Ultraviolence - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[Rem 2,392]

Am I the only one who especially loves the last time she sings "He's got the fire, and he walks with it/He's got the fire, and he talks with it" in Sad Girl?

no, that part is fucking amazing.

[Mister Hepburn 46]

no, that part is fucking amazing.

I keep going back to Sad Girl because it's euphoria letting the song build to that moment.

[ilovetati 15,299]

I really wish Flipside was one of the main bonus tracks. It's so incredibly beautiful and that guitar outro gives me chills.

[dsvelca 837]

This guy gives UV a good review after completely dismissing BTD/P, turn around from "C+" to "A-". I would guess this isn't "metacritic official" I didn't bother to check.

 

http://prettymuchamazing.com/reviews/lana-del-rey-ultraviolence

 

Edit: it does count towards metacritic

[Kerrigan 612]

Everyone post ur lists theyre important

 

Old Money

Fucked My Way Up To The Top

West Coast

Pretty When You Cry

Shades Of Cool

Sad Girl

Cruel World

Flipside

Black Beauty

Florida Kilos

Is This Happiness

Ultraviolence

Guns And Roses

The Other Woman

Brooklyn Baby

Money Power Glory 

[FFXSoul91 1,035]

I really wish Flipside was one of the main bonus tracks. It's so incredibly beautiful and that guitar outro gives me chills.

 

It's a perfect outro. I love the way the album sounds when you put it on repeat and Flipside transitions into Cruel World.

Makes me glad I'm getting the Target edition.   

[comeintomybedroom 8,662]

This isn't based on lyrics or production or whatever it's just based on what I like right now.

 

Cruel World

West Coast

Shades Of Cool

Sad Girl

Black Beauty

Brooklyn Baby

Florida Kilos

Ultraviolence

Flipside

Pretty When You Cry

Is This Happiness

Old Money

Money Power Glory

The Other Woman

Guns And Roses

Fucked My Way Up To The Top

[Purify 428]

Music video for PWYC thank God .

[Dazed 95]

Music video for PWYC thank God .

Source?

 

Nvm! Just saw, omg yes <3

[Guitar Beat 109]

I'm just here for the music, don't care whoever the songs are about.

 

My least favorites are Guns and Roses and The Other Woman.

 

All the other songs are really great.

[Hundred Dollar Bill 21,809]

I'm just here for the music, don't care whoever the songs are about.

 

My least favorites are Guns and Roses and The Other Woman.

 

All the other songs are really great.

CasualFan reminding us that he is indeed a casual fan.

[Tammy 2,291]

Everyone post ur lists theyre important

 

 

 

Really? I don't have a real list, but stars & fav lines:

 

1. Cruel World: … Shared my body and my mind with you, that’s all over now … I’m finally happy now that you’re gone … With my little red party dress on, everybody knows that I’m the best … Put my little red party dress on … because you’re young, you’re wild, you’re free, you’re dancing circles around me … ★★★★★★

 

2. Ultraviolence: … I could have died right there cause Jim was right beside me, Jim raised me up … Loving him was never enough … We can go back … Where they don’t know who we are, heaven is on earth … Crying tears of gold … ★★★

 

3. Shades Of Cool: … And when he calls, he calls for me and not for you … Winter in the summer … ★★★★★

 

4. Brooklyn Baby: … They say I’m too young to love you, I don’t know what I need … Well, my boyfriend’s in a band, he plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed, I’ve got feathers in my hair, I get down to Beat poetry … They say I’m too young to love you, they say I’m too dumb to sing, they judge me like a picture book by the colors like they forgot to read … I think we’re like fire and water, I think we’re like the wind and sea, you’re burning up, I’m cooling down, you’re up, I’m down, you’re blind, I see … You never liked the way I said it, if you don’t get it, then forget it cuz I don’t have to f*cking explain it … ★★★★★

 

5. West Coast: … But you got the music, you got the music in you, don’t you … It all could happen, that’s why I’m leaving you for the moment, you for the moment, boy blue, yeah, you … Down on the West Coast, they got their icons, the silver starlets, their queens of Saigon’s, and you got the music, you got the music in you, don’t you … I guess that no one ever really made me feel that much higher … ★★★

 

6. Sad Girl: … He’s got the fire, and he walks with me, he’s got the fire, and he talks with me … ★★

 

7. Pretty When You Cry: … All the pretty stars shine for you, my love … All those special times I spent with you, my love … ★★

 

8. Money Power Glory: … The sun also rises on those who fail the call … ★★★

 

9. F*cked My Way Up To The Top: … Life is awesome I confess, what I do I do my best, You got nothing, I got tested and I’m the best, yes … ★★★★

 

