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

[American Whore 51,541]

I’m listening to this now in honor of the 10 year anniversary that Lana herself ignored. Listening with high quality headphones, too

[13bitches 6,177]

In celebration, we should leak - and I cannot stress this enough - Mertens AKA

[Dark Angel 202,787]

So when I imagine what Merten's AKA could sound like, I can imagine it having the rock/grunge sound throughout the album, similar to Brite Lites. But there's also a possibility that it has the Surf Noir Hawaiian sound of Trash Magic, Wayamaya, Mermaid Motel Demo. Either way I'm sure all of the tracks on Merten's AKA sound amazing. 

 

Imagine a rock version of Yayo similar to this.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU6obul9fMU

[13bitches 6,177]

So when I imagine what Merten's AKA could sound like, I can imagine it having the rock/grunge sound throughout the album, similar to Brite Lites. But there's also a possibility that it has the Surf Noir Hawaiian sound of Trash Magic, Wayamaya, Mermaid Motel Demo. Either way I'm sure all of the tracks on Merten's AKA sound amazing.

 

Imagine a rock version of Yayo similar to this.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU6obul9fMU

I’d love to hear a Mertens-produced take of For K Pt. 2

[Dark Angel 202,787]

Just imagine a Merten's produced Kill Kill with the Surf Noir inspired sound and grunge influence. I'd die. 

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,073]

I wasn’t here to celebrate 10 years of AKA yesterday, but you all best believe I gave her a listen (for the record, Put Me in a Movie STAYS my favorite Lana song, period)

 

I still love this album SO much — it doesn’t matter how much my tastes change; there will always be something incredibly magical embedded into this record. I’m a huge fan of the music Lana is putting out now, but something sets AKA apart — there’s such an honesty and sense of hope and promise and excitement that shines out from it, that you just can’t recapture. It’s a totally singular voice and I hope one day it gets the recognition it so sorely deserves — there is truly not another album like it, by Lana or anyone else.

 

Hopefully, today or in the next few days, I’ll update and fix up the OP. It’s what she deserves

 

(She also deserved a birthday leak, buuuuut )

[pin up galore 19,048]

I wish she kept the "feels like sugar in me" line in PMIAM it just adds a whole other level to the song

[lernerderrey 2,416]

I wish she kept the "feels like sugar in me" line in PMIAM it just adds a whole other level to the song

i wish pmiam didnt exist. its creepy and v pedo and the album would be perfect without it. 

[HEARTCORE 18,971]

i wish pmiam didnt exist. its creepy and v pedo and the album would be perfect without it. 

By that same logic, Lolita, Off to the Races, and countless other songs by Lana shouldn't exist.

[necessary sacrifice 8,865]

i wish pmiam didnt exist. its creepy and v pedo and the album would be perfect without it.

Tbh this is how I used to feel too. But now when I listen to it, I hear the vulnerability and desperation growing in her voice throughout the song and I get it. I don’t think the song is romanticizing the situation. I interpret it as someone allowing predatory behaviour to happen to them because this is the hand they were dealt and they have no other options. When you’re desperate and have nothing, you sometimes let yourself get into situations you wouldn’t otherwise condone, and that’s kinda the feeling I get from this song. A big theme throughout the album seems to be that kind of hopelessness and the strange freedom that comes with it.

[lernerderrey 2,416]

Tbh this is how I used to feel too. But now when I listen to it, I hear the vulnerability and desperation growing in her voice throughout the song and I get it. I don’t think the song is romanticizing the situation. I interpret it as someone allowing predatory behaviour to happen to them because this is the hand they were dealt and they have no other options. When you’re desperate and have nothing, you sometimes let yourself get into situations you wouldn’t otherwise condone, and that’s kinda the feeling I get from this song. A big theme throughout the album seems to be that kind of hopelessness and the strange freedom that comes with it.

tbh this is how i used to feel. i feel like PMIAM is definitely a sad response to Brite Lites.

 

I'm waving on the trampoline

I'm waving on the silver screen

The film is fading, look at me, yeah

Give me the bright lights

 

she got to be in a movie but it was not the glamorous kind. i definitely liked listening to this song when thinking about how it's about her feeling taken advantage of. BUT playing this song and having others hear it w/o knowing this makes it seem v pedo and creepy and i think it is a huge negative strike on LDR's public image and she would never rerelease this album because of it. if PMIAM wasnt on the album, i'm sure she'd acknowledge it more. 

 

[ChaoticLipster 24,671]

Still shocks me how she disregards her earlier music..,when in fact it’s better then a lot of her recent stuff. The problem with it is the quality. Mermaid Motel would slap at 320kbps. She needs to go back to the plan of re-releasing rerecording 25 of her old songs. It would sell pretty well!

[Dark Angel 202,787]

A little disappointed she didn't acknowledge it, but not surprised either. It truly is one of her most unique and greatest works and deserves love and recognition. 

[Creyk 11,717]

 

I still love this album SO much — it doesn’t matter how much my tastes change; there will always be something incredibly magical embedded into this record. I’m a huge fan of the music Lana is putting out now, but something sets AKA apart — there’s such an honesty and sense of hope and promise and excitement that shines out from it, that you just can’t recapture.

