never Came" (album version);
- "Beautiful People Beautiful Problems" (album version);
- "Cherry";
- "Coachella - Woodstock in My Mind" (was released as a promotional single; there was a possibility that the track might not appear on the tracklist);
- "In My Feelings";
- "White Mustang" (Lana shared that this was one of the last tracks made for the album).
(Tracks from "The Last Shadow Puppets" were not in consideration for this album, except of, supposedly, "California", as this track was also registered with other album tracks)
Tracks whose recording date is unknown:
- "Summer Bummer";
- "Get Free",
and by May, Lana had the final version of the album formed. On May 27 Lana gives an interview for BBC Radio 1, where she says that there will be 18 tracks on the album (as «Change» wasn't ready back then, we may assume it makes 15 tracks + 3 scrapped tracks, that are "Best American Record" and "Yosemite", that were confirmed to be on the final album, and both were registered along with other album tracks and one unknown track [speculated to be "California (2017)"]).
 

Over the next 2 weeks, Lana starts posting snippets of some songs from the album and was ready to send the album to the label. But on June 8, Lana contacted Rick and said she had an idea for another song to record. They started working on the track at 8 p.m., and by 2 a.m. the track "Change" was complete, making this the last change in the tracklist. The album was shipped to the label the next day, and was officially released on all streaming platforms on July 21, 2017.

The album was supposed to have a follow-up album, that consisted out of outtakes from "Lust for Life" sessions, but Lana scrapped these plans after she met Jack Antonoff. Tracks that were confirmed to be on such project:
- "Best American Record";
- "Silverlake";
and other unknown songs.

This all gives us an approximate timeline of tracklist's changes:
1. After a political climate change;
2. After the leak of "Best American Record";
3. After Lana axed 3 tracks, making from 18 tracks 15 tracks, to which "Change" will later be added as 16th track.

And here are all sessions from June 2015 - June 2017 that we know of so far:
1. "Serene Queen" (the song was made in one day, is a rough demo that was made on earliest "Lust for Life" sessions and was never come back to again);
2. "Best American Record";
3. "Yosemite";
4. "Sugary Sweet" (acapella 30-seconds idea; snippet leaked);
5. "Cry Kill Die" (snippet leaked);
6. "Roses Bloom for You" (originally planned to be an "intro" to the album; most likely, the one-minute audio that Lana shared via Instagram is the entire track);
7. "Everything I Do" (snippet leaked);
8. "Poetry in Motion" (snippet leaked);
9. Unknown Song (snippet: "When you call...");
10. "Say Yes to Heaven" ("Honeymoon" Version; this version firstly was in consideration for a fifth studio album, but later was reworked);
11. "Say Yes to Heaven" (Fred Gibson 2016 Version);
12. "Fine China" (2016 Version);
13. "Silverlake";
14. "LA Who Am I to Love You";
15. "Malibu";
16-19. 4 political outtakes (Lana shared in an interview);
20-22. 4 songs sent to A$AP Rocky for a collaboration (one of them was "Groupie Love");
23-24. 4 unknown songs "left on the cutting room floor" (2 of the songs are presumably "Yosemite" and "Best American Record");
25-... Other "amazing outtakes from 2016"; songs, meant to be on a follow-up album, that consisted out of outtakes from "Lust for Life" sessions.

Alleged tracks:
1. "California" (A "Honeymoon" outtake, insider reported that Lana loved the song and, allegedly, tried to release it on further albums, tried to even make it a single, but this wasn't confirmed);

2. "Wild One" (In 2015, Justin Parker made minimal changes to the original 2012 track "Mike," renamed it "Wild One" and registered with the original version of "Beautiful People Beautiful Problems." But this was done, supposedly, without any purpose, so the track is not an outtake from either "Honeymoon" or "Lust for Life". However, "Beautiful People Beautiful Problems" was later released on "Lust for Life");

[blackenedrussianpoetry 2,439]

Finally… one for Lust for Life. Some people still relentlessly tried digging tropico when that is all there is. 

