Ultraviolence Reviews: 74 Metascore (DISCUSS REVIEWS ONLY)

[Donatien 121]

And what about the 3/10 from the hater? 

[veniceglitch 379]

3.5/5 from MusicOMH.

 

Counts for Metacritic as a 70

 

 

http://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/lana-del-rey-ultraviolence

[FormerLanaFan 170]

It doesn't count on MC but is bad-ass

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/lana-del-rey-feminist??src=rss

[Jared 3,131]

I'm surprised that Spin didn't review this (yet).

[whitman 1,286]

C+ from Hitflix ( 30/40 at Metacritic)

 

ww.hitfix.com/immaculate-noise/review-ultraviolence-by-lana-del-rey

[naachoboy 7,993]

C+ from Hitflix ( 30/40 at Metacritic)

 

ww.hitfix.com/immaculate-noise/review-ultraviolence-by-lana-del-rey

C+ its like a 60

[FormerLanaFan 170]

My God...Lana elicits some writing...I'm dizzy
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/mimicking-me-is-a-fucking-bore

"She sings from a Twilight Zone of political irresponsibility, in which the singer’s self-obsession forces our gaze toward the possibility of our complicity in this broken present we pretend to know we can’t escape."

I mean, I love Lana, but I would not waste my time writing this pretentious BS about her songs. I love her voice, her melodies, sometimes I retain some of her lyrics I like. But come on, these people are more crazier than Lana! Get a fckin grip

[naachoboy 7,993]

My God...Lana elicits some writing...I'm dizzy

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/mimicking-me-is-a-fucking-bore

 

"She sings from a Twilight Zone of political irresponsibility, in which the singer’s self-obsession forces our gaze toward the possibility of our complicity in this broken present we pretend to know we can’t escape."

 

I mean, I love Lana, but I would not waste my time writing this pretentious BS about her songs. I love her voice, her melodies, sometimes I retain some of her lyrics I like. But come on, this people are more crazier than Lana! Get a fckin grip

wtf 

[ilovetati 15,298]

I thought the UV lyrics were incredible...I don't get why they're so divisive. It seems like there is a lot of misinterpretation and too much questioning of authenticity, which totally misses the point of emotional resonance.  

[FormerLanaFan 170]

I thought the UV lyrics were incredible...I don't get why they're so divisive. It seems like there is a lot of misinterpretation and too much questioning of authenticity, which totally misses the point of emotional resonance.

No, the lyrics aren't incredible by any measure, but they are better than BTD in my opinion. The lyrics fits well with the music in UV (with some obvious missteps) and that's the only important thing in pop/rock music. I don't expect philosophical depths from non-classical musicians. It always bores me when some indie "connoisseur" derides other (pop) artists lyrics because their faves are probably just incrementally better or not at all (or maybe worse). Without the music, Jim Morrison's poetry it's mostly incoherent imagery and a collage of emotional cuts. So it's no need to invest to much energy in over-analyzing the lyrics in my view, music is more emotion than rationalization. What is the point of some very good political discourse if it not elicits any emotion through the music. There are some artists that can merge a real message with emotion like J. Cash but most of the musicians with an "real message" are boring. Lana induces emotions and that is enough for me

[Rem 2,392]

That's not a review. It's just an article?

 

They don't structure their review that way.

[ilovetati 15,298]

No, the lyrics aren't incredible by any measure, but they are better than BTD in my opinion. The lyrics fits well with the music in UV (with some obvious missteps) and that's the only important thing in pop/rock music. I don't expect philosophical depths from non-classical musicians. It always bores me when some indie "connoisseur" derides other (pop) artists lyrics because their faves are probably just incrementally better or not at all (or maybe worse). Without the music, Jim Morrison's poetry it's mostly incoherent imagery and a collage of emotional cuts. So it's no need to invest to much energy in over-analyzing the lyrics in my view, music is more emotion than rationalization. What is the point of some very good political discourse if it not elicits an emotion through the music. There are some artists that can merge a real message with emotion like J. Cash but most of the musicians with an "real message" are boring. Lana induces emotions and that is enough for me

 

But I think Lana implements a "real message" as well...but it's a personal one. She's conveying so much genuine heartache through her stories and characters. 

 

And I would disagree with your opinion that they are not incredible. I listen to a very large variety of music from all generations and Lana's ability to paint a portrait with her words puts her above most for me. It's very poetic and full of lush imagery with some great irony as well. I think she has better lyrics in her extensive, unreleased catalogue but UV's are definitely up there and severely underrated by critics.

[ilovetati 15,298]

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/62846/Lana-Del-Rey-Ultraviolence/

 

Staff review...4.3/5 (counts for MetaCritic as 86)

[FormerLanaFan 170]

But I think Lana implements a "real message" as well...but it's a personal one. She's conveying so much genuine heartache through her stories and characters.

 

And I would disagree with your opinion that they are not incredible. I listen to a very large variety of music from all generations and Lana's ability to paint a portrait with her words puts her above most for me. It's very poetic and full of lush imagery with some great irony as well. I think she has better lyrics in her extensive, unreleased catalogue but UV's are definitely up there and severely underrated by critics.

