Full Radio.com Interview: Lana Del Rey on the Leaks, the Imitators & the Haters

[evilentity 13,303]

What the hell is she talking about with Steve Mertens, though? Is that something to do with Sirens? I mean 8 years ago would have been 2005 OMG channel the vibe of May Jailer with the voice and songwriting talent of Lana Del Rey. PLEASE.

Steven Mertens used to play back up w/ her, I guess at various gigs. He used to w/ Regina Spektor, too

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20120105104348/http://www.myspace.com/4026640

But no seriously Sirens was 8 years ago and AKA wasn't...like I think she may have just actually referenced it. Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng

I totally overlooked the "eight years ago" part at first ( at a possible reference to Sirens or her other early recordings) but I'd been meaning to contact Steven Mertens for months since @@Trash Magic and I put some things together about him (which perhaps belong in Lanalysis). When I saw she mentioned him by name in this article, I got on that immediately and sent him an e-mail. I'll report back any response, but please don't bother him in case it interferes with my attempts to correspond with him.

 

In addition to sharing the bill with her at a Cross-Pollination show, and playing in her backing band as TPD noted (he's the guy that looks sort of like McNulty from The Wire in the Canal Room videos), Mertens has actually been referred to in at least two other interviews with Lana. Remember that Megan and Menace in the Mornings interview?

When I was young, my boyfriend in the city made my first record. His best friend Jack was Regina [spektor]'s longtime boyfriend. They're married now.

(You can listen here at around 5:20.) Regina Spektor (who TPD notes Mertens also played for) is married to Jack Dishel who was in a band called The Moldy Peaches. Guess who else was in The Moldy Peaches? Steven Mertens. I wasn't completely convinced at first that that's who she was talking about (I thought it was more likely another Moldy Peaches member, Adam Green, since his initials are AG, likely a red herring) until @@Trash Magic pointed out something I'd missed-- in that Mizrahi interview she said:

One of the first producers I worked with, Steven Saint, learned a lot from Dick Dale (father of surf music, pre-Beach Boys) so the beginning of the sound was influenced by some sounds from Hawaii and surf guitars, so that’s where the surf comes from.

A little digging shows that Steven Saint = Steven Mertens (see here and here).

 

[Sitar 22,172]

I totally overlooked the "eight years ago" part at first ( at a possible reference to Sirens or her other early recordings) but I'd been meaning to contact Steven Mertens for months since @@Trash Magic and I put some things together about him (which perhaps belong in Lanalysis). When I saw she mentioned him by name in this article, I got on that immediately and sent him an e-mail. I'll report back any response, but please don't bother him in case it interferes with my attempts to correspond with him.

 

In addition to sharing the bill with her at a Cross-Pollination show, and playing in her backing band as TPD noted (he's the guy that looks sort of like McNulty from The Wire in the Canal Room videos), Mertens has actually been referred to in at least two other interviews with Lana. Remember that Megan and Menace in the Mornings interview?

(You can listen here at around 5:20.) Regina Spektor (who TPD notes Mertens also played for) is married to Jack Dishel who was in a band called The Moldy Peaches. Guess who else was in The Moldy Peaches? Steven Mertens. I wasn't completely convinced at first that that's who she was talking about (I thought it was more likely another Moldy Peaches member, Adam Green, since his initials are AG, likely a red herring) until @@Trash Magic pointed out something I'd missed-- in that Mizrahi interview she said:

A little digging shows that Steven Saint = Steven Mertens (see here and here).

 

 

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant did not date the Moldy Peaches, omg. I used to listen to them. What

 

But hey it looks like they're still on good terms if she continues to mention him, at least! And Sirens may not be very "surf" but she's called it her first record twice and I just don't see how she could mean anything else. Plus, maybe he produced other LG era songs? The No Kung Fu AKA demos, maybe...Many are without producers, like CWYCMA and the full-band Phenomena songs (hey, if she would work with him now, maybe she'd also work with him when she was obviously with Arthur Lynn).

