Why do newer fans seem to dislike AKA?

[wilting daisy 3,395]

4 hours ago, Rody29 said:

what's the best way of listening  to AKA? 

bootleg vinyl 

[wilting daisy 3,395]

4 hours ago, Embach said:

It's because they think that all of the songs are controversial thematically like Put Me In The Movie (which is a great song but a very sad one) and this TikTok generation tries to be (fake) woke as hell. 

 

Also I think that most newer fans do not know that AKA exists and here's great proof, from the comments, they start panicking when they see the album written as RAY not Rey ⬇️

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsMKisEgsvx/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

It's really shocking because when I became a stan, I started reading her whole biography including her Lizzy era and I instantly delved into AKA and other Lizzy songs. I was really young then too, in my early teen years, I came home from school and I instantly learned new things about Lizzy then, it was so interesting. It was something so fascinating, like a part of history that wasn't talked about enough. Lizzy era is still one of my favorites and I think that AKA is one of her best albums. 

off topic but damn i need that sweatshirt

[LBcita 279]

6 hours ago, Heaux said:

also post UV, AKA was held in very high esteem by fans and a lot of people seemed to prefer it to BTD. It was always included as an option when ranking her albums or best lead track/closer stuff like that. 

Lanaboards revisionist history era bc the way that this is not true at all 

AKA is more popular than ever due to Lana's abundance of new fans discovering it and feeling like they've found something "hidden"

 

the same thing is happening to an extent with Honeymoon which yes it's a slower album so streamed less but absolutely was loved and acclaimed by critics (even mores than UV) and fans alike but bc it had less streams tons of new fans are making it their whole aesthetic bc of how "underrated" and "niche" it is, the same thing will happen to Chemtrails in a few years

 

AKA has banger songs (legitimately only 2 songs I skip and that's just personal preference), but there's a reason Lana only ever released Yayo after she shelved it and it's not cause the record is better than BTD or really any other she's released

 

though that little backyard video for pawn shop blues was one of the prettiest visuals I've ever seen

[Heaux 1,399]

28 minutes ago, LBcita said:

Lanaboards revisionist history era bc the way that this is not true at all 

AKA is more popular than ever due to Lana's abundance of new fans discovering it and feeling like they've found something "hidden"

 

the same thing is happening to an extent with Honeymoon which yes it's a slower album so streamed less but absolutely was loved and acclaimed by critics (even mores than UV) and fans alike but bc it had less streams tons of new fans are making it their whole aesthetic bc of how "underrated" and "niche" it is, the same thing will happen to Chemtrails in a few years

 

AKA has banger songs (legitimately only 2 songs I skip and that's just personal preference), but there's a reason Lana only ever released Yayo after she shelved it and it's not cause the record is better than BTD or really any other she's released

 

though that little backyard video for pawn shop blues was one of the prettiest visuals I've ever seen

Well it doesn't seem you were on this site back in 2013 unless you're on a new account. That may have been the case in whatever part of the fandom you were in at the time. There was huge differences in general opinions between say Twitter stans and Lanaboards stans in 2013. In the same way that Tiktok stans don't seem to like AKA but people on here still love it. Anyway how can we truly quantify the popularity of an album either then or now that doesn't have a metric like streaming numbers. I'm just commenting on a huge wave of negativity against AKA that I've seen online that didn't use to exist in my experience and also the fact that I've seen it left out of most album ranking I see online (not talking about on here).

 

She talked about rereleasing it and specifically said that she owns the rights to it. So she's certainly considered it.

 

I agree about Honeymoon and Chemtrails. Its good though, I've always loved Honeymoon so I'm glad people are giving it a second chance and I never gave Chemtrails a chance myself so I've been listening to it more recently because I see it getting a lot of love.

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,050]

8 hours ago, Surf Noir said:

 

we're gonna need @sparklrtrailrheaven and @Super Movie's input 

 

 

Oh, you know I love to talk about HER 

 

 I feel like another factor in AKA getting a bit buried is (maybe obviously) that she’s just released so many more albums. Like, even becoming a fan in the Honeymoon era, there were only 3 studio albums and an EP, as opposed to 5 more since then. New fans have a much larger, readily available back catalogue to explore, and probably aren’t as driven to find every scrap of music (although there are still plenty, as evidenced by this site!!). 
 

