Lana Del Rey

Da Shins Kelly

What do people think of her?

Apparently some people are calling shenanigans on her authenticity - her old music before her new album has disappeared from the internet, she claimed to have been raised on a trailer park, but her father is actually a multi-millionaire, supposedly she's had plastic surgery, and people are claiming her look and musical style have been moulded by record execs and managers (she freely admits that her name was changed by managers and lawyers). Basically, some people don't believe that she's anything more than a product.

I'm not sure how true any of the above is, or if it even matters. The songs are good, whether they're genuinely hers or not. Also, it's pop music. Lady Gaga is the biggest faker in the industry, but she's still a good pop star. I'm not sure how important authenticity is in pop music.

I've only heard a few of her songs so far, but I think she's got some good stuff. I think she'll be quite big, regardless.

Has anyone seen her live? Is she any good on that front?

lordgoat

old news tbh, it was a great gimmick by her and fair play she used it to her advantage. Also as you said it's pop music so i might move it over to gen music, i'll see what jeff says.

Miguel_Sanchez

The single is great. I know nothing more about her.

Happy to leave it here though.

Da Shins Kelly

Move it over if yiz want lads! I forgot about the general music place when I posted it, so if ye think it's better suited there, then go ahead.

lordgoat

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Move it over if yiz want lads! I forgot about the general music place when I posted it, so if ye think it's better suited there, then go ahead.

i'll leave it here for a few days and move it over then, you should get the most coverage that way.

Only really like video games, don't think much of the other singles.

lordgoat

http://pitchfork.com/news/44938-lana-del-rey-to-appear-on-saturday-night-live/


SNL coming up

stateofflux

Really like 'born to die' single...very good tune

johnny_ultimate

Video Games is a pretty hypnotic song, but the whole background narrative makes it hard to know what to think of the whole situation. Hopefully her album will be noteworthy for content rather than hype and controversy.

nommm

Love her, there's no denying she's going to be huge this year. I don't have a problem with the Lizzie Grant business, the music on that album just sounds like a less developed version of the music she is making now imo. Her videos were pretty much the same style. I don't doubt that she had to undergo some 'rebranding' to find popularity. Don't most artists?

pappyodaniel

Looks to me like she was invented in a lab. The look, the music, the videos and the songwriting are trying too hard to appeal to everyone...the pop and the indie crowd. I can see right through it, it's a manifactured act but I have to say it's a very good product.

The Liquidator

Not bothered at all about any of this background shite...The girl has tunes and could be massive from next year onwards.

pappyodaniel

The Liquidator wrote: »

Not bothered at all about any of this background shite...The girl has tunes and could be massive from next year onwards.

True.

She never denied anything about life or her past, sure hasn't all the best had a helping hand.

Seren_

Really like all the songs I've listened to by her I must say, and very much looking forward to seeing what the album will be like.

Personally, I couldn't care less about her background and her invented image. There's loads of bands/artists who have had similar influence from management and record companies, and that's not even thinking about pop stars like Gaga and so on, Stiff Little Fingers and The Sex Pistols being two notable examples.

Jordo141

Hate to be a spoil sport... But I can't stand her...

Singles are pretty boring IMO... Video Games is one of the mopiest, dreary songs I've heard in years... One of the few songs I actually have to change the radio station over...

Her image seems VERY manufactured too... Seems like a discount Amy Winehoue (whose music I'm not a fan of either). The rumors about her family, surgery don't help my opinion.

Oasis_Dublin

That Video Games song absolutely wrecks my head.

Apparently she has the false past of Viva Brother as well.

KeanSeenan

Shocked to see how many people like her music on here. What I've heard has been some of the most bland, boring, broad and something else that starts with b stuff I've heard in a while. But yeah, she's got everyone eating out of her hand and all that. I'm not happy about any of this.

johnny_ultimate

KeanSeenan wrote: »

I'm not happy about any of this.

Why would you let it bother you that much?

Sure, the whole situation may be a cynical marketing exercise, but Video Games - while not the second coming or any nonsense like that - is a damn sight better than most crap hitting the charts these days.

I'd rather a fresh, well written song be attracting millions of listeners than any of the countless bland, derivative karaoke acts society has taken it upon itself to proclaim as 'talented'. She's a singer-songwriter. She's not a ****ing war criminal. And everyone, as always, is entitled to think what they want.

Personally, I prefer Del Rey's stuff to the vast majority of 'pop' music these days, but nor am I going to set up a small shrine to Ms. Del Ray in my home.

Fishooks12

Decent pop songs, couldn't care less about her being 'fake', music is more important than image.

Look at Lady Gaga, self proclaimed bastion of original daring ideas when in reality she just pumps out the same bland pop numbers as the rest of them. At least video games is well written

KeanSeenan

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Why would you let it bother you that much?

