Unpopular Lana Opinions

[Party Favor 10,308]

1 minute ago, Lanaparadiserey said:

I mean it does, like whenever I listen to Young Like Me I can’t help but think of someone saying “It’s ok sweetie, we can try again tomorrow tonight”

you know what, that's def some shit i could see her writing about  maybe you're on to something here

[sympathyisaknife 16,014]

2 minutes ago, Surf Noir said:

we as people will have such a difficult time consuming and enjoying art if we couldn't handle things that might bother us or might be controversial, especially if the piece of art, or movie, or song, is decades old and representative of the period of time it was made

Very well said. Thank you.

[jamesss 3,818]

13 minutes ago, Surf Noir said:

 

it is a bit uncomfortable and i honestly don't even care for that music video that much, but it's really not that big of a deal, like @Party Favor said, she has explored way more darker topics, including drugs, domestic abuse, and pedophilia, but we all understand that she's not romanticizing or promoting such topics

 

also, i just don't really get why we're still bringing up the fact that she wore a headdress, it was 11 years ago and although it was still insensitive, it was a different time, and, again, it was over a decade ago, she has donated large amounts of money to native american organizations, we know she wouldn't do this today, so why does it even matter? we as people will have such a difficult time consuming and enjoying art if we couldn't handle things that might bother us or might be controversial, especially if the piece of art, or movie, or song, is decades old and representative of the period of time it was made, if lana always played it safe, she probably wouldn't be known at all

because this is... the unpopular opinions thread

[Genesee 6,335]

i genuinely can't tell if people are kidding or not when they say the old performances of million dollar man are good.

 

they're very uncomfortable to watch because it just seems like she's trying too much. love the studio version but i can't do the live versions 

[Deleted Member 23,728]

Breaking my silence simply to say, all you 16 year olds will never understand the impact of Lana’s artistry in early 2010s, before you were even in grade school. The only “problematic” thing about the Ride video and Lana’s early career in general is the headdress thing, but everything else, she was a nearly 30 year old woman perfectly capable of making her own decisions and she had a very strong vision for her art, which everyone absolutely ate up at the time. Obviously Lana still has insane impact, but it was different and a different kind of it 10+ years ago. She was just putting her truth into her music and visuals, while obviously slightly embellishing things in the name of creating an immersive world, just because something from over a decade ago makes you uncomfortable, that doesn’t mean any of your criticism of it is valid. Lana Del Rey wouldn’t be Lana Del Rey without the artist she was back then, and you sound exactly like what the gross journalists sounded like back then. The boomerfication of Gen Z and weird rise in purity culture is so real, no high school aged people should be speaking on how Lana approached her career before they could count to 100 unless they’ve made a conscious effort to understand her. If “grotesque” art from grown ass women bothers you then i don’t think Lana is the artist for you

[Rorman Nockwell 56,702]

I think her old songwriting (2018 and before) is far better than her current songwriting and it's somewhat frustrating that people are lauding her as a songwriting genius for her current work because honestly shit like BTD, UV and Honeymoon were actual fucking genius whereas I feel like a lot of the current diary-entry lyrics and automatic writing or whatever could be written by pretty much anyone and is only interesting because of the vivid world she created throughout the previous eras mentioned so people place it in that context and act like it's genius when to me it's more like margin notes

 

[Party Favor 10,308]

17 minutes ago, babetteateoatmeal said:

i genuinely can't tell if people are kidding or not when they say the old performances of million dollar man are good.

 

they're very uncomfortable to watch because it just seems like she's trying too much. love the studio version but i can't do the live versions 

her one on that french show or whatever was terrible, but i think the other ones weren't that bad. i think it's mostly the emotion / unique way she sings it that interests people

[West Coast 45,793]

1 hour ago, babetteateoatmeal said:

i genuinely can't tell if people are kidding or not when they say the old performances of million dollar man are good.

 

they're very uncomfortable to watch because it just seems like she's trying too much. love the studio version but i can't do the live versions 

I think some of them are bad/cringe, but there are genuinely good MDM performances out there--it's definitely an interesting style of singing though.