Do I think they’re making a huge mistake? Duh! I’ll always believe AKA should’ve been bigger in its own time, and should be way more valued as part of Lana’s artistic legacy now. It’s honestly bizarre that with a producer as well-known as David Kahne involved, it hasn’t had a widespread reappraisal… but we can hope, and until then, I’ll enjoy AKA being our best-kept surf noir secret 

[Strangelove 1,842]

I would say it's a part of the cultural shift. Lana has talked about how very version of feminism doesn't fit the popular status quo definition numerous times so this topic fits that theme. The themes of AKA do not fit "woke" standards so they discard it. Of course a lot of these ideas didnt start to gain traction until after around 2018. 

 

It's more or less a lack of critical thinking though. And some misogyny in my opinion. The same critics don't criticize men like Drake with similar aesthetics.    

[SoftwareUpgrade 19,349]

Please see this educational post :

 

Lore

 

 

9 hours ago, Heaux said:

Wait scat trolls???? Thankfully I think I left before that started happening hahaha

 

[ImenaOphelia 9,663]

if they are scared of aka imagine what they'd do if they knew about sirens

[ByDayAnother 1,906]

Been a fan from the beginning, and with the exception of Pawn Shop Blues, AKA has never quite clicked for me. I can love similar music, but from her, this specific set of songs doesn’t really do anything for me - wish it did, but I can’t pretend otherwise.

[lizzyology 7,010]

33 minutes ago, ByDayAnother said:

Been a fan from the beginning, and with the exception of Pawn Shop Blues, AKA has never quite clicked for me. I can love similar music, but from her, this specific set of songs doesn’t really do anything for me - wish it did, but I can’t pretend otherwise.

 

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Spoiler

Everyone will learn (be forced) to love it eventually 

 

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Edited July 1, 2023 by That Venice Bitch

[That Venice Bitch 28,141]

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  Reveal hidden contents

Everyone will learn (be forced) to love it eventually 

 

Please don’t ban me for impersonation @That Venice Bitch

While I won’t ban you for impersonation, I will very politely ask you to not use red text 

[details 17,163]

26 minutes ago, ByDayAnother said:

Been a fan from the beginning, and with the exception of Pawn Shop Blues, AKA has never quite clicked for me. I can love similar music, but from her, this specific set of songs doesn’t really do anything for me - wish it did, but I can’t pretend otherwise.

same here. been a fan for a decade now and i could never quite really understand what's so appealing about lizzy grant. sure, i like some songs from this era like brite lites, trash magic and disco (just realized i mentioned 2 outtakes instead of actual AKA tracks... oh well that should tell you enough how i feel about the album ) but idk i tried to see what's so special about this era in particular that a lot of people seem to love for years now but i'm ultimately failing at it. i don't get the appeal of this white trash trailer park hoe aesthetic either... i think you have to be born and raised north american to truly appreciate that and that's not my case, i just think it's trashy lol. i could never understand what makes lizzy so good, let alone BETTER than lana del rey. this is no shade to all the lizzy lipsters out there (truly, y'all are the sweetest on this website), but, quite frankly - and i talked about this in a very ~controversial~ status update before - i think what the fans really love about lizzy is the fact that she doesn't exist anymore. that this project will be forever unattainable, a glimpse of the past. so AKA will always be this little secret, a quirky easter egg in the big picture of lana del rey history; something palpable enough but something you could never have again. a similar feeling to grief, because lizzy is dead, artistically. but of course that's just my opinion

[heavenisatunnel 261]

i really hate the way that album sounds. which is a pity because pawn shop blues and yayo are two of my favourite songs. her voice is ethereal and beautiful and then there are these ugly ass sounds…

[ByDayAnother 1,906]

