Unpopular Lana Opinions

[LaserKitten 349]

 

Don't know if this "unpopular," but it is a series of opinions.

 

I remember reading a piece that spearheaded Lana’s importance: holding up the lonely torch of the female depressive in pop culture as a voice that deserves to be heard.

 

I agree with this. It's so easy to see her disaffected nature as a defect, but it's at the core of who she is and why she makes art to begin with. It's what gives her introspection, but also brings forth isolation.

 

Hi, I don't have much to add to this but I just wanted to compliment you on an incredibly insightful and intelligent post that articulates so much that I have felt about Lana that hadn't really coalesced properly in my mind. As a child of the 90s, and a fan of Fiona, Tori, Shirley etc, your post helps to put my affection for Lana in a context I hadn't considered before. Thanks! Beautiful writing.

[graham4anything 2,859]

Lana is for freaks like us all over the world. Our voice so to say and as my signature says, Lana is our Edith Piaf.  Edith more than anyone was not in any way the typical looking or sounding star and the odds of her doing what she did...yet when she died, they say traffic in Paris stopped and tens of thousands or more lined the streets.)

Though some here are referencing the 90s,(and nothing wrong with it, as many are from that time), it goes so much further back than that.

 

Kate Bush (and I think among other reasons, Lana brought back the creative spark to Kate,a it would be hard to think otherwise, with her two albums and almost 50 concerts first in 40 years

all in the same place last fall/winter in England. Almost as if Kate is saying, remember me? remember 40 years ago? (and to those not in the US, Kate was a niche artist, with almost no sales

and no chart action in the USA.)

 

but before Kate, there was Edith and there was Marlene Dietrich. Unique all 3, unique like Lana.

 

But, the one difference between Lana and everyone else today is, Lana is coming from it as one of the boys, and doing something no current person is doing, which freaks out the critics

but has the record companies wanting Lana Like but with new artists who will do everything they tell them to do and once those artists don't, will find another copy cutter (nothing wrong with that,

that is what record companies and movies want (which is why historically when an actress reached 30 there were no more roles and they found another 19 year old they could mold into a star for a year or two before finding another.

Lana is doing it "her way" and she should one day 40 years from now, as a lark sing "My way". It is the perfect song cover she could do.

[smoledman 200]

Lana is for freaks like us all over the world. Our voice so to say and as my signature says, Lana is our Edith Piaf.  Edith more than anyone was not in any way the typical looking or sounding star and the odds of her doing what she did...yet when she died, they say traffic in Paris stopped and tens of thousands or more lined the streets.)

Though some here are referencing the 90s,(and nothing wrong with it, as many are from that time), it goes so much further back than that.

 

Kate Bush (and I think among other reasons, Lana brought back the creative spark to Kate,a it would be hard to think otherwise, with her two albums and almost 50 concerts first in 40 years

all in the same place last fall/winter in England. Almost as if Kate is saying, remember me? remember 40 years ago? (and to those not in the US, Kate was a niche artist, with almost no sales

and no chart action.)

 

but before Kate, there was Edith and there was Marlene Dietrich. Unique all 3, unique like Lana.

 

But, the one difference between Lana and everyone else today is, Lana is coming from it as one of the boys, and doing something no current person is doing, which freaks out the critics

but has the record companies wanting Lana Like but with new artists who will do everything they tell them to do and once those artists don't, will find another copy cutter (nothing wrong with that,

that is what record companies and movies want (which is why historically when an actress reached 30 there were no more roles and they found another 19 year old they could mold into a star for a year or two before finding another.

Lana is doing it "her way" and she should one day 40 years from now, as a lark sing "My way". It is the perfect song cover she could do.

 

I honestly think the entire music industry still does NOT get Lana and what she's about. Thank god she's able to find talented collaborators.

[Thunder Revenant 20,943]

I think HBTB is a very strong song

[Anthem 1,558]

 

Don't know if this "unpopular," but it is a series of opinions.

 

I remember reading a piece that spearheaded Lana’s importance: holding up the lonely torch of the female depressive in pop culture as a voice that deserves to be heard.

 

I agree with this. It's so easy to see her disaffected nature as a defect, but it's at the core of who she is and why she makes art to begin with. It's what gives her introspection, but also brings forth isolation.