10. Old Money: … Those summer nights seem long … But if you send for me, you know I’ll come, and if you call for me, you know I’ll run, I’ll run to you, I’ll run to you … Will you still love me when I shine from words but not from beauty … my father’s love was always strong, my mother’s glamour lives on and on … ★★★

 

11. The Other Woman: … The other woman is perfect where her rivals fail … The other woman will never have his love to keep, and as the years go by the other woman will spend her life alone … ★★★★★

 

12. Black Beauty: … So it’d fit the mood of your song … Oh, what can I do, nothing, my sparrow blue, oh, what can I do, life is beautiful but you don’t have a clue, sun and ocean blue, their magnificence, it don’t make sense to you … You have no room for light … I keep my lips red, they seem like cherries in the spring, Darling, you can’t let everything seem so dark and blue … ★★★★

 

13. Guns And Roses: … Cause you were so much better than the rest of them, out of all the others, you were the honest man … I can see you bathing in the summer light … ★★★★

 

14. Florida Kilos: … White lines, pretty baby, tattoos, don’t know what they mean, they’re special just for you … I feel you, pretty baby, feel me … We could get high in Miami, ooh, dance the night away, people never die in Miami, that’s what they all say … ★★★

 

15. Is This Happiness: … Gotcha gun, I’ve got my dad … Wish you well on that star … One gun on the table, headshot if you’re able … Is this happiness … ★★

 

16. Flipside: … Springsteen  on the radio, you’ve got me all freaked out tonight … ★★★★★

[Summersault 824]

Instant wow:

West Coast

Brooklyn Baby

Sad Girl

Shades of Cool

Old Money

Florida Kilos

Money, Power, Glory (love the anthemic chorus)

 

Songs that are growing on me with every listen:

Ultraviolence (the bridge>>>)

Pretty When You Cry

Black Beauty (I really really loved the demo, so I have to get used to this new arrangement)

The Other Woman

 

Songs that I'm still lukewarm about:

Guns & Roses (love the verse and the harmonies but it's repetetive)

F***** My Way Up To The Top

Cruel World (love the line "got you bible and your gun" though)

 

I have yet to listen to Flipside and Is This Happiness?. If there's a kind soul who would send them to me in 320 I would be grateful:)

[CrisalidaBoy 8]

Here another casual fan... I understand all the emotion behind discovering and figuring out Lana's lyrics, topics, personal stories and blabla. I really do. I don't know enough things about her private (yeah, private) life to understand the references that you super fans find in her lyrics, but really, why is there always some of you pointing out that some people just like Lana because of her songs when someone says so? Isn't that the point after all? I'm not mad nor offended, I just don't get it. Maybe I've  misunderstood the tone you want to use when you talk about a "casual fan", but it sounds kind of stupidly mocking to me. If you want to do Lana a favour, don't turn into Lana's  Little Monsters ;-) It's OK to worship her, I have never done it because I don't have so much time to spend it reading and studying her, but I'm really starting to love her persona and her way to see the world we live in (and the world she inhabites). I like Lana, mainly because of her songs, but since West Coast I didn't become a Lana fan. Respect that...

 

 

That said, that would be my ranking of the songs of the album, which I find x1000 more haunting than Born to Die (which is also super amazing) and almost equal to Paradise (UV is better, heh). BtD feels like an excellent recopilation album of her (at that moment) best songs, and that's what debuts usually are (not counting AKA as an official debut since it's not the album that "opened" here to the world), but UV sounds incredible, and it really feels as if it told a story. Amazing. 9/10. I think it would get a 10 if it had just ONE faster song durint the second half... But anyway, I embrace it because of what it is: a gem.

 

 

TOP SONGS:

- Cruel World

- Shades of Cool

- Brooklyn Baby

- West Coast

- Sad Girl

- Old Money

- The Other Woman

- Florida Kilos

 

VERY GOOD SONGS:

- Pretty When You Cry

- Money Power Glory

- Black Beauty

 

OK SONGS:

- Fucked My Way Up To The Top

 

MEH:

- Ultraviolence

- Guns And Roses

 

Haven’t really properly listened to Flipside and Is This Happines, but I like them. Actually there is NO song I dislike, but well, that’s what my ranking would look like.

 

[iTsound 22]

Old Money MUST be single. The best song in this album 

[Hundred Dollar Bill 21,809]

Here another casual fan... I understand all the emotion behind discovering and figuring out Lana's lyrics, topics, personal stories and blabla. I really do. I don't know enough things about her private (yeah, private) life to understand the references that you super fans find in her lyrics, but really, why is there always some of you pointing out that some people just like Lana because of her songs when someone says so? Isn't that the point after all? I'm not mad nor offended, I just don't get it. Maybe I've misunderstood the tone you want to use when you talk about a "casual fan", but it sounds kind of stupidly mocking to me. If you want to do Lana a favour, don't turn into Lana's Little Monsters ;-) It's OK to worship her, I have never done it because I don't have so much time to spend it reading and studying her, but I'm really starting to love her persona and her way to see the world we live in (and the world she inhabites). I like Lana, mainly because of her songs, but since West Coast I didn't become a Lana fan. Respect that...

