LANALYSIS: Relating Songs To Known/Assumed Relationships

[lola 6,616]

Oh, sorry.

 

No problem

[Sitar 22,172]

A Lolita is a 9-14 year old girl that's in a relationship with an older man. She was already at least 20 when she got into relationships with Gnecco and Mizrahi. She may like older guys but that's nothing too weird now. It would've been different if she was a child (or early teenager) sleeping with a 35 year old man.

 

Yes, she likes older men, but I don't think she was in a relationship with an older man as a child, that just seems to be a fantasy of hers.

 

Not everything has to be one-hundred percent literal. And who knows, maybe a man was another factor in her getting sent away to boarding school so young.

[Matt 976]

I don't think she would romanticize and cherish the idea this way if she actually was in a lolita-esque relationship. Maybe we're very different people, but in my own experience it's something I cringe over and try to forget it actually happened.

 

Well we don't know how Lana's mind works. Some people get hot-to-trot over the idea of something like in Lolita. It's different for everyone. I'm sure Lana was in Lolita-esq relationships but I'm also sure some of it's just exaggerated or based off the story.

[crucro 0]

I've just sort of skimmed through this thread (it's far too long and I'm far too busy to sit down and read it all in one go lol) so apologies if any of this was already addressed.

 

I remain absolutely convinced that the vast majority of her songs are/were written about Jimmy. Speculation can be fun, and some of these theories are really interesting, but what Lana has said herself should take precedence as truth. Imo, the two most important quotes to consider are:

1. She has said multiple time, in so many interviews I couldn't even think of where to source if I tried, that Born to Die, Video Games, and Blue Jeans are a trilogy about the same man/relationship. Going off that, she said she cast Bradley in those videos because he reminded her of the man she was singing about. And so these songs are obviusly about Jimmy.

2. She's also quoted as saying something along the lines of "... I sing about the same damn person all the time, so I'll probably always be in love with him.." Which, again, just makes me assume that the majority - if not all - of the love songs on BTD are about Jimmy.

 

I think some of you take things too literally. Blue Jeans doesn't have to be literally about her boyfriend being arrested and sent to prison. Her mentioning elements of hiphop/street culture doesn't mean her boyfriend was black (I'm not even going to touch on how offensive and stereotyping that is tbh I can't deal I mean wtf). She uses the same themes over and over again in all of her music. She's been obviously influenced by hiphop and rap musically, lyrically, aesthetically. She's obsessed with old Hollywood and glamour and seems to have been so the bulk of her life. That's why you get references to grills, gold chains, phrases like "baby boo" or "ride or die" and these dramatic cinematic storylines like in Born to Die, Off to the Races, etc. They connect back to her real-life experiences, but I don't think it's exactly literal.

 

OK this comment is about 20x longer than it should have been so I'm just gonna stop here. What am I doing with my life, etc etc

 

:love:

[crucro 0]

I am totally on board with evilentity's theory though like ho shit

[Sitar 22,172]

I've just sort of skimmed through this thread (it's far too long and I'm far too busy to sit down and read it all in one go lol) so apologies if any of this was already addressed.

 

I remain absolutely convinced that the vast majority of her songs are/were written about Jimmy. Speculation can be fun, and some of these theories are really interesting, but what Lana has said herself should take precedence as truth. Imo, the two most important quotes to consider are:

1. She has said multiple time, in so many interviews I couldn't even think of where to source if I tried, that Born to Die, Video Games, and Blue Jeans are a trilogy about the same man/relationship. Going off that, she said she cast Bradley in those videos because he reminded her of the man she was singing about. And so these songs are obviusly about Jimmy.

2. She's also quoted as saying something along the lines of "... I sing about the same damn person all the time, so I'll probably always be in love with him.." Which, again, just makes me assume that the majority - if not all - of the love songs on BTD are about Jimmy.

 

I think some of you take things too literally. Blue Jeans doesn't have to be literally about her boyfriend being arrested and sent to prison. Her mentioning elements of hiphop/street culture doesn't mean her boyfriend was black (I'm not even going to touch on how offensive and stereotyping that is tbh I can't deal I mean wtf). She uses the same themes over and over again in all of her music. She's been obviously influenced by hiphop and rap musically, lyrically, aesthetically. She's obsessed with old Hollywood and glamour and seems to have been so the bulk of her life. That's why you get references to grills, gold chains, phrases like "baby boo" or "ride or die" and these dramatic cinematic storylines like in Born to Die, Off to the Races, etc. They connect back to her real-life experiences, but I don't think it's exactly literal.

 

OK this comment is about 20x longer than it should have been so I'm just gonna stop here. What am I doing with my life, etc etc

 

:love:

 

I respect your opinions but I can't help but immediately refute them:

1. Just because she only explicitly names one guy, first and surname, in all the songs she's written doesn't mean she isn't writing about others. LBR, try rhyming something with "Mizrahi". I will point out that she qualified VG, BTD, and BJ as a trilogy, but not a trilogy about the same man. There's a rather lengthy post within expanding on that, if you're open to giving it a look.