 

Lana's perspective, from a 'marketability' and thematic angle, is one that would have made more sense in the mid 1990s. She would have kindred spirits in Garbage, Tori, Fiona, even Alanis. But in some ways, her perspective is even more needed now, because there is SUCH a lack of diversity in the females we hear from in pop culture, and the kinds of stories they tell. Shirley Manson of Garbage has pointed this out, fittingly enough. We need to hear from the miserable girl, the loser, the ones who don’t want to play nice, and maybe don’t even get out of bed some days. There’s always been a place for that girl in other media: literature, film, art. Music, especially pop music, doesn’t know what to do with this personality type. If it’s Kurt Cobain or Leonard Cohen (or any number of current male indie mini-gods), it’s tortured genius. If it’s a woman doing it, it’s pathetic, INDULGENT solipsism. How dare you be so lazy, inwardly focused and torpid when there are SOCIAL ISSUES to examine and crusade. That's the attitude Lana faces.

 

 We live in the age of the Totally Transparent, Fervently Disciplined, and Manicured Go-Getter. Taylor. Katy. Demi. Even Rihanna. They are corporate workhorses, THIRSTY for the fame, and more than ready to play and stay in the game. The personality type this workload requires is not for the delicate, sensitive, ambivalent type. They don’t look inward. They are fixated on the crowd. You see these same types in offices all over the world. Type A middle managers. They get shit done, might seem like “team players” (dictators in disguise), but they aren’t interesting and don’t offer a lot of innovation or insight into life, creativity, or much else. I’m sure the economic collapse of the past 10 years and the wreckage of the music industry has a lot to do with why this middle manager pop star archetype has prevailed. It’s sheer survivalism. 

 

The truth is the Lana of Born To Die, and that album itself, is an anomaly. It’s a character study in what it would be like to be a famous pop star. In philosophy, there’s an idea that to create a character, you have to lack what that character has for it to work (Homer vs Achilles is a classic example.) Lana was never a natural star by any means, but she’s clearly seen it as a way to transcend herself or try to another skin on. (“Give a man a mask and he’ll tell you the truth.” - Oscar Wilde.) To parallel her to Britney, Lana never has had a pre-Blackout glory era. This is where I think some LDR fans get it wrong. BTD was not her Baby One More Time or Oops! or whatever. Even on BTD, she was a propped-up simulacrum of what a pop icon might be like. She represented the IDEA. It was NEVER natural. She was the weirdo philosophy major playing dress up as the cool girl, singing into her mirror. The fact that she found an audience is a small miracle, but her intuitive habitat is still dancing around, alone, with her headphones on, wondering what it would be like to be onstage. The actual stage is foreign to her, and almost besides the point. I bet when she’s up there, she imagines being alone.

 

Look at ALL her work before, and after, BTD. The work of an outsider dreaming her life away, imagining that fame could transform her, fulfill her, then finding nothing there. Even before she became famous, the lyrics suggest she already was aware of its empty promise (probably due to her study of doomed cult icons). If anything, what she’s doing now is getting back to her roots: turning her LACK of fulfillment into art, trying to make something tangible of a void within. It’s hard work, and clearly she’s not always up to making it a complete vision. To create and share art is an attempt to tell your story in the hopes of CONNECTING with people. But that’s where it stops for Lana. In solitude, she records her vision then hits “send.” Then she disengages, unable to sustain the ideal in real-time. Unable to fulfill the pop duties. Unable to deliver the big pay off, for herself, or for her fans. It’s like a surrealist film that cuts off in the ‘wrong’ moment, just to leave you on edge. How many times can you get away with it? We’ll be finding out.

 

And that’s another thing. I think Lana’s “failure” to rise the occasion affects certain fans personally. Not just because they want her to get a Top 10 and compete with the ‘normal’  pop stars. But because maybe they, too, are depressed and know too well what it means to not deliver, to not function optimally, to disappoint people. When you’re depressed, being able to complete ANYTHING can feel like an insurmountable challenge. If you’re blessed with the strange mix of being both ambitious AND prone to depression, you are constantly at war with yourself, which Lana seems to be. Sometimes she has the energy to fight through it and deliver us true magic. These are her little victories. Other times, she drowns in her own ennui and forgets everyone but herself. Some fed up fans say she doesn’t care, but I don’t believe this is true. I’m sure she’s in a state of frequent frustration, with the “world,” but more often, with herself.

