Lana Del Ray AKA Lizzy Grant - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[lanadelreigh 153]

I remember reading in one interview that she wrote like 3 of the songs on there in one week. I think for k part 2 was in the three but idk its somewhere

 

Edit: lol for k part 2 was not in it

[AKASAKA SAWAYAMA 7,884]

I remember reading in one interview that she wrote like 3 of the songs on there in one week. I think for k part 2 was in the three but idk its somewhere

yeah i remember that too but which interview i can't remember

[Trash Magic 28,368]

 

 

I wrote three smashing songs, in my opinion. I wrote “Queen of the Gas Station,” “Jump,” and “Put me in a Movie” in a week.

http://lizzygrant4ever.tumblr.com/post/60113849123/lizzy-grant-interviewed-by-michael-mizrahi

 

I love this tumblr btw

[lernerderrey 2,415]

since she wrote QOTGS with dat acoustic demo, can we assume Jump and PMIAM have acoustic demos? also does anyone know if lana is playing guitar in the QOTGS acoustic demo?? also i'd die for an acoustic mermaid motel demo... but rlly any demo for dat song would b mad cool.

 

also can we assume that for k pt 2 was written during the sirens era since for k is apart of sirens? i want an acoustic demo for it tooooooo

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,050]

I listened to Lana Del Ray again tonight, for the millionth time-- my feelings haven't changed. This album is genius, and it definitely saddens me that Lana will likely never return to this set of aesthetics and style of music.

 

However, the genius of AKA is not *just* Lana. I give a sizable part of my respect for the album to David Kahne, as well. While Lana created killer melodies, lyrics, and concepts that would work extremely well under the guidance of any producer, Kahne had the perfect touch to push the songs from "excellent" to "god-like", in my opinion. 

 

It definitely deserves repeat listens-- some subtle flourishes Kahne brought in are best noticed after you've been bowled over a few times by Lana's handiwork with the stories told and pictures painted here. To me, the perfect example of Kahne's "Midas touch" on AKA is "Pawn Shop Blues". As evidenced by a live performance and a demo, PSB was a staggeringly beautiful, tender, and poignant track when Lana was doing it on her own. However, Kahne took it to another level-- while PSB in its raw state is mournful and brimming with sadness, Kahne's instrumentation gives it depth-- it goes from being a "sad" song to something better described as "bittersweet". With the angelic echoes and trembling guitars, Kahne doesn't detract at all from Lana's lyrics-- instead, he gives them deeper meaning and manifold facets. Pawn Shop Blues becomes, all at once, a hopeful look at living for a purpose outside of yourself, a melancholy assertion on the nature of love and loss, and a somber reminder of how one can lose it all for nothing. With these extra dimensions, the track becomes infinitely interesting, as it's hard to tell where the hope begins and the desperation ends. 

 

I'm rambling-- my point being, AKA is an absolutely genius record that I'll love 'til the day I die, and both David Kahne and Lana are geniuses for putting just the right elements in just the right places to create an album that is cohesive yet kaleidoscopic, and that has so many facets and subtleties that it demands repeat listens. Fabulous. Please continue sharing info and thoughts on AKA here, because it means the world to me and I want to know all there is to know about it!

 

Thanks for reading all this 

[Lust 4,031]

Don't think you mentioned that she briefly considered re-releasing it, then changed her mind. That is she did, in fact, have the rights to re-release it whenever she wanted too, but then elected not to.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lana_Del_Ray_(album)

 

"In January 2012, upon the release of her major-label album, Born to Die, Del Rey stated to the BBC that she recently bought back the rights of the album and was planning on re-releasing it in the Summer of 2012."

 

She remarked that "it was pretty good" (i.e., the 2nd article, wikipedia references for my quote, has that statement).

 

I'm sad she doesn't have it on catalog, but respect her decision to keep it suppressed, if that's what she really wants to do. Although I do wish she were more like Tyler the Creator and just release it on her website (i.e., I got Bastard at oddfuture.com, which if that was an illegal download, it sure fooled me).

