Fine, I admit it — I didn't jump onto the Lana Del Rey bandwagon until Nusardel posted about her(I'm convinced that you're reading this. Um, thanks? I'm so glad that I have a friend with good taste in music?) and "Born To Die" exploded on Tumblr. Now, use your imagination and imagine me watching the videos on her YouTube channel for 23094720 times while silently weeping about quality music these days.
I read this article from New Yorker a while ago and I have a lot of strong
"Why is pop music the only art form that still inspires such arrantly stupid discussion? The debates that surround authenticity have no relationship to popular music as it’s been practiced for more than a century. Artists write material, alone or with assistance, revise it, and then present a final work created with the help of professionals who are trained for specific and relevant production tasks. This makes popular music similar to film, television, visual art, books, dance, and related areas like food and fashion. And yet no movie review begins, “Meryl Streep, despite not being a Prime Minister, is reasonably convincing in ‘The Iron Lady.’ ”
"'Born to Die' is full of rubbery, well-formed melodies and harmonic richness—who cares who wrote much of it—but the character of Del Rey, authentic or not, is so inconsistent that she fades from view, into her own photo spread."Why does people argue about pop music like it's politics? Music is important, but it's not like anyone is going to die or get run over by a car if the artists don't create the songs themselves. Besides you probably listen to music to feel good about yourself, not because it's "cool" or "hipster" or on top of the charts.
That was a long introduction. Here's what I think of the whole album —
Born To Die is very retro, very 50's, very pin-up girl. Although all the songs are slightly repetitive(I still can't tell them apart. Food for thought: it's like Born This Way expect the songs are... different?), they are intriguing without being overly difficult to understand. Soulful without being an Amy Winehouse, or the soundtrack to a James Bond movie. You lot had probably listened to Video Games or Blue Jeans or Born To Die so much times you can't even count, but National Anthem and Off To The Races are surprising dirty. I mean, Lolita references! "Light of my life, fire of my loins!" "Baby, put on heart-shaped sunglasses cause we gonna take a ride." Please excuse my absence while I listen to Dark Paradise and cry for the rest of my life.
Don't be a cheapo, just be a queen → buy Born To Die here or listen on Spotify
Oh my... I think I'm about to explode because this post is so great. I agree with what you're saying about music becoming like politics. Lady Gaga is a character in her entirety, the same goes for Del Rey. What doesn't make sense is that Lady Gaga's appreciated and nobody seems to care that it's all an act (love ya gaga but seriously...) and yet there are all these issues with an artist who has her lips plumped and changes her name.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I loved is that she's created this character who's gorgeous, and is near perfect on the exterior, but her music shows a vulnerability, as though she's stripped off the entire pin-up facade and is showing you what Lana Del Rey is like behind the scenes. Of course, that gets boring, so there are the songs about drugs and love.
I also love that she's used Lolita as inspiration for one of the songs. It's not often that I read a book and then hear a song based on it that I actually enjoy listening to.
The one thing I wish she hadn't done is changed 'let me fuck you hard in the pouring rain' to 'kiss you hard' in Born To Die. But then again, she'd be giving people the illusion that she and I aren't married and about to have mini Del Rey babies... I wish. #mycreys #waithashtagsdontworkwhentheyrenotontwitter ...
And sorry for the long comment. I get passionate about her... Very passionate.
Best. Comment. I. Ever. Read. So anyway, here it goes:
DeleteI think that people are not trying to accept Lana at all because they refuse to believe that it's possible to have another pop star like her. Like, look at all these so-called "pop stars." Katy Perry and Christina Aguilera had changed their aesthetics so much that their music is barely recognizable, yet not a lot of critics are calling them out.
Gaga's character is all strong, while Lana's is more of this person who seems to be strong but actually very vulnerable(like you said) on the inside. It's almost like multiple personalities if you think about it but not exactly.
Artists rarely make any references to literature or anything at all. It's just.. drugs and love and going to clubs... accept Lana did it in a more sophisticate manner that makes it more superior to other music of the same topics, while incorporating Lolita into it. I really love it because it turns the whole story around and makes you look at it in a different perspective.
And oh at the last paragraph. I died and am writing from hell.