I'd rather a fresh, well written song be attracting millions of listeners than any of the countless bland, derivative karaoke acts society has taken it upon itself to proclaim as 'talented'. She's a singer-songwriter. She's not a ****ing war criminal.

I like to get annoyed at stuff, makes me more appreciative of good music/better at joking with friends.
But seriously her music is a tragedy on par with human trafficking.
I don't really see much difference to her and most chart music, to me, she just seems like Adele but with more of a push towards 'indie' crowds(she does have a very tumblry aesthetic going on, especially that first video), which is interesting 'cause I seem to remember Adele being the same at the start of her career. Judging from that, I'd say she'll have a similar arc.

NIMAN

I fcuking hate that Video Games single. Christ its on every radio station, played to death.

And its as dull as dishwater.

If she's the 'next big thing', count me out of music for a while. I was just getting over Adele.

As for the plastic surgery, YouTube her on the Jools Holland show. Never seen sillier lips. A shame that someone who's 20 (is she?) thinks she needs surgery.

johnny_ultimate

Currently No.1 in the music charts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlxoG9gNZU4

So yes. I do think Video Games is ever so slightly better than your average chart hit.

Miguel_Sanchez

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Currently No.1 in the music charts.

Sailing close to the ban wind there Johnny posting sh*te like that!

johnny_ultimate

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

Sailing close to the ban wind there Johnny posting sh*te like that!

Posted for information and comparisons sake only.

I should have added a Not Safe for Anyone Living or Dead tag.

copacetic

KeanSeenan wrote: »

I like to get annoyed at stuff, makes me more appreciative of good music/better at joking with friends.
But seriously her music is a tragedy on par with human trafficking.
I don't really see much difference to her and most chart music, to me, she just seems like Adele but with more of a push towards 'indie' crowds(she does have a very tumblry aesthetic going on, especially that first video), which is interesting 'cause I seem to remember Adele being the same at the start of her career. Judging from that, I'd say she'll have a similar arc.

heh, that sentence gave me a good old laugh. Way to go super duper OTT.

Dreddybajs

I think it's a great pop song, what is there to get up in arms about? There's nothing wrong with pop music.

Denalihighway

NEWSFLASH - music is subjective!!!

I like her stuff. i dont' really understand how anyone could think video games is a 'bad song' as such. take the background sh1te out of the equation and its a good, sombre, quite beautiful pop song. funny how people can get their knickers in such a twist about it. but each to their own.

i also like radiohead's stuff and i've always understood how others might find it 'dull', 'dreary', 'drab' bla bla bla. different strokes people...

KeanSeenan

copacetic wrote: »

heh, that sentence gave me a good old laugh. Way to go super duper OTT.

Hahaha I was wondering if anyone got the reference. It's from Parks and Recreation.

triseke

I quite like her to be honest. Im not going to justify it. If you like her music, you like her music. If you don't like it, you don't like it.

No reason to get up in arms over it.

Oasis_Dublin

Arguably, the forum wouldn't be interesting if people didn't discuss things with a bit of passion.

greallra

she's a tasty bit of stuff alright...

sillo

I like the two songs but am skeptical she has a good album in her. Looking forward to the attempt and will download it when it comes out.

Haven't cared a damn for an artists background since I was about 8. I don't care if she has a hype machine or if she was born in a cult of fish worshippers.

Captain Graphite

Finally got around to listening "Video Games" after hearing all the hype about it. I wasn't blown away or anything. It's not terrible by any means, and she has a decent voice, but I thought it was quite dull. To me, she seems like a glossier but less interesting Fiona Apple.

Still, more luck to her if she does well.

Zander1983

video games..some song

Unquiet Nights

She's certainly being hyped. I'm playing a game to see how long I can go without hearing any of her music.

Sl!mCharles

a video game???? LoL

Da Shins Kelly

Hideous performance on SNL, people already calling her one of the worst performers in its history. She looked extremely nervous and uncomfortable, the breathing was all off, she seemed out of time and tune in places. The whole thing was a mess really. Could make or break her. She came out and defended herself by saying that music wasn't the main focus of her life, and that she thought performing on television was "weird" and that sometimes she doesn't feel it, especially if she feels like she's doing it for someone else rather than herself. Seems like a bit of a lame excuse to cover up the fact that she's just not very good live. I watched a few of her other live performances, and while they weren't as bad as SNL, they weren't exactly very convincing either. She looks terribly uncomfortable and awkward onstage, and her voice isn't exactly the strongest live. Could turn out to be one of those that benefits a lot from the studio.

Oasis_Dublin

Hipsters will lap that crap up!

benway

One of my mates was pushing her to me last weekend, found it kinda surprising. Guess she's been positioned as the pop act it's ok to like or something, and some people have bought into it.

