Lana interview with The Age, May 10, 2014

[evilentity 13,303]

She didn't do press for two and a half years, she says, exhausted by what she saw as persistent misrepresentations of herself and her story. "Read everything and assume the opposite, then you'll really know who I am." She gives a thin smile. "It really doesn't matter what I say."

Sigh. This is getting really old in interview after interview. Stop blaming everyone else and start taking some responsibility for your and your team's own misrepresentations and missteps that fueled the criticism.

the 27-year-old singer

Del Rey was born in New York in 1986

Case in point.

she recorded an album with producer David Kahne (Paul McCartney, the Strokes, New Order), released in 2009, which didn't sell. Titled Lana Del Ray aka Lizzy Grant

Um, actually the title was just Lana Del Ray and it wasn't released until 2010, but again, great fact-checking.

"I'm not a provocateur."

Titles song "Fucked My Way Up to the Top".
 

She went through a painful period of writer's block while touring after the release of Born to Die, "trying to write things that I thought would be more accessible,"

Why, Lana, why?

Del Rey... grew up in Lake Placid, a small town on the northern edge of upstate New York. "It's the coldest spot in the nation," she says.

Conflict with teachers at school, where her mother also taught, led to her parents sending her to Kent, a private boarding school in Connecticut; her uncle had recently taken up a position there as admissions officer, and he helped to arrange financial aid.

inb4 "Conflict with teachers at school" = "let's make love with our teachers". Hmm, sheds new light on "My Momma" & "Boarding School". Also, I wonder if this is the uncle that taught her to play guitar.

"I was lonely," she says, but "I had this teacher who was my only friend in school. His name was Gene. He read us Leaves of Grass and we read Lolita in class, and it changed my world, which was a really solitary world. I didn't have a connection to anyone in class and when I found these writers, I knew they were my people." Gene was just a few years older than her, fresh from Georgetown University. "He would sign me out and we would listen to Tupac and stuff in his car," she remembers, "and he would teach me about old movies like Citizen Kane. He taught me everything."

Jesus fucking Christ Lana. Now you've mentioned him by his first name? Sorry, Mr. Campbell, there's nothing I can do anymore. God help you now. For the sake of your career, it's probably a good thing you're teaching at an all boys school now.

"Nina" and "Billie" are on her left upper chest, for Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, her favourite singers.

Um, wasn't there an interview where she said she wasn't inspired by any female artists?

After high school, Del Rey attended Fordham, a university in the Bronx where she finished a BA with a major in philosophy, but felt out of sync with campus life.

I still have some skepticism about whether she actually graduated, but at least she's correctly saying it was a "big degree in philosophy" rather than metaphysics.
 

She thinks for a moment and says, "I did lose my car, my family's car. That was not a good thing. I guess that was a catalyst." I wonder if this is a euphemism for crashing it, but it's more prosaic. "I forgot where I put it." She sighs and smiles ruefully.

I just riiiiide. And forget where I parked because I was too drunk to remember.

I love this interview. Thanks for sharing it.
 
[May 10 though?]

Lana is so awesome she gives interviews IN THE FUTURE

Um, guys, it's an Australian newspaper. There are these things called time zones...

[Guest Dot]

This interview makes me appreciate Prom Song even more omfg.

 

I bet Gene is hot as fuck!

[FormerLanaFan 169]

"im not a provocateur" says the woman who names her song 'fucked my way to the top'

 

I think that UV is a response to all the shit that happen with her since 2011. We can put in this perspective FMWTT, UV would never happened without the backlash. I think that is less a provocation, rather she decided to respond. She needs to become active on this and not passive as she were until UV. She needed an image, an album that could sustain her in facing off the haters. I see all the song titles from that perspective. FMWTT could be a clever sarcastic song with an audacious title so we have to wait to judge it.

[COLACNT 5,170]

"I've always been really at home with myself and maybe that turns people off. Maybe that's a problem for people.

 

tears

[YouCanBeTheBoss 71]

I love this interview. 

 

I kinda had a feeling Mr. Campbell would be relatively young (not too many middle-aged men listen to Biggie and Tupac, lol). I find it really interesting that he actually introduced her to a lot of the things that would go on to influence her career and songwriting in such a grand way. He definitely must have had a large effect on her life.

 

Hopefully now people won't accuse me of 'reaching' next time I try my hand at Lanalysis. 

[Trash Magic 26,885]

 

I bet Gene is hot as fuck!

something about reading this just made me laugh out loud 

[Rayse 657]

So "The Other Woman" might be a thing after all, huh? 

Or it could be an homage to Nina Simone's The Other Woman

[Trash Magic 26,885]

 

I bet Gene is hot as fuck!

something about reading this just made me laugh out loud 

[fraises 94]

"I was lonely," she says, but "I had this teacher who was my only friend in school. His name was Gene. He read us Leaves of Grass and we read Lolita in class, and it changed my world, which was a really solitary world. I didn't have a connection to anyone in class and when I found these writers, I knew they were my people." Gene was just a few years older than her, fresh from Georgetown University. "He would sign me out and we would listen to Tupac and stuff in his car," she remembers, "and he would teach me about old movies like Citizen Kane. He taught me everything."

Jesus fucking Christ Lana. Now you've mentioned him by his first name? Sorry, Mr. Campbell, there's nothing I can do anymore. God help you now. For the sake of your career, it's probably a good thing you're teaching at an all boys school now.

 

Lol it looks like he's still teaching students about Citizen Kane too. 

[Guest Dot]

something about reading this just made me laugh out loud 

Why?

[Trash Magic 26,885]

Why?

just cause it was in such a nonchalant manner

[Guest Dot]

just cause it was in such a nonchalant manner

Lmao... It's because, I secretely imagine him to look like my 25yo film class teacher who turned out to be gay.

 

*He is hot as hell.

[MaterialDiamond 105]

This has to be one of my favourite Lana interviews.

It's so funny and insightful. 

Prom Song keeps getting better for me, the more we find out about it.

When I read she forgot where she put her car I just 

Seriously, what an amazing interview. 

[Rayse 657]

This interview makes me appreciate Prom Song even more omfg.

 

I bet Gene is hot as fuck!

idk if i'm allowed to do this but

 

so this is gene

and i'm not joking

[GangstaBoy 3,930]

 

I just riiiiide. And forget where I parked because I was too drunk to remember.

 

  This too much

[MaterialDiamond 105]

idk if i'm allowed to do this but

 

so this is gene

and i'm not joking

 

Isn't he one of the bikers in the Ride video? 

[fraises 94]

idk if i'm allowed to do this but

 

so this is gene

and i'm not joking

There's two Gene Campbells listed tho! 

[Constantine 4,071]

idk if i'm allowed to do this but

 

so this is gene

and i'm not joking

He certainly does not look a ''few'' years older than Liz...

[Rayse 657]

There's two Gene Campbells listed tho! 

There's only one she is friends with on facebook

and only one who has a 67 chevy 

[YouCanBeTheBoss 71]

idk if i'm allowed to do this but

 

so this is gene

and i'm not joking

 

Pretty sure that's not him, lmao.