[COLACNT 5,170]

 

    :defeated: :defeated:

[Trash Magic 26,794]

Old news 2 us :smoke:

[Trash Magic 26,794]

Steven was her ex beau too

 

Oh already said

[Viva 3,169]

No! she had pms or something in the interview., so forget everything she said. the hormones can do strange things to your brain. of course she will come to Turkey. and also to Brazil.

 

This is the easiest way to irritate us girls/women: just say a thought or a feeling is just pms and hormones. Never fails to hit a nerve. Never.

 

[Sitar 22,172]

It is far too much to wish he'd tell us the real titles, right?

WTF IS WESTBOUND

[Coney Island King 25,008]

[elllipsis 1,441]

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant did not date the Moldy Peaches, omg. I used to listen to them. What

 

LOL my thoughts exactly. The NYC music scene sure is smaller than I thought, damn...

[slang 1,509]

Apparently it really was Blue Jeans.

 

 

This is obviously going into personal opinion territory, but I always thought that was the case with most artists (musicians or not) tbh; you know, the age old cliché of the artist who doesn't let others see their work until it's 100% finished and they're completely satisfied with it?

Yeah, Dan Heath was in the liner notes after Emile. My bad.

 

It's sad that she's sad about Black Beauty, but I'd still buy her next release on the basis of enjoying her older leaks. It's more the perfection or non-perfection of those that I'm fixated on, a lot of which seem complete enough songs.  If something about the music industry prevented her releasing more of the leaks (for instance, the Princess Superstar sessions), what was it? If she just thought the songs weren't "perfect" enough then ...

 

Punk rock, punk rock

The boys used to punch each other in the face and girls were walking around wasted

And everyone had a good night, come back in sunlight

Punk rock, rock, rock

 

by which I mean "perfect" seems contradictory to "punk", which to my mind isn't just a historical rock style, but more of an attitude of being disinhibited and honest/heartfelt.  The thing that fascinates me about her older leaks is that she's got that. 

[lola 6,616]

 

Yeah, Dan Heath was in the liner notes after Emile. My bad.

 

It's sad that she's sad about Black Beauty, but I'd still buy her next release on the basis of enjoying her older leaks. It's more the perfection or non-perfection of those that I'm fixated on, a lot of which seem complete enough songs.  If something about the music industry prevented her releasing more of the leaks (for instance, the Princess Superstar sessions), what was it? If she just thought the songs weren't "perfect" enough then ...

 

Punk rock, punk rock

The boys used to punch each other in the face and girls were walking around wasted

And everyone had a good night, come back in sunlight

Punk rock, rock, rock

 

by which I mean "perfect" seems contradictory to "punk", which to my mind isn't just a historical rock style, but more of an attitude of being disinhibited and honest/heartfelt.  The thing that fascinates me about her older leaks is that she's got that. 

 

lol i don't think lana knows anything about punk rock tbh. she probably thinks nirvana is punk

[rubytuesday 222]

It’s about not really knowing anyone close to you who can help you, and being really lucky enough to finding people who you just meet randomly, who can take care of you until you can take care of yourself.
 

That's my favorite thing she's ever said

[Viva 3,169]

It is far too much to wish he'd tell us the real titles, right?

WTF IS WESTBOUND

 

North Wests cousin.

[ThorixB 15]

lol i don't think lana knows anything about punk rock tbh. she probably thinks nirvana is punk

Wow, what arrogance and little consideration you have towards your supposedly preferred artist. At least you didn't changed your avatar and I suppose that Lana is your no.1 artist, correct me if I'm wrong with that. Now, about your arrogance:

1. Your arrogance towards an artist is acceptable if you consider that her/his art is worthless, otherwise you are schizophrenic about it. I have no respect for "artists" like Thicke, Minaj, Perry etc. because I think that their musical production is shit to be fed to empty adolescent minds with bodies full of hormones. Some may think that this music is good for shaking asses in clubs but nothing more than that. I don't waste time to dismiss them on forums, or youtube because they are worthless to me. But Lana's music is for audition only, you listen to her for the lyrics and melodies and you love them or not. Lana's musical product has no secondary benefits (dancing in clubs), it just affects your mind and feelings, is basically an intellectual endeavor. Now, if you love her lyrics and melodies, at least most of them I suppose, you cannot dismiss her as shallow because she's an artist that created something you love intellectually, otherwise is just nonsense. I said this because in your comment you basically said that she is so stupid that she cannot differentiate between some well known music genres despite being involved 7-8 years on the New York underground scene. You are suggesting that she uses words and musical concepts (punk rock) in her lyrics that she is not aware of.

2. I read most of her interviews, all the interviews in 2013, and I read some of your posts. I have to say that, from this scarce sources, Lana appears to be more educated and more intelligent that you are. That's why I think that your arrogance towards her is just ridiculous. Your "intellectual" contributions in posts are always the same whining about feminism without to much purpose and nothing more than that.

3. I think that you have some malevolence towards her, which is obvious when you suggested, without any proof, that she calls the paparazzi to take her pictures when she's going out in pajamas to buy some coffee and to put herself to the derision of idiotic comments in the Daily Mail. You think so little of her, which I think that is incompatible with loving her music which is a product of her mind and persona.

I think that you and some of the "lanalyzers" are pretty schizophrenic about Lana as an artist, which is due in my opinion to the enormous controversy generated artificially in the press around her. You know that her music is good and authentic but you cannot defend this fact wholeheartedly because of the critical reception of her music which was based mostly on critical assessments that ignored her real persona and music and were based on unsubstantiated affirmations about her. And there is on more reason for your bitchy attitude towards her: you think with your pussy = jealousness (lips, hair, boyfriend etc.).

[elllipsis 1,441]

[YUNGATA 14,944]

Wow, what arrogance and little consideration you have towards your supposedly preferred artist. At least you didn't changed your avatar and I suppose that Lana is your no.1 artist, correct me if I'm wrong with that. Now, about your arrogance:

1. Your arrogance towards an artist is acceptable if you consider that her/his art is worthless, otherwise you are schizophrenic about it. I have no respect for "artists" like Thicke, Minaj, Perry etc. because I think that their musical production is shit to be fed to empty adolescent minds with bodies full of hormones. Some may think that this music is good for shaking asses in clubs but nothing more than that. I don't waste time to dismiss them on forums, or youtube because they are worthless to me. But Lana's music is for audition only, you listen to her for the lyrics and melodies and you love them or not. Lana's musical product has no secondary benefits (dancing in clubs), it just affects your mind and feelings, is basically an intellectual endeavor. Now, if you love her lyrics and melodies, at least most of them I suppose, you cannot dismiss her as shallow because she's an artist that created something you love intellectually, otherwise is just nonsense. I said this because in your comment you basically said that she is so stupid that she cannot differentiate between some well known music genres despite being involved 7-8 years on the New York underground scene. You are suggesting that she uses words and musical concepts (punk rock) in her lyrics that she is not aware of.

2. I read most of her interviews, all the interviews in 2013, and I read some of your posts. I have to say that, from this scarce sources, Lana appears to be more educated and more intelligent that you are. That's why I think that your arrogance towards her is just ridiculous. Your "intellectual" contributions in posts are always the same whining about feminism without to much purpose and nothing more than that.

3. I think that you have some malevolence towards her, which is obvious when you suggested, without any proof, that she calls the paparazzi to take her pictures when she's going out in pajamas to buy some coffee and to put herself to the derision of idiotic comments in the Daily Mail. You think so little of her, which I think that is incompatible with loving her music which is a product of her mind and persona.