 

I don't say this to sound Stan Twitter-y, but I think it's camp.

 

Those are my faves:

 

 

I especially love that one, cause I was there:

 

 

[taco truck 32,988]

1 hour ago, Rorman Nockwell said:

I think her old songwriting (2018 and before) is far better than her current songwriting and it's somewhat frustrating that people are lauding her as a songwriting genius for her current work because honestly shit like BTD, UV and Honeymoon were actual fucking genius whereas I feel like a lot of the current diary-entry lyrics and automatic writing or whatever could be written by pretty much anyone and is only interesting because of the vivid world she created throughout the previous eras mentioned so people place it in that context and act like it's genius when to me it's more like margin notes

 

The realest take ever posted on this website

[Genesee 6,335]

15 minutes ago, West Coast said:

I think some of them are bad/cringe, but there are genuinely good MDM performances out there--it's definitely an interesting style of singing though.

 

I don't say this to sound Stan Twitter-y, but I think it's camp.

 

Those are my faves:

 

 

I especially love that one, cause I was there:

 

 

you're absolutely right, these performances are gorgeous. the only part i have a hard time getting in to is the "one for the moneyyyy AHHH TWO FOR THE SHOW AHHHHHHH" cuz it just feels like yelling to me, and it's the part i see fans praise most. i do love the rest of the song live though 

[taco truck 32,988]

3 hours ago, West Coast said:

Same thing with the Patty slander, we have concrete proof that she has a poor relationship with her mother/they are estranged. She addressed the trauma--we can move forward. 

100% agree and only because she doesn’t really go anywhere else with it? Like sure, her old music was mostly about relationships with men, but she was able to explore so many facets of the relationships she was in and also use it as metaphors for more conceptual ideas. The stuff with her family is just “I love my dad, sister, and brother”, “I hate my mom”, and “karmic lineage”, and it doesn’t really go anywhere else? Like she makes it different by going into a bit more detail? It’s just not interesting. And blah blah blah obviously she can write about whatever she wants to write about🙄 that doesn’t mean it’s good though🙄

[Crimson and Clover 22,505]

Love her 70s inspired songs but I’m ready for her 90s electronica era..we already got a little taste with DBJAG..don’t be shy Lana give us your Ray of Light moment  would love to hear her voice over a atmospheric dnb or trance beat

[Rorman Nockwell 56,702]

4 hours ago, taco truck said:

The realest take ever posted on this website

Thx

I know she said she doesn't feel the need to partake in world building anymore, and of course that is her prerogative, but songs like Florence's Mermaids (which has a very definite story) made me really think about it and miss it

[bluedealer 4,935]

7 hours ago, Rorman Nockwell said:

I think her old songwriting (2018 and before) is far better than her current songwriting and it's somewhat frustrating that people are lauding her as a songwriting genius for her current work because honestly shit like BTD, UV and Honeymoon were actual fucking genius whereas I feel like a lot of the current diary-entry lyrics and automatic writing or whatever could be written by pretty much anyone and is only interesting because of the vivid world she created throughout the previous eras mentioned so people place it in that context and act like it's genius when to me it's more like margin notes

 

I was thinking about it while listening to Paradise EP every day lately. I actually really like her diary-entry lyrics now way more than in NFR/COCC times. Her honesty really hits me hard.

 

BUT for real speaking of Paradise's lyrics... There are lots of allegories, symbolism and hidden meanings which allows you to interpret it in your own way. She was inspired by Whitman's poetry wich is way more interesting than Jenny jumping into the pool sorry 

 

And speaking of Jessica Lange's Gods and Monsters I love it. Some of you don't realize that she was playing a German woman in the 50s and this song suits her story well. I really appreciate her accent, she did a really good job.

