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

[Embach 40,944]

When it turns out that Lana sold Gucci to Lil Pump and it was Gucci Gang song all along 

[blackenedrussianpoetry 2,383]

Keep em going/coming!…

[lanaismamom 11,538]

im dreaming of getting info post similar to honeymoons one with all dates of making album tracks.... this album has probably the most complicated and ornate timeline and we know literally nothing 

[Embach 40,944]

1 hour ago, lanaismamom said:

im dreaming of getting info post similar to honeymoons one with all dates of making album tracks.... this album has probably the most complicated and ornate timeline and we know literally nothing 

@Unknown do you have any information like this? No pressure!

[Vertimus 9,547]

On 6/17/2023 at 2:57 AM, lanaismamom said:

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):
 

  Reveal hidden contents

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");

This is brilliant. Thank you. I feel we lost so much, or perhaps a better way of saying it is I feel Lana made some bad decisions. I don't mind Yosemite being cut since we have it now, and though I love 3/4ths of LFL, there's a handful of songs I don't care for, and they're the usual suspects: Coachella, Groupie Love, the bastardized title track, and Change to me seems rushed and underdeveloped, and the she says "beins" instead of "beings" drives me crazy, just as the way she stresses the word "parents" on Coachella. I don't care for Get Free at all. 

 

I actually like In My Feelings, which I know many do not. And then the way she bastardized Best American Record for NFR!, since it was perfect as it was. That Serene Queen was cut still breaks my heart: it, and Cola, are the prototypical LDR songs for me—13 Beaches too. 

[lanaismamom 11,538]

2 hours ago, Vertimus said:

This is brilliant. Thank you. I feel we lost so much, or perhaps a better way of saying it is I feel Lana made some bad decisions. I don't mind Yosemite being cut since we have it now, and though I love 3/4ths of LFL, there's a handful of songs I don't care for, and they're the usual suspects: Coachella, Groupie Love, the bastardized title track, and Change to me seems rushed and underdeveloped, and the she says "beins" instead of "beings" drives me crazy, just as the way she stresses the word "parents" on Coachella. I don't care for Get Free at all. 

 

I actually like In My Feelings, which I know many do not. And then the way she bastardized Best American Record for NFR!, since it was perfect as it was. That Serene Queen was cut still breaks my heart: it, and Cola, are the prototypical LDR songs for me. 

thank u so much i actually feel so many songs that were placed on the album were done on later steps of development of the record when the record was pretty done but as the time went on she managed to get inspired from more and more things and unplanned songs were being appeared fast, such as Coachella - Woodstock in My Mind, Change, When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing, White Mustang, In My Feelings, (she just really wanted to save that current updated vision of the record and honestly i'm not mad at all) and to place them lana had to cut older songs made earlier, the vision kept changing absolutely many times and, mind that, Lana for sure wanted to make exclusively for Lust for Life the whole separate record off of outtakes, meaning there are some really superior cuts, well Best American Record and Yosemite proof that the best, I feel like difference between some earlier concepts to what was released is similar to the difference of Lust for Life first versions to Lust for Life released version in terms of the range of sound, so i’m really here for every crumb of info from this beautiful project, i’m sure as time moves on the project will be appreciated more and more, it is really one of her bester projects and i will die on this hill

[Eugene 26,662]

[Embach 40,944]

1 hour ago, Vertimus said:

the she says "beins" instead of "beings" drives me crazy

But it's very common to do that in songs, like to pronounce words shorter so it would fit the melody more. Lana herself pronounces words sometimes in a "blurry" way, especially when she was singing through a paper sheet, maybe she was actually saying 'beings' but the mastering made it sound like 'beins'.

 

The biggest crime (in terms of...naming things ) she committed then was that TNBAR was called Best American Record at first. That triggered my "grammar OCD", thank god she changed the title, it's always "THE" before the "best".

 

Also @lanaismamom, was NFR version of TNBAR meant for LFL right? Because in June/July 2017 she said that the song is about Topanga and such.