 

Part of what drew me — and many others, I’m sure — to Lana’s work and persona was that she seemed malcontented, if not quite tormented. Life is too much, and not enough, for her. I remember that little-known Gwen Stefani lyric (“I sip on dreams and choke on real things.”) To me, that’s Lana constant M.O. She wants desperately to escape, to isolate, and to never work another day again (the ultimate sin of today’s life-hack-driven, entrepreneurial, “optimize yourself!” digital nomad climate). She never makes it clear what it IS, exactly, that would make her happy, because what she’s asking for is impossible. A LOT of people empathize with this ambivalence, despite the fact that this passive, me vs. the world view of reality is literally censored out of modern day music. You’re not supposed to complain! Things will get better if you live, laugh, and love! LDR will never live, laugh and love first-hand, but she’ll always wonder what that might feel like. And pine for it like its her to mourn.

 

Female depressives can sustain a career. It doesn’t have to end in a Sylvia Plath/Amy Winehouse tragedy. Shirley Manson and Fiona Apple are still going strong 20 years down the line, and in some ways, seem more connected and ‘healthy’ than ever, while still finding a way to channel their grievances through their art. They’ve evolved their artistry to a level that is undeniably iconic. They will never top the charts again, but that was never the point. They have huge cult followings that will always follow their next move. It’s a family. I’d love for Lana to have this in her 40s, too, but I believe at some point she’ll have to start making art as part of a conversation, not just a soliloquy, for this to happen. 

 

 

This is my favorite post on this whole site.

[Starsx 1,849]

I don't understand why Lana named the album Honeymoon. When I think of the word honeymoon I think of a happy moment in a relationship or life in general. I just don't think there was a theme with this record.

[yyxy 1,292]

Guns and Roses is so underrated that I hate people for ditching it. 

[delreyfreak 5,341]

I love all of Lana's covers 

[bummersummer 2,218]

Guns and Roses is so underrated

 

it really is. it was a slow burner for me, but it ended up becoming one of my fave songs from UV. i love how drone-ish it is.

[a11111 528]

Lana is too bored to dress up properly, to brush her hair, to wash her car, or to do anything. Now I’m kind of sorry about Fran who got into this depressed woman just to fuck up his life. Barrie is fucked up nicely in Glasgow, the dumb rocker came to LA for her to light up her cigs during the concerts, now he moved back with his mom and he is starting his career from scratch. Lana’s is just too depressed for this business and she isn’t enjoying anything. At first I thought that she exaggerates but now I'm convinced that she is like that. She became unbearable to follow as an artist, her career became a travesty, she’s just throwing out albums and she doesn’t do anything with them, she hides from everything in the first month after the album's release. HM is shaping up to be an “milking” album for what is left from her fandom and she has one sensible thing to do in my opinion: call it a career. It’s time for her to announce a theater farewell tour and at the end of it she can throw out another album to milk the last standing stans and then she can go and fuck her(depressive)self. I'm so over her, some of you guys here were really nice people and I wish you all the best 

[BENTLEY 3,495]

I love The Other Woman.

[graham4anything 2,859]

I am convinced I got it right.

 

Honeymoon is meant to listen to cuts 1 to 13 and then the last cut (and this is the reason there are no bonus songs) because the last cut is saying

 

after listening to cuts 1 to 13 DON'T misunderstand what I am saying, and it requires the listener to then go back to the start and listen to

cuts 1 to 13

and get to cut 14 and Don't misunderstand what I am saying

 

I believe it's Elizabeth Lana Elizabeth Lana Elizabeth Lana

 

It is the inner conflict between everything and is not about one person proper other than herself

 

Every single word makes sense in that context from the first note of Honeymoon to the last note of Swan Song to the specific wanting and using Don't let me be misunderstood

to then instructing said listener to go back and listen again

 

repeated endlessly like an Endless Summer

 

(and to reference it- once again it is a journey and we are along for the ride

 

I could suggest over 100 references, perhaps 500 specific references to this

 

through every specific song

 

From the first 2 lines of Honeymoon to the last

 

I call it pure genius. But it might mean taking off the blinders and looking not only straight forward but out of the box to see what is actually right in front of one straight forward.

 

and to add- Elizabeth/Lana is saying the ride will continue forever, but on HER terms as SHE wants it.

(and if you don't like it you can BEAT it, beat it baby) as she said so wonderfully in Brooklyn Baby.

 

(a second separate post on another possibly unpopular thought to follow)

[letsescapelizzy 672]

 

any interesting posts lately? awefully quite here..

where is everyone?