 

Maybe her label didn't let her

[slang 1,532]

Maybe her label didn't let her

Well anything's possible given the absence of any discussion about it. But if she wanted to re-release and her (new) label prevented it (i.e., it was certainly not 5 points as they had the most to gain from it), I'd be curious as to how their motivations were stated (and LDR might have talked about that to give closure to the album). However, my default position has to be that it was LDR's call, as she's said on occasion that the label let's her do what she wants. Perhaps her reasons are similar to why Alanis Morrissette and Tori Amos never re-released their initial work, although I'm not too clear on their motivations either.

[trashangel 34]

AKA is such a special album, her best work for sure.The songs are magical - they're like drug induced sparkly Nevada lullabies.

[longtimeman 8,917]

I strongly recommend that if you haven't read it, give a good read to the article from mtv linked in the first post. It answers a lot of questions about the album and makes some great points about Lana's artistic and business acumen. It's my theory that the record sold very very few copies (something closer to 100-200), based on how long it took most of us to get hold of an original digital copy, and the fairly low sales for independent releases at the time. I'd love to have this confirmed or refuted definitively, but it would help to explain why it was so easy to suppress at the time.

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,050]

I strongly recommend that if you haven't read it, give a good read to the article from mtv linked in the first post. It answers a lot of questions about the album and makes some great points about Lana's artistic and business acumen. It's my theory that the record sold very very few copies (something closer to 100-200), based on how long it took most of us to get hold of an original digital copy, and the fairly low sales for independent releases at the time. I'd love to have this confirmed or refuted definitively, but it would help to explain why it was so easy to suppress at the time.

 

Yeah, the MTV article is the probably the definitive article on AKA to read, especially since David Nichtern is interviewed and has a lot of first-hand insight on Lizzy and the recording of the album. 

 

I definitely agree about the album probably selling few copies, which is kind of unusual due to the push it got from Amazon and iTunes, you know? 

[ednafrau 836]

@@sparklrtrailrheaven @@longtimeman please correct me if i'm wrong, but i think i was the first to find that article way back in the day! you know, david nichtern is also one of the foremost buddhist meditation teachers in america, and i hope his practice was a useful tool to deal with the - to me - unjust hand he was dealt. without his (and his label's) gamble on lizzy/lana we probably would never have discovered her. it's likely she would have eventually achieved mainstream success in one of her incarnations or facets, but i know i wouldn't have been such a huge fan without "AKA", which is still my absolute favorite album of hers. imagine a world in which that record never existed, or amounted to simply a handful of demos in lana's laptop! i'm so glad that wasn't the case, and that you created this thread @@sparklrtrailrheaven, because even though we longtime fans, many of us from the original LDR.FM, are well aware of these facts, it's great to have them grouped together coherently, with evident love, for everyone - oldtimers and newbies alike - to discover and revisit both the information and the album, and celebrate its wonderful, bizarre "cohesive yet kaleidoscopic" glory! ♥

[ednafrau 836]

regarding the mystery of AKA's lack of sales or repercussion, i can't say i'm dumbfounded: her music was hard to classify, and thus was poorly marketed (5 points definitely didn't excel at that), starting by chuck's hideous artwork and the amateur design and fonts*. i think she would've found her niche with time, but it's hard to fathom that without the whole persona to accompany the sound she would have been the worldwide phenomenon she has become.

 

*they are now endearing to me, but objectively i don't think they are on the same level of quality as the music, and i can't imagine people being drawn to the album at a record store without prior information on it. whether we like it or not, aesthetics do play a part in intriguing you enough to reach for something unknown (hence the later success of LDR).