[lanaismamom 11,538]

5 minutes ago, Embach said:

But it's very common to do that in songs, like to pronounce words shorter so it would fit the melody more. Lana herself pronounces words sometimes in a "blurry" way, especially when she was singing through a paper sheet, maybe she was actually saying 'beings' but the mastering made it sound like 'beins'.

 

The biggest crime (in terms of...naming things ) she committed then was that TNBAR was called Best American Record at first. That triggered my "grammar OCD", thank god she changed the title, it's always "THE" before the "best".

 

Also @lanaismamom, was NFR version of TNBAR meant for LFL right? Because in June/July 2017 she said that the song is about Topanga and such.

i am not sure honestly i personally think Best American Record version had always been in consideration for LFLand since we have a confirmation this 6:04 version was supposed to be on lfl outtakes album this also supports this, i think she just retitled this then
but u know u will never know till someone confirms, this is the question that i also always was wondering 

[Vertimus 9,547]

15 minutes ago, Embach said:

But it's very common to do that in songs, like to pronounce words shorter so it would fit the melody more. Lana herself pronounces words sometimes in a "blurry" way, especially when she was singing through a paper sheet, maybe she was actually saying 'beings' but the mastering made it sound like 'beins'.

 

The biggest crime (in terms of...naming things ) she committed then was that TNBAR was called Best American Record at first. That triggered my "grammar OCD", thank god she changed the title, it's always "THE" before the "best".

 

Also @lanaismamom, was NFR version of TNBAR meant for LFL right? Because in June/July 2017 she said that the song is about Topanga and such.

It's still particularly obnoxious to me; it degrades the whole idea of 'people are powerful beings.'

Yes, I know, artists from the birth of blues and rock n' roll do that all the time; Nico and Tori Amos come to mind immediately. They both even added numerous syllables to words on occasion. If it's done artistically or well, I have no problem with it, though Nico in particular was mocked for doing it. 

 

I can't imagine that Best American Record, the NFR version, was the original, and intended for LFL. It's so awkard and gutted. 

[Embach 40,944]

I still think that NFR Version TNBAR was probably for the final version of LFL album. Because the song was made by the same team who worked on other LFL songs and Lana said that Yosemite and TNBAR are sister songs. And both songs are happy songs but the demo of TNBAR is not so happy...

[Eugene 26,662]

my unpopular opinion will always be that I prefer the NFR! version of TNBAR. 

[lanaismamom 11,538]

20 minutes ago, Embach said:

I still think that NFR Version TNBAR was probably for the final version of LFL album. Because the song was made by the same team who worked on other LFL songs and Lana said that Yosemite and TNBAR are sister songs. And both songs are happy songs but the demo of TNBAR is not so happy...

i mean the instrumental stayed the same this is why it is the same team, in terms of being sister songs i think she meant they both are acoustic, and also 6:04 version was extracted from video and actually a video track, and also she still says the phrase the next best american record in early version so im personally convinced by july she just renamed the song but redone chorus much later, otherwise i just refuse to believe that this bad nfr version was actually lfl final😭 it’s how chorus is bad honestly, like a whole let down

[Veinsineon 76,230]

Leak Silverlake and so I can make a cute AI visual for it

[lanaismamom 11,538]

3 minutes ago, Veinsineon said:

Leak Silverlake and so I can make a cute AI visual for it

my literally no. 1 on my hot list of unleaked material

[Vertimus 9,547]

2 hours ago, lanaismamom said:

thank u so much i actually feel so many songs that were placed on the album were done on later steps of development of the record when the record was pretty done but as the time went on she managed to get inspired from more and more things and unplanned songs were being appeared fast, such as Coachella - Woodstock in My Mind, Change, When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing, White Mustang, In My Feelings, (she just really wanted to save that current updated vision of the record and honestly i'm not mad at all) and to place them lana had to cut older songs made earlier, the vision kept changing absolutely many times and, mind that, Lana for sure wanted to make exclusively for Lust for Life the whole separate record off of outtakes, meaning there are some really superior cuts, well Best American Record and Yosemite proof that the best, I feel like difference between some earlier concepts to what was released is similar to the difference of Lust for Life first versions to Lust for Life released version in terms of the range of sound, so i’m really here for every crumb of info from this beautiful project, i’m sure as time moves on the project will be appreciated more and more, it is really one of her bester projects and i will die on this hill