[letsescapelizzy 672]

Lana is too bored to dress up properly, to brush her hair, to wash her car, or to do anything. Now I’m kind of sorry about Fran who got into this depressed woman just to fuck up his life. Barrie is fucked up nicely in Glasgow, the dumb rocker came to LA for her to light up her cigs during the concerts, now he moved back with his mom and he is starting his career from scratch. Lana’s is just too depressed for this business and she isn’t enjoying anything. At first I thought that she exaggerates but now I'm convinced that she is like that. She became unbearable to follow as an artist, her career became a travesty, she’s just throwing out albums and she doesn’t do anything with them, she hides from everything in the first month after the album's release. HM is shaping up to be an “milking” album for what is left from her fandom and she has one sensible thing to do in my opinion: call it a career. It’s time for her to announce a theater farewell tour and at the end of it she can throw out another album to milk the last standing stans and then she can go and fuck her(depressive)self. I'm so over her, some of you guys here were really nice people and I wish you all the best 

 

Wow, i may agree with some of what you say, but Vertigo please keep posting. You have had some great posts here.

I don't want to believe everything you mentioned, even its if true to a degree.. lets give her some more time.. and see what

becomes..i personally have vested a ton of time in this, and dont want to see things end this way.. i mentioned before

message me directly if you like and we can talk more, but it is what it is.

[graham4anything 2,859]

2nd thought of the day perhaps unpopular-

 

and this is why I love Ms. Grant- and this is what the haters do not get.

 

It requires hundreds of hours now to fully understand and get Lana Del Rey.and once the 100 hours are finished, another 100 more and more and more

 

It is impossible to direct anyone to one song and say, this is Lana Del Rey. It is impossible.

 

It would be like telling a new person to read Gatsby (or any great book) and go to page 86 paragraph 3 (random number) and don't bother with the rest of it.

 

It is why at Christmas time, one listens to hundreds of different songs all by different artists back to back but most don't have any clue who is singing any of the songs (and most radio stations

never announce who sang any of them). The topic is the same, the artists different.

 

So the more Lana releases, yes, the less likely for a newer audience. Kids don't have the patience, adults don't have the time.

 

How many people will invest the time needed to start from the beginning and go forward, or if starting from the end, then to invest the time to go back.

It is also why some will never be happy with what she sings in concert.

Because she is removing the order and just giving a bit and piece, and like listening to someone who made up a bootleg out of order mix, it don't sound right if its not in the order

it is meant to be.

 

And that goes from her early stuff through BTD/Paradise/ultraviolence/Honeymoon

 

One cannot say listen to Gods and Monsters and understand where it is coming from. Or Yayo. Or anything.

 

It would be like starting a chess match at Checkmate. It would solicit a big "huh???"

 

or someone just hearing the Beatles "Ob la di" or the Beach Boys "Fun Fun Fun in the California Sun" or Chuck Berry's "My ding-a-ling".

 

and it is what makes Lana's useage of "Burnt Norton" doubly meaningful. And why it was included.

 

and also the line about she will not change even if it means losing you, just to change.She is Elizabeth referencing Lana referencing Elizabeth referencing Lana. It is now clearly evident what she meant. As is the bus of the stars I referred to early on.

 

 

and to add-

she could at any time release a bonus song that is released as a single and is a great catchy single oriented one off or duet, however, that won't get a long term fan who isn't interested in the main set of releases and the real part of the album. It will just get a fly by night person, who most likely wouldn't pick up a complete cd anyhow.

[Harpunn 399]

I strongly consider all the negativity you lot have centered towards Lana is due to you having heard the album on repeat several times and knowing that it's going to be one long wait up until the next, thus having this outré feeling about her & her work. 

[letsescapelizzy 672]

Swan Song is, i think right now, my favorite song of HM.

 

..it will be our swan song..

 

Swan song, Blackest day, MTWBT, Freak, my fav 4 top songs from this album.

[Kommando 3,264]

I think that Barrie is really hot

[PinkVelvet 382]

I think that Barrie is really hot

 

is this really an unpopular opinion? he's smoking

[Kommando 3,264]

is this really an unpopular opinion? he's smoking

 

I don't know, it seems like being revulsed by all Lana's bf is the local sport around here. I mean even tho most of us are underaged twinks, there's way way more to life than the Nick Jones type of guys  ​