How Do You Relate To Lana ...

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,050]

I relate to Lana on a much simpler level than a lot of you, but I think I'll still post it here-- also, kudos to everyone who shared on this thread (especially those who were so brutally honest about themselves! That's not easy  )

 

The aesthetics of Lana's music and visuals are what initially drew me into her music, and are likely what have held me the most fascinated-- like Lana (and especially Lizzy!) I've always been fascinated (read: obsessed) with kitsch, Americana, and white-trash living-- probably why songs like Trash Magic and Pin-Up Galore rank among my favorites. Maybe it was growing up in a mobile home (in the American South, no less) that gave me this fixation, and so I connect very deeply with the images that run through her early work. I don't think it's any coincidence that trailer-trash Lizzy is my favorite era of Lana's work, and that the happiest time in my life was when I lived in a trailer that we decorated up with Christmas lights year-round. (No kidding-- looking back, we also had a hallway we called the "Florida hall" because it was so beach-kitsch-- and it looked straight out of a Lizzy vid-- teal walls, curtains with palm trees and flamingos all over it-- the works.) 

 

So, videos like the ones for 'Gramma' give me an almost painful sense of nostalgia, not only for the times when I lived like she did, but also for a time I'll never get to live in-- the same idealised, past world that Lana has written about-- one where JFK is still king, the open road is still alive, and motels still have their own seedy glamour, among other things. Maybe it all sounds pretentious, but I am so genuinely happy that Lana has recorded and created such a wealth of material that speaks to me on such a personal level. Do any of you connect to these aesthetics and visuals the same way? (If so, hit me up, because we're moving into the nearest trailer park ASAP )

 

Now, y'all better start leaking some more 2007/8 Lizzy for me after this heartfelt piece of work-- I need white-trash Lana in my life 

[LittleFool 1,912]

I don't really think I do, and that's why I like her so much. I feel like I can "escape" when listening to her music and watching her videos. I guess I can relate to her slightly in terms of her being rather introverted. I've learned a lot of valuable things from her, but I don't see myself in her songs (The Blackest Day I find to be the most relatable at the moment, but that's just because I'm in a complicated relationship situation and some of the lines crush me).

[TrippieHippie 69]

I relate to Lana through her lyrical display, her love for older men & her mysterious, introverted and eccentric ways.

 

I actually relate to Lana more than the people around me. We even have the same favorite color.

Why aren't Lana and I friends? :/ 

[Masochism 15,400]

I relate a lot to the way she writes about love. She seems very submissive when she talks about love, lines like "It's all for you, everything I do" and "He hit me and it felt like a kiss" just remind me of the way i like to love. 

[PlaceboHoliday 658]

I personally do not relate to her lyrics I simply appreciate them, I like her usage of images and how she sets the scene in your mind.

I started liking a lot of things as a result such as violet and Lavenders, It's more like a reverse experience that I don't relate from the start but as I listen I start to adapt to her Music further and she did make me appreciate orchestral music and songwriting.    

[starryeyedgirl99 195]

Where do I start? I can relate to her personality-wise and I also can relate to the sadness in her songs (especially in the search of happily ever after).  I'm also full of that LA crass lol  Her lyrics and aesthetic speak to me.  

[WaitForLife 5,236]

I relate to her sadness, about some things she did (FMWUTTT/Lolita), about her interest in death, her view of America & about the way she wants to be alone but still hates it.

[lernerderrey 2,415]

i relate to lana cuz all i wanna do is make spooky surreal orchestral grunge music/images about my experiences in this strange world and get high by the beach 

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯  

[Degenerate 950]

I personally related to alot of Lana's lyrics the song that really formed my love for her was "This is what makes us girls"

[missdelreyxo 3,786]

By the man I love with a criminal past and present. Her lyrics remind me of him a lot. Honeymoon hit me the hardest.

[Kommando 3,264]

In my cringe tumblr emo gay years around Paradise, I used to relate to her as a goal that I wanted to achieve, like I've done with many artists that I loved through the years : being sucessful in what you love doing the most, and just finding yourself, knowing yourself, finding out what's good for you, keeping a vision, a joy for life, a will. But now I actually relate to Lizzy a lot more, maybe because I'm getting around her age and I'm in college, so I kind of share her more pseudo connoiseur and intelectual views on music, art... I have that growing interest in existential problematics, science and physics, I'm learning guitar & trumpet, trying to get healthy from substances, to make the most of everyday etc. Also being honestly in love with kitsch aesthetic and 50s movie unlike me trying to pretend I was so into it when I was 15 ; having your own aesthetical world.

 

I think her life has such a dramatic narrative (or at least she's always been very smart in the way she presented it), it's easy for anyone to identify with at least a passage of her past, which is maybe why she's got such a varied range of fans who love different moments of her career.

 

But most important to me, she expresses in her music, her interviews, idk, this feeling that I've rarely felt in music, wether it is pop or obscure art rock acts or anything : this feeling of trying everything, being everywhere, having this great vision for yourself, succeeding, failing, etc... And always colapsing, relapsing into a miserable state. She's stated multiple times how she changed her mind so many times, done a lot of different things (local indie singer, college student, alcoholism, living in London, trying pop sounds, just living life with no ambition, being famous...) and how at the end of the day she just can't sustain anything, any feeling of stability, of achievement in a way. She always ends up depressed or lonely or bored or moody. And how she still tries to make something out of herself, to find happiness even if her drive is lost. I think this part of why, in a more unconscious way, she's been so succesful and she still has people buying her records and coming to her shows ; this feeling is so honest in her songs, in her records' structures... Nobody does that, even less in pop, it's absolutely terrifying and grand at the same time.

