Lust For Life - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[rumandrit 292]

This album is better than UV haahah. Y'all kiss that album's ass. LFL is 10x better lyrically, sonically and way better in variety

Respect for our holy scripture pls thank u.

[Veinsineon 76,230]

this girl is the one who asked lana to sing Yosemite, hoping she got it on video. i asked her abt it

SO DONT RIDICULE HER LIKE U DID TO LISA PLEASE

https://twitter.com/LyssaDanielle8/status/888269248434380800

[littleredpartydress 49,852]

not sure if you all care about reviews but heres another very positive one! 80/100

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/lana-del-rey-lust-for-life-album-review-tracklist-features-the-weeknd-aap-rocky-a7852166.html

[In your Chevrolet 394]

Omfg guys I'm on my way to work and I'm forcing myself to wait until tonight so I can listen to it somewhere beautiful and not on a fucking train

[Make me your Dream Life 87,459]

this girl is the one who asked lana to sing Yosemite, hoping she got it on video. i asked her abt it

SO DONT RIDICULE HER LIKE U DID TO LISA PLEASE

https://twitter.com/LyssaDanielle8/status/888269248434380800

I feel with the link to their page, it's more a matter of when's than if's. Not me but yea 

[BluVelvUnderground 1,754]

Just my review I shared on most of the sites I follow (music/film,etc.)

 

Lana Del Rey’s Lust for Life is an entirely self-aware piece – just as all of her past albums have been. Haters gonna hate, but Lana is arguably the most influential female “pop star” of the past five or so years. Everybody from Miley Cyrus to Katy Perry to Lorde to Adele to Selena Gomez to Tove Lo have all admitted to having been, in some capacity, influenced by her. What’s ironic? All of those artists have, in some capacity, brought the sadcore lyricism (and melancholic nihilism) that Del Rey perfected into their work – and now, it seems like even those who were on the scene before 2012’s Born to Die are also picking up on those influences. It may be a bit foggy at the moment, but time is going to be good to Lana. There’ll be a day when her initial scorn is forgotten, and she’s entirely considered one of the greats of our current pop landscape. 

 

Lana’s music has never been “one-track minded” – instead, she’s been a storyteller. Her narratives are always loose, but almost humorously tight. On her 2012 EP called Paradise, the song “American” is followed up by “Cola”, which has the unfortunate first lyric of “my pussy tastes like Pepsi-Cola” – a song that seems stupid until you realize the performance of the Del Rey persona is remaining consistent, and has all these years. On Lust for Life, she ups the euphemisms and compares sex to more nature-driven symbols: cherries, peaches, rosemary, thyme – but the song still remains about fucking; while Del Rey’s Shangri-Las-like “wall of sound” production has her playfully adlibbing in the background “bitch” and “fuck”, almost as if she’s taunting us (or daring is) to see her in a serious light. It works, because – in the end – with her cheeky humor, Del Rey’s albums are almost always entirely serious. It’s the Americana-coated imagery that makes it seem less pop ballad, and more folk ballad with a little touch of ammonia. 

 

Lust for Life starts off with a guitar-driven “wall of sound” space opera, and then follows that up with seven trap beats filtered through some kind of Phil Spector production you’d find the Ronettes placed in – with Lana, herself, showing off her range of octaves, and the many accent stylings she uses when approaching her visual-driven lyrics. These songs are hot (in a sense, that they are really driven by an atmosphere of a smoggy, polluted Los Angeles heat), and see Lana at her most cheeky. The middle track of the album is “Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind” – a track that, on its own, feels barebones and kind of silly – but in context of the album feels like a breather before the real momentum of the album starts. 

 

By using this one track, Lana bridges the “summer trap” of the first half of the album (which could accurately be akin to the things you’d hear Lana doing at Coachella) with the second’s “folk-driven trap”. Instead of focusing on the overwhelming heat of the songs, these seven songs (two of which feature Stevie Nicks and Sean Lennon), are politically-minded, and almost seem to scream in the face of the listener. It would be so laughable if it weren’t so damn sincere, and it would be difficult to not take seriously if it weren’t for Lana remaining self-deprecating and sarcastic through a lot of it by supplying more of her unenthused nihilism. The chorus to the song “When We Were at War We Kept Dancing” is, quite literally, “Is it the end of an era? Is it the end of America?” followed by a nod to M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes”. 

 

And Del Rey really allows herself to be BIZARRE here. As with Lana’s past work, there are nods to poetry, with the album’s title track quoting – verbatim – the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley. She also samples Radiohead's "Creep", samples audio from the '62 horror film Carnival of Souls, has the balls to name a song "Heroin", makes a sequel to a song from The Beatles' Revolver, and has recurring lyrics throughout the songs on the album, as well as literal melodies played on both ends ("White Mustang" and "Heroin" are pretty much one song, explaining the former's short length on the album's "Coachella" side.)

 

But there’s also a track that compares the Charles Manson cult to contemporary L.A. hedonism – with Del Rey belting out to her fans that she’s “tired of it” when they’re “rubbing blood on my walls and shit.” There’s a lyric on the final track that name-drops Aliester Crowley as if he’s a household name, with the same song being self-proclaimed as her “modern manifesto” on “taking the darkness out of the arts” and going “from the black, into the blue”. Political to the point of oversentimentality, but in the same universe as pussy tasting like Pepsi, it comes from a place of pretty moving density – even though it’s wrapped up in such hyperactive imagery. It says something that she can scream “it’s fucking hot, hot” on the same album as “hip-hop in the summer, don’t be a bummer” – and still come out on top saying, in one song, “there’s something coming in on the wings of a bomb”. 