 

The @ feature is free hunty.

 

 

no but it was joke, relax

 

[letthelightin 13]

Overall
Overall, I feel like this album is a much more mature, cohesive work than BTD. I miss the orchestral production of BTD, but I love how she seems to have matured some lyrically. The stripped back production is nice too, I know in BTD there were some songs that I felt were better as their low-key demo forms rather than the album versions (I could write for days about how they messed up “Diet Mountain Dew”)

I personally would have called the album some other name off the tracklist, maybe “Sad Girl”, “Pretty When You Cry” or something that wasn’t on there, like “Noir” (a throwback to unreleased song would be awesome) or something that was more prevalent throughout the album. Although after I heard her explanation for the album title it seemed a little better, but since so many people were convinced it was an A Clockwork Orange reference, and the album had nothing to do at all with the movie/novel, it seems misleading (especially with track titles such as Cruel World and Money Power Glory – those could have been tied in with some of the themes of ACO). This discontent comes mostly from my expectations and aren't really a platform for judgement I guess.

Cruel World
This was the biggest disappointment of the album for me. It is a good song, but it doesn’t fit the title at all and it doesn’t have a single bit of the amazing intro she was singing at the beginning of her concerts in North America. This is mostly coming off of what I was expecting versus what she gave us, so it is partly my fault for assuming what the song would be about, but with a name like Cruel World, it was disappointing that she didn’t sing anything at all about our “cruel world”, especially when that would have went really nicely with the rest of the album. And that intro… why isn’t that intro in this album?


Ultraviolence
I think this song is quite underrated. I really believe the lyrics are personal to her, as “Jim” is referenced many times in some of her other songs. The lines “Jim raised me up / he hurt me but it felt like true love / Jim taught me that / loving him was never enough” were absolutely heartbreaking to me when I first heard them, especially the way she sang them live. The chorus is a bit repetitive and the talking part is annoying, but the verses I think make up for it. I gave my theory for who Jim is in the Ultraviolence lyrics discussion thread. I like the production, especially the first bit with the orchestra-sounding instruments. It reminds me of BTD a little.


Shades of Cool
I was not excited about this song when I first heard it, although the initial guitar part was pretty amazing. I like that she had a guitar solo (because I’m into that stuff) and I think it varies to the sound a bit. It has since grown on me, and of the slower songs like it I’d say it’s the best on the album. It is lyrically one of the stronger ones. Other than that, I didn’t listen too terribly close.


Brooklyn Baby
I really love this song. It made me wish that she and Barrie would write a whole album together. It is the most upbeat, “happy” song of the album, although I totally get she is poking fun at hipsters. Beyond that, I noticed and really loved the vocals in this song. Some of the ways she sang the lower notes such as in the word “amphetamines” were absolutely amazing. I loved the second verse and the guitar parts in the beginning. Barrie coming in at the end was a nice touch too, especially given the line he was singing.


West Coast
When West Coast first came out it certainly took a few listens before I loved it. And while I did enjoy it, in the month that it was the only song out there I was worried that this album would be an overproduced pop mess. It is one of the more heavily produced tracks, but I think it is refreshing with the gentle “whomp whomp whomp” in the background, and the transitions from verse to chorus and back were beautiful. I totally imagine someone cruising through the streets of LA in a convertible with shades on while looking important while listening to this – like an intro to a crime movie or something. The song certainly stands out from the others, giving the album some variety, and it’s a nice summer jam.


Sad Girl & Pretty When You Cry
I like these songs but in my opinion they are the weak parts of the album. The two songs essentially sound the same (hence why I grouped them together) and I’m really not a fan of their tediously repetitive choruses. I think they could have somehow been combined to make one really beautiful, sad song, and another song wrote to fill in the gap.


Money Power Glory
I don’t have much opinion on this song. It is okay to me but it didn’t really stick with me, honestly. I found her referring to herself as a bitch was a little weird. I guess it fits the album but it was just off to me somehow.


Fucked My Way Up to the Top
I remember seeing the tracklist and was immediately shocked at this title. Who knew it would actually be one of my favorite tracks. It could stand to be longer, but she has another great display of vocals here. I like the lyrics, I confess. I personally don’t think this song is about Lorde, because it would be kind of petty to call a teenager a whore. I don’t think it is about any of the obvious choices (Lorde, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift) because that would be too easy for the media to flare up at and she probably doesn’t want that kind of publicity. But I love the background music and the catty lyrics stunned me  in a “I can’t believe she just said that but this is actually amazing” kind of way.


