FROGGO 2,803 Posted April 20, 2014 XFM Radio January 25th - Interviewer: Eoghan McDermott Transcription courtesy of @@VegasBaby Transcript Spoiler Eoghan McDermott: Right now on XFM: a lady who, in 2012 is going to catapult herself into the kaleidoscopic stratosphere of musical super-stardom, fuelled by the release of her rambunctiously anticipated album “Born to Die”. Ladies and gentlemen: Lana Del Rey. Lana: (laughs) Oh, my god! Hi, I’m good, thank you. EM: We had that awkward thing when I walked in there ‘cause I’m from Ireland, you’re from America, we’re both in London and I....We kissed on one cheek and then, out of habit, I went for the second cheek ‘cause that’s what they do in London.. Lana: I did that too, though.. EM: But I thought you weren’t quite there yet, ‘cause I’m still, you know, sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. We had that awkward little...in between moment. Lana: Well, there was something about you. I knew you weren’t really going for the second kiss, but.. EM: But it happened, anyway. Lana: It happened. EM: But, here we are, it’s all good. Lana, I’m going to cut to the chase. You’ve already broken my heart. Lana: Shut up… EM: No, you have, right. Last night, here’s me: I stroll down to Koko. Got my Lana Del Rey posters- Lana: Oh, my god! EM: - I thought..she’s gonna sign it. Maybe she’ll spit at me, if I’m lucky! Er, and you, you were sick and you weren’t there and I was very sad. As many people were sad.. Lana: I know..- EM: What happened to you? Lana: Well, I’m so sorry about that and... EM: Everybody was just...disappointed. Lana: I know. I’ve been waiting to see a lot of people I’ve been talking to, too, you know. I’ve been talking to friends and fans and I was waiting to see everybody but um, you know, I had the Maida Vale Sessions earlier in the day and by the time I’d finished, I knew that I was not gonna make it to Koko’s. 'Cause I’d sort of been sick since I’ve came off the road and it kind..kind of comes and it goes and I had walking pneumonia on the tour but didn’t know. Anyways but I’m…..sorry, I’ll sign your poster! (laughs) EM: Oh, no no yeah, I’d better get the poster signed, also! Oh yeah, so everyone was monumentally disappointed and Orlando of The Maccabes who was…who were on also, they also expressed their supreme disappointment. Lana: Ohhh.. EM: Yeah. But no in a great way, in a great way. Lana: Well, that’s nice. EM: Lets’-let’s...we’ll talk about the album shortly but let’s bring it back a little bit now, ‘cause we’re all getting to know each other and it’s lovely. I read an interview of you. Eighteen years old. You’re in New York. You’re doing all these kind of open mic thingymajiggy’s and that. When did you decide definitely, above everything else, ‘I’m gonna be a profession singer’ and did you decide when you were twelve...was it.. Lana: Hmmm, that’s a good question. I kinda needed a lot of help with that decision. I mean, I felt like it was sort of a selfish, unrealistic choice to make. Um, being like a singer and I also didn’t know anyone who was like, a real singer and so, I kinda read books about people who did what they wanted to do and how they did that. Um I didn’t, you know, I never really made the serious, conscious decision like, ‘This will be my life’, because I was afraid to get too attached to that vision. ‘Cause I thought if it didn’t end up happening, it would probably…break my heart but when I was eighteen and nineteen, I was playing open mic nights in Brooklyn and in the Lower East Side and um, I just knew that I really loved to do it. I was..I was a nervous performer but um, a lot of the boys who would play at the same open mics kind of took me in and said, you know, “Oh, come play for me tomorrow, come open up for my show”, so that’s what I did. And every week, when I played you know, for someone’s show, then someone else would ask me to come play for their show I did that for a couple of years and kinda didn’t really have any ambitions until I got signed to my first independent record label. And um, the very next day started working with David Kahne, who in America is like a super producer. Here, too, actually. Um, so, maybe that was one of the first times where I thought, ‘Wow, someone of his calibre actually thinks that I’m good, you know, geez”. EM: Yeah, amazing.. Lana: I dunno, yeah.. EM: Are you from New York, or did you move to New York? Lana: I was born in Manhattan. I was born in New York and then I left when I was young and I came back when I was eighteen. EM: Oh, what was it like coming back? Was it like a big move, was that, did that..’Hey mom, dad. I’m gonna go to New York, I’m gonna be a singer. See ya later!” Lana: It was like..heaven, you know. Every day I woke up in New York was a good day. I was so happy to be there but I had been away from home at that point for a long time so it wasn’t a big transition ‘cause I left when I was fourteen, so. I was just so happy to be there. It’s one of the best cities on the planet. [break] EM: XFM, drive time, we’re here with Lana Del Rey, who has just brandished a massive dildo! Lana, why’d you