Why do newer fans seem to dislike AKA?

[PARADIXO 32,925]

Been a fan since Born to Die and I have always loved AKA, I love the organic production and imo it's as surfy as NFR, like NFR night time version

 

There was a time where I was obsessed

 

Now I don't find myself listening to it that much because I remember having it downloaded on my iTunes, and now I don't use that anymore so I have no direct access to it

 

My boyfriend became a stan during NFR/Chemtrails and I made him listen to AKA twice, he liked it but said it was way too different and not exactly his cup of tea, although he appreciated the music

 

I personally don't include it in rankings simply because, in my view, Lana Del Rey begins with Born to Die

The fact that AKA existed before that feels more like an easter egg to me

It is the debut and final album of Lizzy Grant and I absolutely love that

[Velours 1,318]

I think the biggest factor is that it is pretty much buried beneath her now 9 albums plus collabs, EPs, remixes, etc. on top of the mountain of unreleased music, it becomes really overwhelming for a newer fan to start combing through her material. It is also a pretty unique sounding album with the 'surf noir' sound and B movie aesthetics, it clashed with Lana's then luscious hollywood glamour image.

I remember vividly opening up iTunes and seeing BTD's cover, looking Lana up on Youtube and falling in love with her music. By the time I learned about AKA's existence, Honeymoon was months away to be released and I had already been playing BTD and UV to death while waiting for Honeymoon, so I had plenty of time to get familiar with AKA. Queen of The Gas Station was my favourite song off of it for a loooong time, but nowadays I think that title goes for Pawn Shop Blues.

[Heaux 1,399]

2 hours ago, Olympia said:

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. 

Yaaaaas I'm so glad to hear that

[wilting daisy 3,395]

tbh i nwver really understood people saying aka is so jarringly different from btd. like yeah they have fairly different production but the writing style and themes always seemed quite similar to me. like the differences between thwm feels equivalent to the differences between uv and hm. and i feel like honestly aka is more similar to her discography overall than btd is so its always been weird to me that fans act like she artistically wasn't the lana we know and love yet. 

 

the only logical reason i can think of to why its not vwry popular with lots of fans especially new fans is bc its so hard to find/access. like either they don't have a lot of experience listening to it so they haven't had time to fall in love with it or even they use it "not being good" or being "too problematic" as an excuse for not listening to it instead of admitting to themselves that its just too much work to find it. 

 

like i truly find it one of her best albums but i feel that way about most artists' debuts. its the clearest image of her as a regular person and has the most relatability to the average person. like yeah she's improved artistically and as a songwriter so much over the years but theres something so special about this album and i hope she does rerelease it someday (it took both david bowie and elton john a few decades to rerelease their out of print debut albums so lana still has plenty of time). i'm at least glad lana has started acknowledging it as her debut again bc its too good to ignore.

[Heaux 1,399]

1 hour ago, PARADIXO said:

Been a fan since Born to Die and I have always loved AKA, I love the organic production and imo it's as surfy as NFR, like NFR night time version

 

There was a time where I was obsessed

 

Now I don't find myself listening to it that much because I remember having it downloaded on my iTunes, and now I don't use that anymore so I have no direct access to it

 

My boyfriend became a stan during NFR/Chemtrails and I made him listen to AKA twice, he liked it but said it was way too different and not exactly his cup of tea, although he appreciated the music

 

I personally don't include it in rankings simply because, in my view, Lana Del Rey begins with Born to Die

The fact that AKA existed before that feels more like an easter egg to me

It is the debut and final album of Lizzy Grant and I absolutely love that

Ooh yes I always felt that connection between it and NFR. I guess that's why they're my two favorites. I feel like Doin Time and Kill Kill exist in the same sonic universe as each other, and also Florida Kilos. I guess its the surf vibes and the lighter higher register she uses in parts of all of them.

 

I see what you're saying about not including it as a Lana album but to me because she was going by Lana Del Rey already in Summer 2009 (And yes spelled Rey not Ray at that time) I just associate this era with Lana as opposed to distinguishing Between Lizzy and Lana.  

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,036]

5 hours ago, kuntsugi said:

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. 

This is a super interesting point! As someone from the southern US, I think that definitely feeds into my love for AKA — I’d never really thought about how those aesthetics would read outside of an American viewpoint 

[Lake Placid 3,273]

the excuse i see a lot for not liking AKA is "lana was unhappy then" which is actually so dumb, i also have seen some people refusing to listen to AKA in general  

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,036]

1 minute ago, tulsa jesus twink said:

the excuse i see a lot for not liking AKA is "lana was unhappy then" which is actually so dumb, i also have seen some people refusing to listen to AKA in general  

Literally such a dumb thing for ppl to say when she went on record talking about how happy the writing/recording process of AKA was and how inspired she felt   

[Heaux 1,399]

2 minutes ago, tulsa jesus twink said:

the excuse i see a lot for not liking AKA is "lana was unhappy then" which is actually so dumb, i also have seen some people refusing to listen to AKA in general  

That's so weird to me considering she was very vocal about being unhappy all through BTD, UV and Honeymoon and only started talking about being in a better place emotionally around LFL. So are they not going to listen to anything pre LFL 

[Heaux 1,399]

1 hour ago, wilting daisy said:

tbh i nwver really understood people saying aka is so jarringly different from btd. like yeah they have fairly different production but the writing style and themes always seemed quite similar to me. like the differences between thwm feels equivalent to the differences between uv and hm. and i feel like honestly aka is more similar to her discography overall than btd is so its always been weird to me that fans act like she artistically wasn't the lana we know and love yet. 