[lovegodherself 13]

i think the thing about lana i relate the most to is her need for a life, filled with fantasy and oddities, her desire to escape and live in her own world, the way she craves a life that is never mundane, always beautiful, even when it gets dark. her need for freedom and independence as well.

 

i've followed lana since video games and the combination of addictive music + haunting images won me over. her aesthetic just spoke to me as a young teen and the visuals she presents - from white trash, suburban, kennedy, hollywood, pin-up to the grunge darkness of ultraviolence to the dreaminess of honeymoon - make me feel wistful. it always seemed so glamorous, ya know?

i also get her fascination with philosophy, death, poetry, the american dream, and i relate to her depression.

 

i absolutely do not relate to her submissiveness in her relationship with men. yikes.

[Mafiosa 1,089]

i think the thing about lana i relate the most to is her need for a life, filled with fantasy and oddities, her desire to escape and live in her own world, the way she craves a life that is never mundane, always beautiful, even when it gets dark. her need for freedom and independence as well.

 

i've followed lana since video games and the combination of addictive music + haunting images won me over. her aesthetic just spoke to me as a young teen and the visuals she presents - from white trash, suburban, kennedy, hollywood, pin-up to the grunge darkness of ultraviolence to the dreaminess of honeymoon - make me feel wistful. it always seemed so glamorous, ya know?

i also get her fascination with philosophy, death, poetry, the american dream, and i relate to her depression.

 

i absolutely do not relate to her submissiveness in her relationship with men. yikes.

 

literally exactly how i feel. really well written too

[cheaptrailertrashglm 3,526]

since Lana is basically a huge mystery to me (the real Lizzy i should say) i'll just go by how i relate to who I believe Lana is.

 

- I love hard.

- I struggle with anxiety and I'm very sensitive to criticism.

- I have great nostalgia for the times I didn't live in.

- Her love for old hollywood glamour, and classic rock and roll (the reasons i fell in love with her)

-Spirituality is a very important part of my life.

[Goddess 224]

Every fucking thing.

[xcx 2,192]

I relate to Lana because everybody thinks that I'm depressing and sad all the time, just like they think she is 

[CrazySister 2,239]

I can relate to her depression, anxiety and sometimes I fear saying something that I could possibly be misunderstood and people would drag me to death. But I can relate especially with her willingness to escape of reality and construct her own world, which is a little similar to mine. I always had a lot of fantasies and stories in my head since I was a kid and they always involved themes that I had interest, such as prostituation, drugs, criminals, love, violence, etc (I used to watch a lot of movies and play a lot of GTA  ). When I saw the translation of Blue Jeans for example (because I never really paid attention in what she sang ), I noticed that the story fitted with my fantasies!   So I heard more songs, I fell in love and she eventually expanded my little world, which became more fun and rich!   I also feel like I can understand some things she do and people get angry and confused about it. Not all of course, but I think I can understand. Other things I can relate to are:

 

1. I'm gemini like her.

2. Apparently one side of my family runs an illegal business.

3. My dad is 20 years older than my mom so... 

[cheaptrailertrashglm 3,526]

i believe in the kindness of strangers.

Marilyn's my mother.

I love 50s/60s era films, music

I'm dating a recovering drug addict.

I have depression and anxiety.

I wear the same clothes over and over.

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,050]

I've been relating to Black Beauty a lot in particular, lately. Knowing that Barrie's depression is part of what broke he and Lana up, combined with Lana's writing on Black Beauty, has really put me closer to Lana lately. 

 

I am also dating someone with severe depression right now, so I really relate to Lana's statements that hers and Barrie's relationship was "challenging, but rewarding" or something along those lines. It's tough to deal with a significant other with depression, and it's that way every single day. It raises a lot of doubt in myself, and there are times where I get so close to letting my girlfriend go, because it seems too difficult-- but, like Lana said, it's also "rewarding" in a lot of ways to hold on and stay, because I really do love her, and the good times are very, very good. 

 

The lyrics of Black Beauty hit home with me in a major way. My girlfriend's depression causes her to see the world in such a skewed way-- she's very cynical, she doesn't trust anyone, she believes the whole world is, at its heart, bad and evil. I, being someone with limitless faith in everyone and everything, have felt so backed into a corner by this. Life's so beautiful to me, but like Lana in that song, I can't make her see that. My hands are tied. There's nothing I can do to change her, so I try to change myself and see the world how she sees it (with varying degrees of success-- I'm such an optimist at heart.) It's frightening sometimes, and always very disheartening and depressing, because there really is such a lot of wonder and beauty out there, but I can't get that through to her. 

 

Leave it to Lana to hit me right through the heart with her lyrics

[SissyReed 578]

I think I can relate to Lana in 99% since day 1...  :defeated:

- her nostalgia
- her sadness

- her tendency to toxic relationships

- her loneliness

- her imagination

- her aesthetics

- her idols

- her love for older men and bad boys

- her madness sometimes (like in body electric or the whole tropico concept based on imaginary relationships with dead celebrities lol)