Interview for Paris Match

[Kommander 3,260]

Paris Match (french magazine) just released an interview with Lana : http://www.parismatch.com/Culture/Musique/L-incomprise-568187
Usual kind of Lana interview, new informations about the recording of Ultraviolence, her relations with her father, etc. and a new line from MPG

Here's my attempt to translate it :

The Misunderstood

Ten days before the release of "Ultraviolence", her second album, the American singer received us to the point on the passions she unchains.

Paris Match-You often declared that you wanted to stop everything, that you do not wish to sing any more. And nevertheless, you bring out your second album …
Lana Del Rey-When I declare this kind of thing, I really mean it. But often, people asked me if I had a new album ready. And I didn't have any. I would not have enjoied crying out that I had a wonderful record if it had not been the case. It was often badly interpreted, transformed into " she will never sing again ".

What triggered the desire to sing new songs?
My meeting with Dan Auerbach. He really changed my life, simply by being what he is: a funny, nice guy. We met in a club the 21th December, we danced on the dancefloor. And he said to me with a grinning tone: " you should come with me to Nashville, and we will see what will happen there" I took the plane with him … I wanted to try, and thanks to him I understood that I had no fun any more with my team.

You did not have songs in stock at that point ?
I had an entire album ! I recorded twelve tracks, I had produced everything myself, but Dan opened my eyes. He told me that my songs sounded too much like classic rock, too seventies. And he took things in hand.

Did he dispossess you of your album?
Yes, but it was for my own good. Throwing myself in his arms was also a way to put me in danger. He brought a different way of playing, different instruments, he gave an organic aspect to this record, which I thus recorded twice. Every evening we partied with the musicians, we listened to the bands, it was a real pleasure during five weeks. And it made me infinitely less nervous.

In your texts you show yourselves becoming more and more sarcastic. " I want the money, the power and the glory ", you shout out. Need to let off steam ?
Obviously... If this record is called "Ultraviolence", it is because it describes well what I felt in my private life. I lived the joy of seeing that my songs pleased and, at the same time, I had to put up with the criticisms, often very virulent. And it leaves scars. But I reassure you, I do not want either the power or the money, or the glory, but it's been said so much about me that I eventually took them literaly … Some songs are a big " fuck you " to all those who think instead of me, all those who think that they know who I am, what I want. Every day I have to face people who think that I am a joke. And the worst, is that my career was launched on this misunderstanding !

Did you really suffer from it ?
Yes, it was hard, I was unhappy, I felt miserable. And I still did not overcame it, I do not know if I'll be able to do so one day. Carl Jung said that what people think of you always ends up becoming a part of your psyche. Whether you like it or not. So, yes, at a point, I eventually admitted that I was the one that people described on the Internet, in newspapers, the "manipulated doll". It changed my way of seeing my career, but did not affect at all the way I write. And this is what is the most important in the end.

Don't you think that sometimes you provoked these reactions ? We saw you in ads for H&M, for example, which has nothing to do with the music …
I made only one advertising campaign for H&M. The rest, I was recovered … H&M supported me in a period when I could not trust many people. It felt good.

Who turned their backs ?
The musical magazines. They praised me in July just to belittle me in January. I had to change my plans, find people apt to like what I do to relieve my music differently. Then why not H&M? In these moments, or you drown or you swim. I chose not to be taken away by the wave.

But still you wrote " My pussy taste like Pepsi Cola ". Do you understand that it does not please some people ?
[she laughs] Oh come on, honestly, that did not make you laugh ? People need to stop taking everything too seriously. It is the only provocative sentence I might have written and I find it particularly funny

Younger, did you dream about this life ?
I wanted to become a singer, but I did not know how to reach there. It is true that I dreamed to sing in Italy, to come to Paris, to sleep in Versailles. I imagined in no way that I would be singing for Harvey Weinstein, in Cannes, or writing for films. My road is really surprising, Each day still brings a lot of surprises, good or bad.


The rumour says that it is your father who financed your first album.
No, I had no relations with my father at that time. He's a very good person, but he doesn't know anything about music. And, frankly, do you really think that you can buy a contract from a label ? The truth is that when I was 18, I participated to a songwriting competition and I met the boss of a label which offered me a contract one month later. During two years nothing happened, my disc stayed in boxes. I thus continued to sing in clubs. The story of my father is a good story for the magazines, but it is false. My parents wanted me to find a "real" job, to become a lawyer. They did not believe in the music. I lived in New York with my fiancé, my parents in Lake Placed, which is like 7 hours aways from NY. They were far from my reality.