I agree—the LDR albums I love most of those least liked by most members here. I will die on the LFL hill too; songs like WTWWAWWKOD and 13 Beaches are so much more original and creative than say, Art Deco, Love Song or How To Disappear, certainly more so that Happiness is a Butterfly, which I consider her worst-ever released track due to all the non-happiness-is-a-butterfly parts. 

 

Being a creative myself, as I'm sure many of us are, I do know that an artist is usually most enthusiastic about what they're working on currently, that's where all your energy is, so over a long recording process, it's easy to see how Serene Queen and NBAR might have seemed distant in time while Groupie Love, Coachella and Change seemed 'fresh and new.' That's where objectivity comes in, during the final selection process, which I do not think of as one of Lana's strong points. 

[Embach 40,944]

39 minutes ago, lanaismamom said:

i mean the instrumental stayed the same this is why it is the same team, in terms of being sister songs i think she meant they both are acoustic, and also 6:04 version was extracted from video and actually a video track, and also she still says the phrase the next best american record in early version so im personally convinced by july she just renamed the song but redone chorus much later, otherwise i just refuse to believe that this bad nfr version was actually lfl final😭 it’s how chorus is bad honestly, like a whole let down

It's just so random that she decided to re-record it. It definitely wasn't meant for NFR because in 2017 NFR wasn't a thing yet. But NFR's original concept with Rick in 2017 (when they made Bartender) is probably one of her most mysterious recording/writing process imo. We have so little information on it 

[Candy Necklace 7,281]

What gives it away to me that the NFR version is also the final LFL version is that she said it’s a song about Topanga. I think she initially was going to use the leaked version but then reworked it into the “NFR” version, scrapped it all together, and then finally decided to use it on NFR with no further changes. 

[lanaismamom 11,538]

10 minutes ago, Vertimus said:

I agree—the LDR albums I love most of those least liked by most members here. I will die on the LFL hill too; songs like WTWWAWWKOD and 13 Beaches are so much more original and creative than say, Art Deco, Love Song or How To Disappear, certainly more so that Happiness is a Butterfly, which I consider her worst-ever released track due to all the non-happiness-is-a-butterfly parts. 

 

Being a creative myself, as I'm sure m any of us are, I do know that an artist is usually most enthusiastic about what they're working on currently, that's where all your energy is, so over a long recording process, it's easy to see how Serene Queen and NBAR might have seemed distant in time while Groupie Love, Coachella and Change seemed 'fresh and new.' That's where objectivity comes in, which I do not think of as one of Lana's strong points. 

btw groupie love overall was one of the first track written for the record, in september 2015 of i recall it right, and we have insiders words saying demos of it sound so spacey, and they are actually terrefic

 

6 minutes ago, Embach said:

It's just so random that she decided to re-record it. It definitely wasn't meant for NFR because in 2017 NFR wasn't a thing yet. But NFR's original concept with Rick in 2017 (when they made Bartender) is probably one of her most mysterious recording/writing process imo. We have so little information on it 

i imagine there wasn’t concrete sixth album concepts with rick nowels i think they were just spot tracks but i absolutely agree that is another interesting and absolutely mysterious time in her creative process timeline that we also don’t know anything about but i imagine there are not really much songs made

[lanaismamom 11,538]

1 minute ago, Candy Necklace said:

What gives it away to me that the NFR version is also the final LFL version is that she said it’s a song about Topanga. I think she initially was going to use the leaked version but then reworked it into the “NFR” version, scrapped it all together, and then finally decided to use it on NFR with no further changes. 

honestly it can be the thing too we just really are lack of info - hope someone would just come through