Old Money
The title didn’t impress me but good grief when I heard it I was in love and almost cried. I really wonder if this wasn’t the song she had originally wrote for Gatsby before Young and Beautiful came along. It certainly would have fit, title and all. When she gets to “if you change your mind/ I’ll come come come” .. oh it is just so tragically beautiful. I like the violins in the background, it sounds so elegant. The only thing that bothers me is the “ooohhs” that she sings after the chorus sound similar to the melody that The Neighborhood wails in “Sweater Weather” to me.


The Other Woman
This wasn’t my favorite but it isn’t as awful as people say. It is very boring but the lyrics fit Lana pretty well – it sounds like something could have wrote herself. I like how it contradicts Sad Girl, giving two sides of the same story. I’m not a fan of having covers on albums though because it takes up room that could be used for original things.


Black Beauty
I like what was done with this song. The demo was beautiful, but the new production took some of the monotony out of it and gave it a little more life. It sounds like the exact same vocal recording though (I could be wrong) so I wish she would have tweaked it some with the new techniques and style she used in some of the other songs, but that would have only been icing on an already very nice cake. This is the only song where I feel like the repetition of the title doesn’t come across as super lazy.


Guns and Roses
This song is okay. Its more background music to have while you aren’t really paying attention since the chorus is, as everyone has said, pretty bad. I think it could have had a lot of potential because the versus aren’t awful, but it is what it is. There’s always bound to be some duds in even the best of albums.


Florida Kilos
I do think this song is out of place, but it is fun. I’m not a huge fan because the repetition of “yayo” sounds odd. She just sounds odd vocally in this song but it gives some variety. I can see how people can like it, I just don’t really. I can’t mentally get past the fact that she is singing about cooking hard drugs but that is just my own sheltered tastes. It seems to go back to Lizzy Grant days, or even back to Off to the Races in some ways and it is nice to see her being able to bring her foundational artistry out in the public.

Is This Happiness?
This is a beautiful track, though I fear that it is foreshadowing some trouble with Barrie. She gets a little repetitive yet again, but it is forgivable because the lines are varied vocally. I love the simplistic piano, it adds some dramatics. This song has a pretty sad theme to it, and I think it could have fit into the album in place of some other song.

Flipside
A beautiful ending to a beautiful album. Someone really dropped the ball in this not being in the deluxe edition (though I suppose that would be Lana herself since she chooses these things). I love the guitar work in this song, and the lyrics are great. I’m glad I live in the US and am planning to buy the album from Target since I get this beauty since its one of my favorite on the album. I hope she makes more songs like this in the future.
 

Ranking
** My top 5 or so are all just about interchangeable, it was so hard to order them.
1.)    Brooklyn Baby
2.)    Old Money
3.)    Flipside
4.)    Fucked My Way Up to the Top
5.)    Ultraviolence
6.)    West Coast
7.)    Black Beauty
8.)    Is This Happiness?
9.)    Shades of Cool
10.) Cruel World
11.) Money Power Glory
12.) Guns and Roses
13.) Florida Kilos
14.) Pretty When You Cry
15.) Sad Girl
16.) The Other Woman

Visuals
Music aside, I have to say this album is visually very stunning. The album teaser with SOC/UV/BB was so well done and so nostalgic – it fits the songs perfectly and definitely showcases Lana’s unique style. One thing I noticed is how sexy this album is without seeming so. Besides just looking pretty and giving stares to the camera, she isn’t really sexed up the way I felt like she was in the Paradise era. It is maybe too soon to tell though.  I’m excited for the music videos to be made, especially for Ultraviolence.
 
And now I'm excited to wake up and go to Target as soon as they open tomorrow to buy this thing.   

[HONEYMOON 431]

Every track is a treat. This would be my "ranking"

 

1. Cruel World ★★★★

2. Ultraviolence ★★

3. Shades of Cool ★★★★

4. Brooklyn Baby ★★★

5. West Coast ★★★

6. Sad Girl ★★★

7. Pretty When You Cry ★★★

8. Money Power Glory ★★

9. Fucked My Way Up To The Top ★★★★

10. Old Money ★★

11. The Other Woman ★★★

12. Black Beauty ★★★★

13. Guns and Roses ★★★

14. Florida Kilos ★★★

15. Is This Happiness? ★★

16. Flipside ★★★

[WaitForLife 5,250]

I've got my copy today!! I'm sooo happy!!

[Summersault 824]

I noticed that Barry isn't credited for vocals on Brooklyn Baby, but a guy named Seth Kaufman is credited for background vocals.