You lived ten hard and difficult years. What remains of them ?
I was often discouraged, I was already making my own videos which nobody noticed. So, yes, I thought that I would never have any success, but I always knew that I was a singer, that I had something different from to the others, a voice, especially. I also knew that the music pleased me more than people, it was a world where I felt at home. Before "Video Games" exploded, I thought about finding a job to sustain me… I was 24 years old, I sang for seven years, I had arrived at the end of a cycle.

Did moving to Los Angeles change your life ?
I moved in Los Angeles only last year. When things were carried away to me, I settled down in London where I lived three years. L.A. did good to me, I met a musical community. And I have the impression that I found a safe place, a loophole.

Is it important for you to be American ?
No, even if I love my country. I spent so much time in planes that I do not feel any more attached in the United States. Here, in Versailles, I feel at home. And I felt the same way the first time as I stepped in Los Angeles.

Do you have any friends in the industry ?
One or two, no more …

Friends from before your rehab ?
I didn't have any at that time. I was very lonely, alone, well,I had alcohol, but I was so high that it does not allow to create true relations. I met my best friends in New York, once I was clean. I regret a little bit this period because I am not really happy in my current life.


(Lana Del Lawyer : Born to Judge )

[HausOfMark 85]

great interview! I like it alot!!

[HONEYMOON 431]

the tension in the first half   

it felt like she was about to hit him/her any moment 

[Kommander 3,260]

the tension in the first half 

it felt like she was about to hit him/her any moment 

 

Well that's one of my issues with my translation, 'cause there's a lot of tension in it kind off, while in the french article they're more like laid back or "yeah ok" so I tried to do my best 

But yeah some of her answers were really like 

[pdotcw 98]

Do you have any friends in the industry ?

One or two, no more

 

[nickelodeonn 30]

Thank you so much for the translation! It's a great interview!

Thank you so much for the translation! It's a great interview!

[HONEYMOON 431]

Well that's one of my issues with my translation, 'cause there's a lot of tension in it kind off, while in the french article they're more like laid back or "yeah ok" so I tried to do my best 

But yeah some of her answers were really like 

 

no! you did great. translating is always a challenge

[cashcomesquick 5,379]

"Des amis d’avant votre cure de désintoxication ?

Je n’en avais pas. J’étais très seule, enfin j’avais l’alcool, mais j’étais tellement défoncée que cela ne permet pas de créer de vraies relations. Mes meilleures amies, je les ai rencontrées à New York, une fois que j’étais clean. Je regrette un peu cette époque parce que je ne suis pas vraiment heureuse dans ma vie d’aujourd’hui."

 

This made me really sad, poor baby.

[Kommander 3,260]

Thank you all 

[Philomene 927]

It is the only provocative sentence which I was able to write and I find it particularly funny.*

 

 

I'd rather say it's :"It is the only provocative sentence I might have written and I find it particularly funny."

[Kommander 3,260]

It is the only provocative sentence which I was able to write and I find it particularly funny.*

 

 

I'd rather say it's :"It is the only provocative sentence I might have written and I find it particularly funny."

 

Ok I'm gonna change it !

[Alicia 182]

I don't think she liked the interviewer or was having a down day

[Philomene 927]

 Ok I''m gonna change it

 

It's a very good translation, it's hard to check everything in detail but the meaning is quite intact.

[cashcomesquick 5,379]

I don't think she liked the interviewer or was having a down day

She seems to be generally down recently

[Kommander 3,260]

She seems to be generally down recently

 

Yeah, it is surprising since the Ultraviolence singles have good reviews and her personal life seems to be happier and like, more stable than before. She might be tired or have issues with her past, I dunno.

[cashcomesquick 5,379]

Yeah, it is surprising since the Ultraviolence singles have good reviews and her personal life seems to be happier and like, more stable than before. She might be tired or have issues with her past, I dunno.

 

Fortunetaly, she has a strong family behind her back which will rebuild her whenever she feels down. Additionally, she has US!

[Thunder Revenant 20,686]

Another sarcastic song apart from FMWUTTT

 

YAS! 

 

I am really looking forward to MPG

[Pocket Gay 749]

This was a really good interview, thank you for posting.

[slang 1,509]

Most interesting part for me:

"I had an entire album ! I recorded twelve tracks, I had produced everything myself, but Dan opened my eyes. He told me that my songs sounded too much like classic rock, too seventies. And he took things in hand."

It's interesting that she does her own producing. I wonder how she lays down the instrumental parts.

 

The stuff about her father was interesting too. No one thinks he bought her a contract, but I think most think he funded the buy back of the rights to the AKA album.

[MaterialDiamond 105]

This interview is so interesting!!!

It kinda broke my heart when she said she's unhappy tho