 

I’m worried many critics are going to miss the album’s horror elements and focus simply on the “happiness” that Del Rey has found. I’m also worried that, perhaps, not enough people have caught up to Lana in how she’s been approaching her work from the beginning. Some still see her as manufactured. 

 

An album this messy and weird – yet entirely consistent to her and all her work before it – proves, without a shadow of a doubt, she’s in complete control. 

 

And holy shit, how she’s an enigmatic, dense, melodramatic, sadcore storyteller.

[fruitpunch 253]

Part 1 Livestream before it shut off-

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmwozGV2rCg

 

Yosemite- 14:30

[Neptune-Avenue 220]

Haha. I erased it because I feared nobody would have known who Crowley was. Whats your interpretation of the pre-chorus involving the rainbow symbolism?

lemme get in on this what song are we talking about?

[BluVelvUnderground 1,754]

lemme get in on this what song are we talking about?

On "Get Free", she says: "Finally, gone is the burden of the Crowley way of being that comes from energies combined."

[Make me your Dream Life 87,459]

 

U do it well, I enjoyed the last paragraph the most. 

 

Doubt the critics will buy into the overall happiness of the record. Maybe it's just me as a fan but, it seems more looming than anything else if that even makes sense. Happiness seems more like a concept to find like a firefly in the night, rather than catching the sun's uv rays, when it comes to the record. Two cents.

 

Great work, it was a nice read

[Pluto 1,580]

Why does it sound like Get Free is censored? Like it cuts out for a second and the word there according to apple music is "****". It's at like 1:04

[BluVelvUnderground 1,754]

Doubt the critics will buy into the overall happiness of the record. Maybe it's just me as a fan but, it seems more looming than anything else if that even makes sense. Happiness seems more like a concept to find like a firefly in the night, rather than catching the sun's uv rays, when it comes to the record. 

Oh, I see the bittersweetness of the "happy" in the album, like most of us here on LB will. From an outsider's perspective, I'm worried they'll get hooked onto her not being outright antiromantic this time around. Thankfully, though, the reviews have been strong so far, with heavy emphasis on how she handles the somber aspects so well. 

[Neptune-Avenue 220]

god those are stunning and fit the album aesthetic so much

On "Get Free", she says: "Finally, gone is the burden of the Crowley way of being that comes from energies combined."

I havnt listened to that in in depth yet. But holy shit that line is amazing there is a lot to be said for that lyric I'd love to know her full thoughts on Crowley since she had the satanic witch book

[BluVelvUnderground 1,754]

I havnt listened to that in in depth yet. But holy shit that line is amazing there is a lot to be said for that lyric I'd love to know her full thoughts on Crowley since she had the satanic witch book

If you have an interpretation of the lyrics, I'd love to hear it. It's the only line (with the rainbow pre-chorus from the same song) that has me scratching my head a bit. Beautiful writing, just really wanna know ideas on what it implies in context to the rest of that song, and therefore - as a closer - the rest of the album.

[Make me your Dream Life 87,459]

I have a feeling Yosemite just might've taken Life Is Beautiful's spot in the fandom 

[Jack 2,919]

I just listened for the first time at the stroke of midnight, driving around downtown Minneapolis and I AM FUCKIN BLOWN AWAY. The album did, indeed, fuck my ENTIrE shit up. I hope Lana forgives us all for being such brats this whole time because she truly outdid herself with this one. I know we say it all the time, but we really don't deserve her lol. This album has a much clearer and more decipherable storyline than any of her previous albums. It's obvious but it also still leaves room for speculation and nuance. The ultra 60s shangri-las vibes from LFL and Get Free are excellent bookends. Get Free sonically imbibes LFL but the lyrics show the growth she's gone through since the beginning of the album. Ugh, perfect. And Change seriously sounds like a Lennon song. That's a huge compliment coming from someone who would probably literally eat John Lennon's shit (me). I cried so hard when I listened to it. And Sean and Lana sound so good together in Tomorrow Never Came. That was truly two worlds colliding for me, like a fuckin dream. I can't get over it. There are so many folky, hippie era moments, from the sassy hard-hitting political bits to the folky singer-songwriter bits. I wasn't expecting the album to be such a thorough tribute to the 60s and 70s. It's retro future for sure, but in a way more thoughtful and involved way than I anticipated. Also, we got EVERY kind of Lana vocal on here. We are so spoiled oh my god. I have officially PERISHED    I can't wait to spend every spare moment of my life absorbing this album over the coming days. 

[BluVelvUnderground 1,754]

jkshdafla

By the way, Belladonna of Sadness is one of my favorite films. OMG. <3 

[Make me your Dream Life 87,459]

Oh, I see the bittersweetness of the "happy" in the album, like most of us here on LB will. From an outsider's perspective, I'm worried they'll get hooked onto her not being outright antiromantic this time around. Thankfully, though, the reviews have been strong so far, with heavy emphasis on how she handles the somber aspects so well. 

Haven't listened to the album in-depth yet, but it's definitely there. And yeah that could be the case, she definitely changed her tone this time around. I have a feeling people will like it for the most part. Fans and GP alike, I just see so many people kinda pegged by what she's written. 

 

She does, I love how the tracks easily transition into and from each other. It hits hard, but still manages to cradle the listener somehow

[Neptune-Avenue 220]

By the way, Belladonna of Sadness is one of my favorite films. OMG. <3

 

I made an ultraviolence music video with belladonna it's so underrated!!

[Cloudbusting 5,383]

I have a feeling Yosemite just might've taken Life Is Beautiful's spot in the fandom 

Personally I've made my peace with that (even though I was shook with that little chorus she sang). We have amazing tracks like TNC, BPBP, Heroin, Get Free, GBA and Cherry (even better when we get the clean version) to be lusting after a song we haven't heard in full length.