[Veinsineon 76,785]

Valley Of The Dolls as well

[lanaismamom 11,544]

1 minute ago, Veinsineon said:

Valley Of The Dolls as well

valley of the dolls was later revealed to be from the last shadow puppets sessions with Zach Dawes as a producer

[blackenedrussianpoetry 2,439]

16 minutes ago, lanaismamom said:

the first version of "Lust for Life" recorded September 2015

I still can’t grasp a reasoning of why september when lanz herself said it was the first song ever written of that record

[Veinsineon 76,785]

Also that “Get Dark” snippet… do we know the year?

[lanaismamom 11,544]

1 minute ago, blackenedrussianpoetry said:

I still can’t grasp a reasoning of why september when lanz herself said it was the first song ever written of that record

i think lana decided firmly on concept of lust for life right when she created this song, and this is why she referring to it as the first song, and plus we have confirmation from BOZ that the song was made in september 2015 but before Honeymoon's release

Just now, Veinsineon said:

Also that “Get Dark” snippet… do we know the year?

not yet

[blackenedrussianpoetry 2,439]

23 minutes ago, lanaismamom said:

15 tracks + 3 scrapped tracks, that are "Best American Record" and "Yosemite", that were confirmed to be on the final album, and both were registered along with other album tracks and one unknown track [speculated to be "California (2017)"])

Im guessing roses bloom for you

[BartenderDeco 19,636]

edit the thread title

[lanaismamom 11,544]

1 minute ago, BartenderDeco said:

edit the thread title

2 minutes ago, blackenedrussianpoetry said:

Im guessing roses bloom for you- which she said was originally an intro for the record

could be true! the only thing that keeping me away from thinking so it was never registered anywhere, still a debatable field 

[BartenderDeco 19,636]

the lore for this album is so interesting… anyways LEAK THOSE OUTTAKES

[ImenaOphelia 9,663]

28 minutes ago, lanaismamom said:

the version released on "Chemtrails Over the Country Club" is the original version from the "Lust for Life" sessions

where does this information come from?

[blackenedrussianpoetry 2,439]

2 minutes ago, ImenaOphelia said:

where does this information come from?

Rick nowels and kieron and dean produced and engineered that song. These people are responsible for the technical stuff in lfl

[lanaismamom 11,544]

Just now, ImenaOphelia said:

where does this information come from?

many insiders told so that the released version is the original from lfl, i dont have exact posts but credits all pointing it is and boz a little revealed about it here

 

[The Siren 30,521]

10 minutes ago, BartenderDeco said:

edit the thread title

what did I miss  

[The Siren 30,521]

13 minutes ago, blackenedrussianpoetry said:

Im guessing roses bloom for you- which she said was originally an intro for the record

If RBFY would have been the intro track what would have been track 2? Can't imagine Love transitioning out of RBFY well. 

[blackenedrussianpoetry 2,439]

2 minutes ago, The Siren said:

what did I miss  

It was mistyped “List” then changed to “Lust”

that’s it aha

[lanaismamom 11,544]

im still so interested when exactly were yosemite, malibu/get free and so good/summer bummer made, we have 0 information about it, i suppose that so good started in like march-april 2017

 

[Embach 42,323]

Lately I had a theory, that between August 2015-March 2016, Lana wanted to do a deluxe or some kind of a special version (similar to Paradise) for Honeymoon. I know that Honeymoon was a vanity project but that kind of explains why she was making random songs during Summer/Autumn 2015 like Serene Queen or Cry Kill Die. She wanted to do a special version for Ultraviolence too and it later was formed as Honeymoon. I think Lust For Life album we know as today was formed after the end of her Festival Tour in August 2016/September 2016. Because I remember something that she recorded LFL with Abel in September 2016 (because he had a new haircut or something + they had recorded Stargirl and Party Monster in 2016 too).

[blackenedrussianpoetry 2,439]

5 minutes ago, The Siren said:

If RBFY would have been the intro track what would have been track 2? Can't imagine Love transitioning out of RBFY well. 

I can… in fact i think both works well as intros
it’s conceptual in a way- love is all there is

she’s got love by her side hence the next track that is “love”