The mystery of Lana Del Pop

[Valentino 884]

I think most people here prefer Lana's "slow and serious" songs, but I love her poppy Britney Spears type songs as well. I'm really curious about them, too - the music she ended up making on her albums has nothing to do with GGD or BCD. Were they meant for another artist, like Meet me in the pale moonlight? Did her label want to market her as a "pop girl" to compete with Katy Perry and Rihanna?

 

One of the things I also like doing is imagining what a Lana pop album would have looked like. I know everyone has different categories for what constitutes pop, or what would be good enough to put on an album, so I'd love to see that.

 

Personally, I have a Playlist called "Just A Party Girl" with these songs (not this order):

1. Go Go Dancer

2. St. Tropez

3. Behind closed doors

4. Hit and run (v1)

5. In the sun

6. Is it wrong

7. Queen of disaster

8. Take me to Paris

9. Puppy love

10. Jealous girl

11. She's not me (ride or die)

12. Paradise

13. Ooh Baby

 

I think St. Tropez would be a great single

 

I have a longer one called "more than just a party girl" with songs like Ghetto Baby and Butterflies pt. 2, but a lot of those songs I don't think are good enough to be on a hypothetical album (summer of Sam, making out). Some I love but I don't want to have a really long album.

 

What do you guys think? Why does Lana have so many unused pop songs? What would a Lana pop album look/sound like?

[NamiraWilhelm 5,032]

Creating demos to sell on, just like MMITPM, IMO. Probably felt like writing for others was all she'd ever do at the time.

[trayertrash 7,210]

I always kinda thought she was trying to find her sound or just experimenting with different types of music to, in a way, challenge herself. Maybe she considered writing for other artists and made demos hoping someone would like them and lead her to get a career going.

[Creyk 11,525]

Maybe she was just having fun, we know she loves creating music and she has a more playful side to her personality, it's just not a part of the LDR image so she doesn't show it much

[slang 1,515]

If pop has to do certain things in order to be pop, I doubt LDR would like the idea of doing a straight pop album. But I see no reason she couldn't have come up with tracklistings with a lot of light pop *heavily laced* with her special subversions of it (sort of like AKA light).  Anyway, while I was archiving her leaks for myself, this playlist fell out of what was being leaked at that time. It could illustrate what I mean. Lot of great songs there (and many many more left out).

 

Noir

Dynamite

Fake Diamond

Back to the Basics

Butterflies pt. 1

Butterflies pt. 2

Break My Fall

Is it Wrong?

Making Out

Us against the World

You and Me

Pinup Galore

 

Also is Go Go Dancer and Behind Closed Doors really that conventional (or like Britney or anyone else)? They still sound like LDR, or at least I can't imagine them easily done by anybody else.

[DeadAgainst 1,514]

It seems like she wanted to beat Gaga at her own game (back when she was the one to beat), or at least entertained the idea -- "Noir" in particular has a Gaga-mocking quality to it

[Heaux 1,396]

i dont believe her that Meet Me in The Pale Moonlight was written for someone else tbh

[TRENCH 15,379]

I think St. Tropez would be a great single

FINALLY someone gets me 

[evilentity 13,312]

 

I always kinda thought she was trying to find her sound or just experimenting with different types of music to, in a way, challenge herself. Maybe she considered writing for other artists and made demos hoping someone would like them and lead her to get a career going.

I think artistic experimentation was definitely a part of this, but I also think it went beyond this into adjusting her sound to the expectations of the market (or record executives at least) after years of struggling unsuccessfully. She's hinted at that before in several interviews, like this one:

“I mean, I met everyone who is anyone in the music industry over the last six years and I was unsignable,” she says. “That’s what I was told by everyone. I would play my songs, explain what I was trying to do, and I’d get, ‘You know who’s No. 1 in 13 countries right now? Kesha.’

One of the things I also like doing is imagining what a Lana pop album would have looked like.

Me too. I always wished that at the height of her buzz she would have blown everyone's minds by releasing several albums simultaneously each in a different genre. Like re-releasing the 90s indie-pop-rock of AKA; a heavier or darker alterna-rock album like the live rock versions of "Brite Lites" and "Yayo", "Velvet Crowbar", "Pinup Galore", or "The Man I Love" (we sorta got this with UV); an acoustic folk album like Sirens; an album of covers of jazz standards; etc. etc. And a pure (almost bubblegum) pop album.

[Chocolate Eyes 548]

It seems like she wanted to beat Gaga at her own game (back when she was the one to beat), or at least entertained the idea -- "Noir" in particular has a Gaga-mocking quality to it

Maybe it was just me but I thought in Noir her voice sounds a bit like Emilie Autumn (Opheliac era).

[slang 1,515]

It seems like she wanted to beat Gaga at her own game (back when she was the one to beat), or at least entertained the idea -- "Noir" in particular has a Gaga-mocking quality to it

I can remember getting into PJ Harvey just because a youtube comment compared Noir to her work. Hit and Run was the song that shouted Gaga-esque pretentions to me. Then I started to pay attention to the song's lyrics and it made more sense.

[Rebel 3,176]

 an album of covers of jazz standards

 

Can't wait for her Cheek To Cheek!

[PARADIXO 31,753]

Can't wait for her Cheek To Cheek!

 

Cancel to Cancel 

[Chris Cuomo 3,318]

label in 100% controlllll

 

but really i think a large part of it is that she just enjoys pop music and making it to an extent as well. born to die was very *pop* & it irks me how she seems to be ~ashamed of that

 

embrace your fun side girl

[strange weather 1,950]

great thread idea--i have sooo many questions about this topic/her unreleased songs in general. it's hard for me to think that she wanted to give all of those songs away. lyrically, they seem so much a part of her personal narrative (made up or not). even though her unreleased stuff varies A LOT in genre, it's cohesive because of her lana-isms strewn throughout them. 

 

i think the label had a lot to do with the poppier songs, but i don't think she didn't enjoy them. she put her own spin on them & made them unique. i can't imagine other artists singing those songs.

 

plus, lana has always said britney is one of her inspirations. who does bubblegum better than britney? 

[Wilde_child 490]

Even in her most pop songs Lana is too deep/dark for the crappy Pop scene. Glad she went on another route, more indie/alt rock/jazzy pop.

[Jazzmin 297]

lyrically, they seem so much a part of her personal narrative (made up or not). even though her unreleased stuff varies A LOT in genre, it's cohesive because of her lana-isms strewn throughout them.

Ditto. And truth be told, that is one of the things that drive me not to just like Lana's music, but to actually love it. It's just so incredible that her songs can differ that much in terms of their genre and yet tell the very same story! And I think she's hell good at being eclectic and I would love it if she decided to try out even more genres.

[LifeisBeautiful 152]

I deleted pretty much all of her "pop" songs from my iTunes.  LOL.  I just can't stand them!