carry that in?!That is disgusting! Lana: Mate, it’s ‘cause I knew you were gonna be here! (laughs) I bought it for you! (laughs) So don’t play dumb with me, buddy! (laughs more) Oh, my god! EM: You have this thing that a lot of singers and musicians and actresses and things want but very few possess, which is like…mystery and allure and a lot of people ask questions about you and you have this whole aura around you and-And I read loads of mad stuff about you. I read this one thing that you were a professional trapeze artist- Lana: Not true….unfortunately, sorry! EM: - In Alabama. What other mad stuff have you heard? Lana: Ohh, I mean, to be honest the only stuff that I’ve heard is just not been true. I mean, I really haven’t heard anything yet that is true and I know what you mean about the mystery. I mean, I look for…I, I’m interested in people who I think are mysterious but the funny thing is, is that me more than most people have lived such a straight forward life, you know, um, actually, you know, there’s really nothing too mysterious.. EM: Yeah, but that’s awesome, that’s great though – Lana: I’m kind of as basic as it’s gets! EM: -‘Cause people want that, you know what I mean? They strive to have it and they try and you just have it. Lana: Well, that’s nice of you to say, I mean, you know, I mean some of the good stuff they write whether they be real or fake is very…complimentary (laughs). EM: Yeah, no, absolutely .You certainly got this wave behind you and Born to Die is out on the 31st. Lana: Yeah. EM: Proud of it? Lana: Oh, I love it so much. It’s like, you know, I…I haven’t done that many things in life that I love but the record..is gorgeous. There isn’t one song that I felt like I compromised on. You know, like lyrically or melodically, um because I didn’t feel any pressure. I really just felt like it was very personal, very much me. There’s nothing about it that I wouldn’t stand behind, not that it matters but just happens to be true.. EM: But I didn’t realize until recently, that Born to Die and Video Games and Blue Jeans, you said, is a kind of trilogy about this one dude and his effect on you and your relationship or what you thought. Erm, is he (‘Adele style’), is he aware of that? Have you talked about that, does he- is he aware of the reaction it’s getting and.. Lana: What..is Adele, like what...happened? EM: Well, she’s very- she’s very vocal about this one person. It’s about this person and we talk about it, now we can have a laugh about it but at the time, it was so much emotion going on- Lana: I see. He doesn’t know. His mother knows. We’re in touch…um…but no, no. EM: He hasn’t pieced it together and kind of gone ‘Hey, this is about me’? Lana: Not really. EM: Beyond that trilogy then, the rest of the album. What, what’s the story behind the rest of the album? Lana: I, I mean, each song sort of has it’s different back story but, umm.. I don’t know, you know, like there’s a couple of concepts I guess behind like, the general theme of the record but mostly…this record came about, ironically, at a time where I had really let go of my personal ambitions of being recognized as a good writer and a good singer..I- EM: Why? Lana: Well, because it had been so long since I started so I figured, you know, from now on, I’ll write for myself and just for the sake of writing. Just for the-..’cause I love it and um, ever since I started doing that - not that I ever really strayed from that path – but, when I really started indulging in just writing things ‘cause I liked them I really started to win, you know, just personally. And, um, I mean a lot of the record really doesn’t have...it doesn’t mean much, you know. Some of it I wrote when I was in California and I would just take drives from…along the Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to Malibu, so it’s kind of a- it’s so nice for me, ‘cause it was like hot, hot summer time and where I come from, it’s really cold and I was just really enjoying in being like in tropical weather and, sort of using that time to like, think back at the way that things were and write some of the record about like, snapshots of my life and try and paint pictures like with words, just for myself to look back on them. It’s just really for me, kind of…yeah. EM: Video Games is obviously the one that gave this initial tidal wave of recognition and stuff. It’s quite a- it’s very mellow, you know. It’s just a vocal and it’s piano and it’s quite haunting. Did…were you told or did you think that maybe it wouldn’t do the business it’s done or have the impact it’s had? Lana: Sure…yep. I bought it to everyone and they were just, you know, not happy. It was just another 5 minute and 35 second love song with no instrumentation. (Eoghan laughs) Lana: Ehh…that’s what I was told! EM: Ha, that’s a bit harsh. Lana: And so..,yeah well..