The problem is that she's not berated for her lyrics that are sometimes clumsy (fckin Chevy Malibu) and repetitive,the problem is that her lyrics are not analyzed by the critics who are dismissing her work. They are prejudiced about her and they don't open themselves towards her "message". I read a few reviews that analyses her lyrics in depth. But that said I wouldn't qualify Lana as a great lyricist, but she can convey emotion and that is the most important thing in music

[ilovetati 15,298]

MetaCritic update: 74 with 26 reviews.

 

It will go back down when they add the Mojo 3/5 review. 

 

Still no official reviews from Rolling Stone, NY Times, Spin, The Line of Best Fit, Filter, NOW Toronto, CMJ, Tiny Mix Tapes (if they're doing one?), Uncut, Absolute Punk (they do pop/rock reviews too), American Songwriter. 

[slang 1,532]

My God...Lana elicits some writing...I'm dizzy

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/mimicking-me-is-a-fucking-bore

 

"She sings from a Twilight Zone of political irresponsibility, in which the singer’s self-obsession forces our gaze toward the possibility of our complicity in this broken present we pretend to know we can’t escape."

 

I mean, I love Lana, but I would not waste my time writing this pretentious BS about her songs. I love her voice, her melodies, sometimes I retain some of her lyrics I like. But come on, these people are more crazier than Lana! Get a fckin grip

Sounds like they liked it though, maybe at least a 70. And I think it is an actual review.

[delreyfan 2]

Patiently awaiting review by the Rolling Stone. I have a feeling it's not going to be pretty... 

[ilovetati 15,298]

Patiently awaiting review by the Rolling Stone. I have a feeling it's not going to be pretty...

They've been dragging almost everything recently. That said, they did give Turn Blue a rare 4.5/5. They're not going to want to admit liking a Lana album after all they've said, though.

[dsvelca 837]

-

[slang 1,532]

Sounds like they liked it though, maybe at least a 70. And I think it is an actual review.

Maybe a 70 or better is overstating a bit. But on a really quick read I really did get the impression he liked it. I put some of the paragraphs that I think gave me this impression below. The double asterisks where you see them are mine. It's pretty clear, imo, in the last paragraph of the article that he's working out his own shit, as there is nobody at LB who doesn't know the answer to this question: "Is Lana Del Rey able to have feelings this embarrassing and overwrought and still mean them and have them meant?" Everybody here would say yes, but he seems to be having an epiphany (or a breakdown) in that final paragraph, which is pretty rare for a review (even if it says it's an article). I truly cannot tell if he's praising or criticizing LDR in that last paragraph, so if I were metacritic, I'd ask for a number.

 

 

Some quotes:

 

"On its face, LDR’s politics might be broken, but her lyrics and persona have the potential to embrace a kind of Lynchian feminism, one that explores the power behind desiring something hurtful by exploiting images of women in trouble. But even that representation is problematic (especially on a massively mediated scale like radio music), because its meaningful exploitation will itself be exploited and then (deliberately) misread as sexy, backwards, proper, fake. So, there’s no real room for subversion, and it all becomes about Lana Del Rey’s personal fucked-upness, which still feels unreal. Her lyrical commitment to being dominated emotionally by the men in her life and swept up in red dresses is not that out of step with most of her contemporaries, but her aesthetic drags her into the past, away from progress narratives or play or irony or defense. We don’t know if the detachment is hers or ours, from reality or sincerity. She sings from a Twilight Zone of political irresponsibility, in which the singer’s self-obsession forces our gaze toward the possibility of our complicity in this broken present we pretend to know we can’t escape. And still, somehow, Ultraviolence **doesn’t** feel like a retreat or forgery.

 

.....

 

"So, this is the mythology she revels in. For all the talk of her opportunistic artifice, there’s not much here to draw a bigger commercial audience or to readapt LDR for a pop landscape that doesn’t, say, clamor for a star as fucking brooding and Gatsbyphilic as she plays. It’s a bad act or maybe not an act at all, but either way, we should be listening intently because Ultraviolence finally finds the right sound to make Lana Del Rey’s everlasting sadness **feel significant** by the end of its 50 minutes."

 

.....

 

**Most of the songs come with pop hooks, memorable bridges, bells, whistles, and impressive vocals from LDR.** The way “West Coast” slips into slo-mo for the chorus makes it a boring single, but it clicks as a show-stopping mid-album track that throws the momentum from bright standout “Brooklyn Baby” into clumsy confusion, a series of awkward restarts with a menacing barely-there synth that creeps up behind the verses. **There’s real bite to her delivery and the bluesy, surfy Badalamenti guitar.** Elsewhere, we get deadpan ambition (“Money Power Glory”), sneering resentment (“Fucked My Way Up To The Top”), and **genuine** heartache ([every song]).

 

 

.....

 

Is Lana Del Rey able to have feelings this embarrassing and overwrought and still mean them and have them meant? For those feelings to be so strangely articulated, on an album that’s too stuck in its ways to be a good fit anywhere, is the sort of topsy-turvy uncanny realness (we were born) to die for, or at least to take a second look into, and to maybe see the flicker of our own fake/real selves in the way we might linger on the right selfie: politically bankrupt, disarmingly genuine, captivating and alienating in its perfect composition. What we’re looking for isn’t there until we take a long look, where we find in the subject’s blanked-out fakeness the reassurance that either we are real and the subject is not, that we have the power to be as real in as many ways as the subject does, or that we are powerless — even in this moment as witness — not to be fake or a part of the spectacle."