I think the authenticity thing is a non-issue, I don't think that any performer is just being themselves on stage, everyone's got a persona. If she and her handlers want to reinvent her as some kind of tragic doomed 30s movie star diva thing, then have at it. Some of my favourite bands have been contrived as hell: Roxy Music - a lounge band from the future, Mick Jagger - an authentic LSE blues man, Bowie - whatever the hell he wants to be.

Problem is, you need to be a great actor to pull off that kinda trick, like Ferry, Jagger and Bowie. With Lana del Ray, her music has all the elements in place to be half decent, but it just doesn't reach me. Not terrible or anything, but I don't really believe her. Now, going to the other end of the spectrum, if say Billie Holiday sang Video Games, that would be a whole different story. Maybe she just needs to come back after a couple of years of acting lessons and/or hard living.

Also, her lips are ****ed.

KeanSeenan

I don't think the problem is that you need a good 'actor' to pull off character based music, but that it needs to come from either a real place or a conceptual place and the thing with LDR(Lana Delano Roosevelt is her real name) is that this is seemingly just coming from a commercial place.
Also, I do think that there are performers that are just being themselves on stage, people strive to do different stuff with music and sometimes that comes from such a personal place that to exaggerate everything would only cheapen it.
Saw her SNL performance and knew that the internets backlash would be big, but honestly it was as limp and lifeless as her recorded music to me.

A V A

she'll be gone and forgotten within a year ,all this hype around her will fade . i dont get all the hype to be honest ,she aint that good.people will find someone to drewl over soon enough

Mr.Saturn

I find it a bit suspect that I've yet to see her pull off one of her own songs live. I heard her doing Video Games on Jonathan Ross a while ago and it sounds as though she's trying to sing twelve different songs at once. My other half suggested that it was her way of trying to make a live performance memorable and unique, but it took a detour and ended up at slight wince.

JP Liz V1

Two pretty decent singles released so far well I think anyways

Yahew

A V A wrote: »

she'll be gone and forgotten within a year ,all this hype around her will fade . i dont get all the hype to be honest ,she aint that good.people will find someone to drewl over soon enough

People thought the same about Madonna.

A V A

Yahew wrote: »

People thought the same about Madonna.

not a hope in hell you can compare this young one to madonna ,for the record i dont like Madonna

Da Shins Kelly

Say what you want about Madonna, but she had charisma and knew exactly how to sell herself and compensate for where she was lacking. Not sure this girl is as media saavy or charismatic.

Yahew

A V A wrote: »

not a hope in hell you can compare this young one to madonna ,for the record i dont like Madonna

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Say what you want about Madonna, but she had charisma and knew exactly how to sell herself and compensate for where she was lacking. Not sure this girl is as media saavy or charismatic.

I said people said the same about Madonna. At the time she became famous for Material Girl, and there were other contenders for female artists around - Suzanne Vega, Cyndi Lauper, Tracey Chapman, Paula Abdul and more - nobody would have guessed her longevity.

Madonna survived, but you can never tell.

video Games is a good song. the fact that her father is a millionaire, or that she was encouraged to change her name is irrelevent to the viral nature of how that song caught on. You cant really fake you tube, or twitter.

copacetic

It's hilarious that the same Net experts and bloggers who were making out she is too perfect, glossy, manufactured, just well trained etc are the same ones now complaining she isn't perfect, glossy and manufactured enough and nervous live.

H8GHOTI

I like the 2 singles. Looking forward to the album, which is due on Friday.
Don't really care about any of the stories or hype. I didn't even know about any of it when I first heard Video Games.

KeanSeenan wrote: »

...Lana Delano Roosevelt is her real name...

According to her wiki page it's Elizabeth Grant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lana_Del_Rey

I heard songs by her under that name as well, from a few years back.

Da Shins Kelly

Yahew wrote: »

I said people said the same about Madonna. At the time she became famous for Material Girl, and there were other contenders for female artists around - Suzanne Vega, Cyndi Lauper, Tracey Chapman, Paula Abdul and more - nobody would have guessed her longevity.

Madonna survived, but you can never tell.

video Games is a good song. the fact that her father is a millionaire, or that she was encouraged to change her name is irrelevent to the viral nature of how that song caught on. You cant really fake you tube, or twitter.

With Madonna though, it was all about the songs, as it tends to be in pop music. Nobody has longevity in pop music without the tunes. I'm not denying that Video Games is a good song and is clearly very popular, but if all this stuff about her is true, then I don't know if she'll last. At least Madonna never pretended to be anything that she's not.

Miguel_Sanchez

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

At least Madonna never pretended to be anything that she's not.

Except English.

Stompbox

Zing!