2. She's said a lot of damn things, to be honest. The count goes up to two when you consider that she also said "Video Games" is about two different guys. And while "Blue Jeans" may be vague in it's criminal references, Sirens certainly isn't, although I'm interested in hearing you explain how "Now he's in a jail cell for some thirty years now / Is this what you wished, to be serving time?", "K's a friend of mine, I think about him as he does time", and "Last year they decided that his time was up and he got re-tried / Double homicide / Now he's onto death row, not to hang around, though / Is this what you wished, did you wanna die?" are some grand metaphors for Jimmy.

 

I would say that Jimmy was an important guy. But I think they all were--at least, K, Mike, and Jimmy. I'd even agree that a lot of Born to Die is likely about him, but to discredit her long-term relationship with Mike and some glaring, obvious references to prison that totally avoid any subtlety at all just because something she said in an interview is not so wise in these analyses.

 

And I absolutely refuse to incite a race war in this thread, those posts were the epitome of harmless speculation.

[lola 6,616]

We assumed that K could be black because she sang about "golden brown" skin, she cast A$AP in "National Anthem" and she talks about him wearing grills and a gold chain which would look absolutely ridiculous on a white guy. He could also be white or Latino though.

[Arzi 1,979]

We assumed that K could be black because she sang about "golden brown" skin, she cast A$AP in "National Anthem" and she talks about him wearing grills and a gold chain which would look absolutely ridiculous on a white guy. He could also be white or Latino though.

National Anthem is about Jimmy

[lola 6,616]

National Anthem is about Jimmy

 

We don't know exactly who it's about.

[Hellion 991]

We assumed that K could be black because she sang about "golden brown" skin, she cast A$AP in "National Anthem" and she talks about him wearing grills and a gold chain which would look absolutely ridiculous on a white guy. He could also be white or Latino though.

 

The way it may or may not look is irrelevant. Being from Mississippi (re: the South), I've personally seen white guys wear grills and gold chains - older men, black, white, or otherwise, wear gold chains too - more than black guys.

[lola 6,616]

The way it may or may not look is irrelevant. Being from Mississippi (re: the South), I've personally seen white guys wear grills and gold chains - older men, black, white, or otherwise, wear gold chains too - more than black guys.

 

Oh lord, really?

[Hellion 991]

Unfortunately.

[Sitar 22,172]

National Anthem is about Jimmy

 

How do you figure?

[takeanotherdragg 9]

I completely disagree that National Anthem is about Jimmy. Jimmy was somewhat of a struggling artist. It's pretty obvious that whoever she's referring to in National Anthem is wealthy and already established in their career. I can't really imagine Jimmy Gnecco summering in the Hamptons.

[Arzi 1,979]

I completely disagree that National Anthem is about Jimmy. Jimmy was somewhat of a struggling artist. It's pretty obvious that whoever she's referring to in National Anthem is wealthy and already established in their career. I can't really imagine Jimmy Gnecco summering in the Hamptons.

National Anthem is connected with its monologue where she refers to 'her man' as someone 'electric' so I reminded that interview when she gets asked about Bradley and she says something along these lines 'I choose Bradley because he reminded me of that electric boy I used to know' So I'm sure National Anthem is about Jimmy, Blue Jeans and Born To Die too.

[Madrigal 2,612]

This begs the question...when was "Lucky Ones" written? Because she's obviously not been dating Barrie that long (maybe a year at this point?), and all we know "Radio" was the last song written for Born to Die.

 

Did she say so for the deluxe edition?

 

It's at very least 2011, possibly from the same serious Rick did the two/three other songs from this period. Definitely post-concept, and I think it sounds like a "new" song.

[Sam Gho 115]

National Anthem is connected with its monologue where she refers to 'her man' as someone 'electric' so I reminded that interview when she gets asked about Bradley and she says something along these lines 'I choose Bradley because he reminded me of that electric boy I used to know' So I'm sure National Anthem is about Jimmy, Blue Jeans and Born To Die too.

 

I have written this before, but I think Jimmy G was a minor character in her life, as far as a real relationship was concerned. I think she developed a crush on him after meeting him at clubs etc., and as she said in some interview, she was impressed by his rock-star credentials, but realized later that he was only modestly famous. I think the more substantial relationships were with K, and MM. As far as songs are concerned, many of the early songs are about K, while the majority of the later ones are about MM (obviously she refers to both of them in some songs). Jimmy is the inspiration of only a few songs but she intentionally confuses matters by choosing BS for two of the videos, even though the character in Blue Jeans or VG or BTD has nothing to do with what we know of JG. Instead all the three songs of the trilogy seem most closely based on MM's character, with aspects of K's criminality thrown in, but mixed in with JG's looks (tattoos).

[Sitar 22,172]

So I haven't updated this since "Burning Desire" and intend to do so now, but was wondering...what do you guys think of "Paris" being about her English teacher?

[Sitar 22,172]

We're all up-to-date! Featuring evilentity's breakthrough and new sections on Barrie James-O'Neill and the friendship between Reeve and Jimmy.

[lola 6,616]

Does anybody have the link to the interview about Bradley?