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,050]

@@sparklrtrailrheaven @@longtimeman please correct me if i'm wrong, but i think i was the first to find that article way back in the day! you know, david nichtern is also one of the foremost buddhist meditation teachers in america, and i hope his practice was a useful tool to deal with the - to me - unjust hand he was dealt. without his (and his label's) gamble on lizzy/lana we probably would never have discovered her. it's likely she would have eventually achieved mainstream success in one of her incarnations or facets, but i know i wouldn't have been such a huge fan without "AKA", which is still my absolute favorite album of hers. imagine a world in which that record never existed, or amounted to simply a handful of demos in lana's laptop! i'm so glad that wasn't the case, and that you created this thread @@sparklrtrailrheaven, because even though we longtime fans, many of us from the original LDR.FM, are well aware of these facts, it's great to have them grouped together coherently, with evident love, for everyone - oldtimers and newbies alike - to discover and revisit both the information and the album, and celebrate its wonderful, bizarre "cohesive yet kaleidoscopic" glory! ♥

 

I agree wholeheartedly! <3 I think this album (and the people who worked on it, including David Nichtern!) have never received their due. So, I was so happy to be able to start this thread, so as you said, we could coherently gather information and spread the love for AKA! Also, kudos for finding that article! It's certainly one of the most informative out there about this period in Lana's history. You're too sweet

 

I agree too about AKA's artwork-- while I've grown to love it in association with the album, it was not executed well at all. Even Kill Kill's artwork, while not perfect, looks a lot more inviting and evocative of the music than AKA's. Honestly, despite only being released 6 yeas ago, I think AKA was a bit ahead of its time in some respects. Lana was definitely making music that was hard to define, but with more genre-hopping mainstream artists these days (think Marina & the Diamonds or Melanie Martinez, whom I often see grouped in the same circles as Lana),  AKA could be better marketed and received if it were released today, imo. 

[TheBoss 13,504]

I agree wholeheartedly! <3 I think this album (and the people who worked on it, including David Nichtern!) have never received their due. So, I was so happy to be able to start this thread, so as you said, we could coherently gather information and spread the love for AKA! Also, kudos for finding that article! It's certainly one of the most informative out there about this period in Lana's history. You're too sweet

 

I agree too about AKA's artwork-- while I've grown to love it in association with the album, it was not executed well at all. Even Kill Kill's artwork, while not perfect, looks a lot more inviting and evocative of the music than AKA's. Honestly, despite only being released 6 yeas ago, I think AKA was a bit ahead of its time in some respects. Lana was definitely making music that was hard to define, but with more genre-hopping mainstream artists these days (think Marina & the Diamonds or Melanie Martinez, whom I often see grouped in the same circles as Lana),  AKA could be better marketed and received if it were released today, imo. 

 

I 100% agree with your opinion, it was early 2010 and I can't remember if the indie artists used to have the same support as they have now, plus that artwork was really ugly I don't know what they we're thinking, and I love Chuck's photography but damn that was an ugly cover Thank you for making this thread and all of you for spreading more info of this amazing album, I might do my review later

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,050]

Here's a fun question:

 

Had AKA been successful, what unreleased tracks do you think would've been used for a follow-up album? 

[bunoner 5,726]

@@CgiLight could you fucking not post porn everywhere

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,050]

I don't care who else's threads get the porn treatment, but don't you dare disgrace the name of Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant with your basic, bland, white dudes that you can't even be bothered to post in quality high enough to see more than some blurry af pixels... disgusting 

[WaitForLife 5,236]

whould I ever know her when BTD hasn't bedn released?

[cheaptrailertrashglm 3,525]

i've always loved AKA as soon as i started listening to Lana's music. It's my second favorite album (i really love Ultraviolence okay.....). I just love how unique and awesome it was. I just really loved it. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish I could have found out about Lana back in 2010. :(

[queenbitchpro 1,406]

I'm in love with a dying man... 

I listen to this album all the time, it always leaves me shook.

 

I downloaded it as "Nevada" at first in 2012 and it sat in my iTunes like that but I did recently decide to change it since it wasn't released under that title