[slang 1,532]

11 hours ago, Rorman Nockwell said:

I think her old songwriting (2018 and before) is far better than her current songwriting and it's somewhat frustrating that people are lauding her as a songwriting genius for her current work because honestly shit like BTD, UV and Honeymoon were actual fucking genius whereas I feel like a lot of the current diary-entry lyrics and automatic writing or whatever could be written by pretty much anyone and is only interesting because of the vivid world she created throughout the previous eras mentioned so people place it in that context and act like it's genius when to me it's more like margin notes

 

I agree with what you say (mostly), but I don't think she becomes overly acute at what you describe, until OB, where maybe she weaponizes her authenticity some ("weaponizing" being a new vogue term in the US for medias, judicial systems, and such). But I don't know if you could say it's a dominating trend for her since NFR. I mean she writes differently that timespan, but not all of it is so idiosyncratic as OB. The other thing is: she's always written about her life to some extent (e.g., Sirens, e.g. Aviation), so it's not such a big deal for me, unless her next album is similarly as self-referential and idiosyncratic.

 

BTW- she really needs that unreleased album release.
"Songs never heard by nobody" would be a cute title for it, given her past flirtations with double negatives (an idiosyncratic reference only her most crazed fans might understand).

[Blue Ink 5,906]

On 5/3/2023 at 3:22 AM, Rorman Nockwell said:

I think her old songwriting (2018 and before) is far better than her current songwriting and it's somewhat frustrating that people are lauding her as a songwriting genius for her current work because honestly shit like BTD, UV and Honeymoon were actual fucking genius whereas I feel like a lot of the current diary-entry lyrics and automatic writing or whatever could be written by pretty much anyone

 

On 5/3/2023 at 9:04 AM, Rorman Nockwell said:

I know she said she doesn't feel the need to partake in world building anymore, and of course that is her prerogative

 

And she really doesn't. Someone already mentioned that the younger fans have no idea about Lana's impact from 2011-15/16. She was so enigmatic and the albums and Tropico really sent you into a completely different world. It was so exciting.

To me, all of that is gone. NFR onwards aren't that exciting anymore. I listen to BTD, P, UV, HM to dive into different worlds. If I need some pleasant noise in the background while studying I might listen to the rest.

I'm not attacking Lana. I hope she is happy where she and with what she is doing is right now. But a big part of her music and lyrics nowadays just don't hold a candle to her earlier stuff. Which is also the reason why songs like TNBAR (demo though), Bartender, Yosemite, Nectar of the Gods, Living Legend and Thunder (demo though) are album peaks - they weren't written recently.

[ShadesOfFool 20,126]

On 5/2/2023 at 6:23 PM, genghis khan said:

sounds like someone here doesn't have a dad 

See how no one liked this lolz

[genghis khan 5,107]

3 hours ago, ShadesOfFool said:

See how no one liked this lolz

[West Coast 45,793]

I'm over people acting like it's a bad, or juvenile, thing to want Lana to go back to a more bombastic sound à la Born to Die or Ultraviolence, when the past four albums were mostly (not all) piano ballads and understated, mellow, folk-esque songs.

 

Also, her bombastic/world building and quick witted or however one might categorize the songwriting on her pre-NFR tunes >>>>> the singer-songwriter, vagabond poet, trauma dumpingpersonal, stream of consciousness songwriting.

And I'm not saying the latter is bad or unintersting, but if I had to chose, I'd go with the former. 

[Coloringbooks 14,010]

On 5/3/2023 at 1:14 AM, Surf Noir said:

we as people will have such a difficult time consuming and enjoying art if we couldn't handle things that might bother us or might be controversial

Thank you for saying this 

 

Not necessarily related to Ride or her headdress controversy, but I still see Lana and other artists getting backlash for writing songs with dark themes, like Put Me in a Movie for example. It's so ridiculous because— are you going to have the same energy for every single storyteller? A lot of this is also based on "Well, they didn't personally go through it, so they can't write about it!" but what about all the authors and directors out there writing media also tackling taboo topics, which I'm sure a lot of them haven't personally gone through? How is that any different from coming up with stories through music, or maybe reading a book/watching a film/hearing your friends' experience/etc and writing something based off that?   

 

Like, if you look at the lyrics to Put Me in a Movie by Lana or Tag, You're It/A Million Men by Melanie Martinez and see that as ""glamourous"", then maybe it's a you problem.