(laughs and sighs) Anyways but you know, I took it home and made a video for it anyways. Put all my favorite things in like time lapse, pink roses and black and white footage of kids skateboarding and erm and again, nothing that really meant anything, just kind of like things I thought were beautiful. Just sort of piece them together. Didn’t really make sense at the time. EM: Did you have to fight for it then, to get it...to push it out or did someone - Lana: - No, because I was on my own YouTube channel, so no one really give a whatever that I just put it up but I mean, um, of course people started noticing day by day, views started jumping. I think no one really expected that. That was about in June, May.. EM: It has been such a crazy ride since then. You got, obviously you know, for the Born to Die video is so bombastic (?) and so OTT and it’s brilliant in all it’s bling. Umm, you know, like Kanye obviously loves it and you got all these celebrity endorsements and it’s sort of – a massive amount of activity in a short space of time. Have you had time to stop and stop back and go, ‘This is bizarre’.? Are you enjoying it or is it work work work work work and maybe in a while, you’ll enjoy it? Lana: I think it’s probably more the second one, to be completely honest with you. Um, just because I find that usually when I get finished with one thing, it’s time to do another thing. Umm, but you know, it is a big difference. Like, having music being a centre of my life again because it hasn’t really been that way for some time so, umm..it’s definitely different. EM: Did you have friends, like old friends before this all took off, text you like ‘Aha, I saw you on telly today, I saw you in the paper today’. Is that- .people must be getting a kick out of it.. Lana: That’s exactly right, yeah. They think it’s just hilarious, especially ‘cause we didn’t really took a lot about music ‘cause why would we, at the time nothing’s happening at all. They were like, “You were really serious about the singing thing, weren’t you?” (laughs) So, it’s actually, you know…I have good friends. They’re not in music but they are.. they are funny. EM: Can you…er, can you still walk around on the streets pretty okay? Lana: Yeah, without my make up on. I don’t really look like myself (laughs) So, it’s not a problem! EM: Do you have…massive OTT shades- Lana: -Noo.. EM: ‘Cause you know, when you need to wear massive OTT shades then it’s really gone…stratospheric. Lana: Well, I really, I used to wear a, you know, I used to wear a baseball cap everyday but then, my manager told me here, no-one wears hats. That was years ago, but, like you know, baseball – EM: - That’s a definite giveaway, yeah. Lana: -It actually.. EM: I haven’t had time to absorb the album properly. Need to listen to it a few more times but on the first listen, early favourites: National Anthem- Lana: Do you like it? EM: Love it. Particularly love the opening line.. Lana: Did you, umm, hear the real version of it. I can’t- I’m not sure if you listened to that actual, like the one with fireworks.. EM: Yeah, yeah. yeah.. Lana: Ahh. EM: Oh, it’s amazing. What’s- This is such a horrible, cliché question but for the purpose of beautiful sound bytes, we’ll do it anyway. If the world, impending Armageddon was ending tomorrow, and you said “People, you can only listen to one of my tracks off Born to Die”, what’s the …what’s the current track you’d say, “Make sure you listen to that.”? Lana: Ahh…hands down, I’d say probably Summertime Sadness. It’s just my favorite. Umm, yeah. It’s about nothing but I like to put it on in the car and just drive – drive along the ocean and I mean, it’s just heaven for me. I love it and Larry Gold, it’s amazing…I had this guy, Larry Gold, who’s been in classic music for thirty years, he was conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, like all throughout the record and I was telling him, I was explaining to him how I wanted him to help me sound scape the record, talking abut like, I wanted him to, you know, I wanted him to try and get the feeling of the American Beauty soundtrack mixed with like, early Bruce Springsteen in the summertime and he did it, it’s crazy! The strings on it are just, they’re exactly what I thought, so. EM: Amazing. Um, Lana Del Rey, plans for 2012? Lana: 2012 (sighs) I don’t have any…I dunno. EM: Just touring and appearing and being wonderful and riding the wave? Lana: I’m gonna go to California in early Februray and um, play some in store shows but after that, I’m not, I don’t think I am touring. Umm, (laughs) I’m going home. EM: Just getting right out! Lana: (laughs) Yeah. EM: One final question: What are the odds, do you think, from one to a million that we might fall in love and get married and live happily ever after? I probably- I get.. Lana: Do you..are you…do you really…is that a serious question? EM:…It is now. Lana: (laughs) When’s your birthday? EM: Er, it’s the fifteenth of April. Lana: So…you’re, err.. EM: Aries. Lana: So then, the chances…they’re very good. EM: Oh! This is going well! Lana: (laughs) EM: This is probably where we should wrap it up. And we’ll talk off the air! Lana Del Rey, Born to Die out 31st of January. It’s been a pleasure. Lana: Thank you. EM: Thank you very much. Lana: Thank you. Source 0 Quote you're so art froggo, out on the pond… Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