 

I mean the fact that rerecorded Yayo fit perfectly onto Paradise shows that AKA wasn't that different to her style lyrically/thematically during the BTD era at all.

 

Side note does anyone else remember when she used to constantly say the words "Sonically, thematically" in interviews in like 2012 and it became a running joke 

[mssainttropez 14,744]

On 6/30/2023 at 11:22 AM, Rody29 said:

what's the best way of listening  to AKA? 

I listen here  

[whitelines 1,197]

On 7/1/2023 at 2:29 AM, Surf Noir said:

 "because people are fucking tasteless" 

spill

[rosemead ramada 6,572]

12 hours ago, Heaux said:

Side note does anyone else remember when she used to constantly say the words "Sonically, thematically" in interviews in like 2012 and it became a running joke 

 

[slang 1,532]

If you like artists diverse and eclectic and with interesting evolution, AKA fits right in as a masterpiece. That is, if you like unpredictable artists, it seems a shame AKA, May Jailer, and more of her unreleased are not proper parts of her catalog. I have to conclude that tiktok people (or newer fans) just aren't as much interested in diversity and/or have narrow taste in music. I don't know what tiktok people actually find popular, as I avoid the venue, but if they like LDR that's fine, though I can't imagine they like her too broadly (e.g., as many stans for summertime sadness as heroin on tiktok?). 

 

AKA is a no-brainer for re-release, and there could easily be a bonus disc of unreleased material that has a vibe consistent with it, although that isn't a requirement for making re-release attractive (for me). However, in a re-release, I'd still quote the original title, as the album title (as I'm anal about history being accurate), and then identify the artist as Lana Del Rey. There's also something very "next level" about an artist's debut album having an album title referencing the fact that the artist just changed names! It's like she's footstamping the idea her thoughts are so fleet, you won't keep up with her; disco-ball mind, indeed!

[Ultra Violet 18,851]

I would assume that it's almost a bit too obscure for them, with most being younger, newer fans. BTD can still hit as a new album these days, as can everything after it, but AKA does sound a bit older and more niche, which is exactly why I love it. 

But reading back on most of these comments, whatever the dislike is about, it sounds ridiculous. I am familiar with the girlblogger side of tiktok and tumblr loving aka because it aligns with their toxic glorification of lana pre-2015. But it also seems there are some that hate it because of that too?

[palemoonbaby 14,997]

i think album would be more appreciated if it was on streaming. for some people it still could be too niche and campy but still really well received. like hello...PMIAM, PSB and Kill Kill has many views at YouTube so if she'd released album at 2012/13 as she wanted, all these songs could have 100M+ plays. so it’s not TikTok fault. it's only not available everywhere which affects reception.

[Rachel97 1,525]

Completely agree with it being an accessibility thing rather than disliking it. I love the album but don't listen to it as as much as the other albums because I have to look a little harder to find it. I think the majority of fans would like it if they listened to it

[dxniell 1,560]

On 6/30/2023 at 7:49 PM, The Siren said:

It's probably their SJW/keyboard warrior side hating the put me in a movie lyrics etc

By finding a download of the original itunes purchase or @bigspender's 2021 WAV remaster

does the miss daytona website have the download of the iTunes purchase ?? curious as I have always used that one 

[The Siren 30,517]

2 hours ago, dxniell said:

does the miss daytona website have the download of the iTunes purchase ?? curious as I have always used that one 

I would think so. If not I have it in my hard drive I can upload it later today when I'm not lazy lmao. 

[Olympia 4,420]

5 hours ago, slang said:

If you like artists diverse and eclectic and with interesting evolution, AKA fits right in as a masterpiece. That is, if you like unpredictable artists, it seems a shame AKA, May Jailer, and more of her unreleased are not proper parts of her catalog. I have to conclude that tiktok people (or newer fans) just aren't as much interested in diversity and/or have narrow taste in music. I don't know what tiktok people actually find popular, as I avoid the venue, but if they like LDR that's fine, though I can't imagine they like her too broadly (e.g., as many stans for summertime sadness as heroin on tiktok?). 

 

AKA is a no-brainer for re-release, and there could easily be a bonus disc of unreleased material that has a vibe consistent with it, although that isn't a requirement for making re-release attractive (for me). 

 

I would love a rework of Sirens, with different and more interesting instrumentals. 

 

If they ever released AKA, I would wish for a different album cover though. I really never liked this photo and styling of this shoot.