16 minutes ago, kuntsugi said:

same here. been a fan for a decade now and i could never quite really understand what's so appealing about lizzy grant. sure, i like some songs from this era like brite lites, trash magic and disco (just realized i mentioned 2 outtakes instead of actual AKA tracks... oh well that should tell you enough how i feel about the album ) but idk i tried to see what's so special about this era in particular that a lot of people seem to love for years now but i'm ultimately failing at it. i don't get the appeal of this white trash trailer park hoe aesthetic either... i think you have to be born and raised north american to truly appreciate that and that's not my case, i just think it's trashy lol. i could never understand what makes lizzy so good, let alone BETTER than lana del rey. this is no shade to all the lizzy lipsters out there (truly, y'all are the sweetest on this website), but, quite frankly - and i talked about this in a very ~controversial~ status update before - i think what the fans really love about lizzy is the fact that she doesn't exist anymore. that this project will be forever unattainable, a glimpse of the past. so AKA will always be this little secret, a quirky easter egg in the big picture of lana del rey history; something palpable enough but something you could never have again. a similar feeling to grief, because lizzy is dead, artistically. but of course that's just my opinion

 Yeah - like, I appreciate that she went through this period of creative experimentation and self-discovery, but listening to it feels like listening to her incubate, yet to hatch. This of course has its charm, and it’s inspiring as an artist myself to see “huh, yeah, some of my favourite artists really just be wandering around with no fanfare and yet to tap into their genius for ages”, but beyond that mythology… 🤷🏻‍♂️ 

[lanaismamom 11,544]

21 minutes ago, heavenisatunnel said:

i really hate the way that album sounds. which is a pity because pawn shop blues and yayo are two of my favourite songs. her voice is ethereal and beautiful and then there are these ugly ass sounds…

for a hot minute i thought that was a @SurfNoir's comment and i had a stroke and was so genuinely scared and worried

[Strangelove 1,842]

As an older fan I always thought that transition from AKA to BTD was very harsh. So I might be hard to hear a song like Diet Mtn Dew, Freak or Cinnamon Girl then go into something like Brite Lites or Kill Kill. I mean, look at how successful Born To Die was compared to that album. 

[Crazy Husband Thief 3,904]

To be honest…I never really liked AKA even back then. The issue I have with it are definitely not the songs themselves which are gorgeous. My main problem is David Kahne's extremely cheap-sounding production. The album comes of as kinda clumsy and half-baked, so I totally see why she wasn’t happy with it.

 

Personally, whenever I want to listen to it, I tend to gravitate towards Steven Mertens' versions of most songs which I prefer.

[Heaux 1,399]

6 hours ago, SoftwareUpgrade said:

Please see this educational post :

 

Lore

 

 

 

Ohhh bahahah I was definitely around at that time actually. Must have just blocked out the trauma 

[GeminiLanaFan 49,030]

In no way am I a new fan, and I loved reading your input on it (some lyrics might have been not very « 21st century feminism » or that the newer uploaded versions on TB or SoundCloud are sped up or cheap-sounding). 
I like aka although it probably is my least favourite album from Lana, even if there are gems on it. 
to me, aka is her first attempt at the « LDR sound » and it’s not as baked or completed as BTD and her other albums. It lacks the grandeur, the majesty, the « world-building » she brought on from BTD to HM, where each album had its own distinct sound and atmosphere. Heck, it’s got Oh Say Can You See and Brite Lights on the same album  (I know that we could say the same thing about OB or LFL, but those two were albums where she stepped out of that « world-building » mindset, as opposed to her first LDR-Interscope LPs)
that being said, it has its merits: it’s minimalistic and very « trailer-park » youth kitsch. 

[Olympia 4,420]

It's pretty funny, I admit I never really liked it much, but while reading through this thread I decided to give it another chance and I feel like I'm falling in love with it for the first time, lol. 

 

One of the reasons I didn't like it before might also be the mass of songs and albums I was confronted with becoming a fan in 2020. I feel like I'm not even properly done with her regular released discography, especially as she keeps on releasing and releasing, plus all the unreleased songs and leaks... Lol. AKA might have been a bit more difficult to approach than some others.