I think what sets AKA apart, is that unlike on all of her post BTD albums, she does not pretend to be rich or to have a glamorous life. The themes of everyday struggles and living a small life (what she probably experienced while being in the trailer park writing this record) are present. It is shown she struggles with money (Pawn Shop Blues, having a wedding dress that only cost 50 bucks, needing the help of older men to "make it", having fun in sleazy bars and gas stations instead of actual clubs). She is looking for things not yet achieved so there is a sense of hope as you said (particularly on Jump) and yet even in her life full of struggle, she has a sense of fun and wonder (Mermaid Motel, Queen of the Gas Station). There is also the more universal theme of relying on family for comfort on Gramma that is never present again in her music except for 2 lines in Ride. These are the kind of lyrics that are more close to the everyday life of a lot of people and that makes the whole thing feel more grounded and like it's a reflection of the real plain her, not the glamorous desperate queen she seems to be on songs like Dark Paradise and Summertime Sadness.

 

And then what brings this whole thing home is that you can feel that she is ALONE on Oh Say Can You See, she is walking home alone in the dark looking at the lights created by cars and for some reason she finds that beautiful....there is a separation between her and other people that shows up in her later works too (Old Money verses, God Knows I Tried, 13 beaches) which is an essential ingredient of that sadcore feel all of us love her so much for. So with all of that you are right, AKA sets such a different, subdued mood I don't know another record with this feeling in it. And that is why it's magical.

[WilshireBoulevard 5,421]

I think what sets AKA apart, is that unlike on all of her post BTD albums, she does not pretend to be rich or to have a glamorous life. The themes of everyday struggles and living a small life (what she probably experienced while being in the trailer park writing this record) are present. It is shown she struggles with money (Pawn Shop Blues, having a wedding dress that only cost 50 bucks, needing the help of older men to "make it", having fun in sleazy bars and gas stations instead of actual clubs). She is looking for things not yet achieved so there is a sense of hope as you said (particularly on Jump) and yet even in her life full of struggle, she has a sense of fun and wonder (Mermaid Motel, Queen of the Gas Station). There is also the more universal theme of relying on family for comfort on Gramma that is never present again in her music except for 2 lines in Ride. These are the kind of lyrics that are more close to the everyday life of a lot of people and that makes the whole thing feel more grounded and like it's a reflection of the real plain her, not the glamorous desperate queen she seems to be on songs like Dark Paradise and Summertime Sadness.

 

And then what brings this whole thing home is that you can feel that she is ALONE on Oh Say Can You See, she is walking home alone in the dark looking at the lights created by cars and for some reason she finds that beautiful....there is a separation between her and other people that shows up in her later works too (Old Money verses, God Knows I Tried, 13 beaches) which is an essential ingredient of that sadcore feel all of us love her so much for. So with all of that you are right, AKA sets such a different, subdued mood I don't know another record with this feeling in it. And that is why it's magical.

 

That's such a beautiful way to put it. When I want to feel grounded I don't really listen to her fully released songs, I tend towards AKA and the songs I see as 'around' them, like 1949. 

[June Gloom 1,787]

I think what sets AKA apart, is that unlike on all of her post BTD albums, she does not pretend to be rich or to have a glamorous life. The themes of everyday struggles and living a small life (what she probably experienced while being in the trailer park writing this record) are present. It is shown she struggles with money (Pawn Shop Blues, having a wedding dress that only cost 50 bucks, needing the help of older men to "make it", having fun in sleazy bars and gas stations instead of actual clubs). She is looking for things not yet achieved so there is a sense of hope as you said (particularly on Jump) and yet even in her life full of struggle, she has a sense of fun and wonder (Mermaid Motel, Queen of the Gas Station). There is also the more universal theme of relying on family for comfort on Gramma that is never present again in her music except for 2 lines in Ride. These are the kind of lyrics that are more close to the everyday life of a lot of people and that makes the whole thing feel more grounded and like it's a reflection of the real plain her, not the glamorous desperate queen she seems to be on songs like Dark Paradise and Summertime Sadness.

 

And then what brings this whole thing home is that you can feel that she is ALONE on Oh Say Can You See, she is walking home alone in the dark looking at the lights created by cars and for some reason she finds that beautiful....there is a separation between her and other people that shows up in her later works too (Old Money verses, God Knows I Tried, 13 beaches) which is an essential ingredient of that sadcore feel all of us love her so much for. So with all of that you are right, AKA sets such a different, subdued mood I don't know another record with this feeling in it. And that is why it's magical.

you really articulated this incredibly well, like ESPECIALLY Oh Say (which is one of her best, and critically underrated) and PSB embody a unique kind of loneliness and wistfulness that's downright captivating.

her emotions and experiences are earnest on this record in a way i love to hear from her, it's presented with a naive kinda luster rather than the glamour or cinematic presentation of her other records.

 

i personally find myself listening to a lot of AKA more than her other work and i think this is why?  like i group it more with some of the albums by indie girls (frankie cosmos stuff esp with the everyday struggles, artists like haley heyndrickx, anna burch, julia jacklin, etc.) cuz it hits similar beats yet it has this amateurish poise and fun to it most of them don't?  like i could never see them releasing a song like brite lites or mermaid motel, and i think that's part of her charm on this record in a way few others achieved or even tried.  (that being said if any of y'all got reccs for albums like this, hmu)

[sparklrtrailrheaven 9,073]

hi @@admin / any mods would y'all please help me fix the formatting of the OP? it's going nuts and saying it doesn't support the image extension even when I remove the image or change it

[xxmissdaytonaxx 30,078]

so tmrw i’m gonna trying burning AKA on a cd so i can have a physical copy of this album. my mind.

[xxmissdaytonaxx 30,078]

update: i burned the cd and omg i’ve been listening to these songs for years but i NEVER listened to them in order and damn, this album is so great in full. lana re-release this album on iTunes challenge.

[Dark Angel 202,787]

i know this thread is for the album itself, but the queen of the gas stations demos are some of my all time favorite lizzy works. so glad we have them. over time qotgs is becoming a favorite, that song just puts me in the best mood.