I think that you and some of the "lanalyzers" are pretty schizophrenic about Lana as an artist, which is due in my opinion to the enormous controversy generated artificially in the press around her. You know that her music is good and authentic but you cannot defend this fact wholeheartedly because of the critical reception of her music which was based mostly on critical assessments that ignored her real persona and music and were based on unsubstantiated affirmations about her. And there is on more reason for your bitchy attitude towards her: you think with your pussy = jealousness (lips, hair, boyfriend etc.).

 

 

[phahad 691]

Wow, what arrogance and little consideration you have towards your supposedly preferred artist. At least you didn't changed your avatar and I suppose that Lana is your no.1 artist, correct me if I'm wrong with that. Now, about your arrogance:

1. Your arrogance towards an artist is acceptable if you consider that her/his art is worthless, otherwise you are schizophrenic about it. I have no respect for "artists" like Thicke, Minaj, Perry etc. because I think that their musical production is shit to be fed to empty adolescent minds with bodies full of hormones. Some may think that this music is good for shaking asses in clubs but nothing more than that. I don't waste time to dismiss them on forums, or youtube because they are worthless to me. But Lana's music is for audition only, you listen to her for the lyrics and melodies and you love them or not. Lana's musical product has no secondary benefits (dancing in clubs), it just affects your mind and feelings, is basically an intellectual endeavor. Now, if you love her lyrics and melodies, at least most of them I suppose, you cannot dismiss her as shallow because she's an artist that created something you love intellectually, otherwise is just nonsense. I said this because in your comment you basically said that she is so stupid that she cannot differentiate between some well known music genres despite being involved 7-8 years on the New York underground scene. You are suggesting that she uses words and musical concepts (punk rock) in her lyrics that she is not aware of.

2. I read most of her interviews, all the interviews in 2013, and I read some of your posts. I have to say that, from this scarce sources, Lana appears to be more educated and more intelligent that you are. That's why I think that your arrogance towards her is just ridiculous. Your "intellectual" contributions in posts are always the same whining about feminism without to much purpose and nothing more than that.

3. I think that you have some malevolence towards her, which is obvious when you suggested, without any proof, that she calls the paparazzi to take her pictures when she's going out in pajamas to buy some coffee and to put herself to the derision of idiotic comments in the Daily Mail. You think so little of her, which I think that is incompatible with loving her music which is a product of her mind and persona.

I think that you and some of the "lanalyzers" are pretty schizophrenic about Lana as an artist, which is due in my opinion to the enormous controversy generated artificially in the press around her. You know that her music is good and authentic but you cannot defend this fact wholeheartedly because of the critical reception of her music which was based mostly on critical assessments that ignored her real persona and music and were based on unsubstantiated affirmations about her. And there is on more reason for your bitchy attitude towards her: you think with your pussy = jealousness (lips, hair, boyfriend etc.).

just in case you arent familiar with the word

[Poison Ivy 1,588]

 

 

oh, it's this guy again

[Quentin 552]

Starting to think that he's just a troll tbh.

 

 And there is on more reason for your bitchy attitude towards her: you think with your pussy = jealousness (lips, hair, boyfriend etc.).

 

dead

[COLACNT 5,170]

Wow, what arrogance and little consideration you have towards your supposedly preferred artist. At least you didn't changed your avatar and I suppose that Lana is your no.1 artist, correct me if I'm wrong with that. 

 

Your arrogance towards an artist is acceptable if you consider that her/his art is worthless, otherwise you are schizophrenic about it.

 

But Lana's music is for audition only, you listen to her for the lyrics and melodies and you love them or not. Lana's musical product has no secondary benefits (dancing in clubs), it just affects your mind and feelings, is basically an intellectual endeavor. Now, if you love her lyrics and melodies, at least most of them I suppose, you cannot dismiss her as shallow because she's an artist that created something you love intellectually, otherwise is just nonsense. 

 

wow rly ok i fucking twerk to go go dancer and then i curl up and cry to axl rose husband 

 

how the fuck can you *not* feel 'schizophrenic' about her? 

 

THE WORLD IS NOT BLACK AND WHITE, DIPSHIT