IN PICTURES: Lana Del Rey at Praisus Studios last night
(via realsushi)
NEW MUSIC #REMIXES: Lana Del Rey, “Summertime Sadness” (Monsieur Adi Remix)
Last month Monsieur Adi posted this awesome remix of “Summertime Sadness” and we couldn’t love it more. It has a French electronic feel reminiscent of Justice. Perfection.
NEWS: Lana Del Rey discusses second album!
Lana Del Rey has discussed her second major label album in an interview with BBC Newsbeat, stating that she has “moved on to a more spiritual place lyrically”.
“It’s a little more stripped down but still cinematic and dark,” said the “Video Games” singer. ”I’ve been working on it really slowly but I love everything I’ve done.”
The album will be the follow up to Del Rey’s 2012 breakthrough Born to Die and the EP Paradise, a collection of 9 new tracks released in November.
“I’ve been writing in Santa Monica (California) and I know what the record sounds like. Now I just have to finish it,” the BRIT Award winner continued. ”Musically I’ve worked with the same three guys.”
“For some reason the videos are still the easiest things that come,” she explained. ”As soon as I write the words to a song, I can paint exactly what I want the picture to look like.”
“I have a song called Black Beauty and I’ve already talked to people about making it.”
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INFAMEWETRUST’s ALBUMS of the YEAR (10-1)
10. Bat for Lashes, The Haunted Man
After a three-year weight, Natasha Khan – better known as Bat for Lashes – finally released her third album The Haunted Man. The songs are a little more stripped back, and a little more electronic, but just as captivating as her first two albums. Khan even works with Lana Del Rey collaborator on the haunting lead single “Laura.” Bat for Lashes also puts on a pretty incredible show – I was lucky enough to see Khan bring the album to life in Madrid this past November.
Top tracks: “Lilies,” “Laura,” “Winter Field,” “Deep Sea Diver”
Another long-awaited follow-up album, The xx released their second album towards the tail-end of the summer. Coexist maintains the same minimal, evocative atmosphere as the band’s debut, turning up the club influences slightly with the album’s beats. But Coexist is not the soundtrack to a night out. It’s a stained and clouded album, a soundtrack to early morning comedowns.
Top tracks: “Angels,” “Chained,” “Fiction,” “Reunion,” “Swept Away”
While a good portion of the population has Taylor Swift as the butt of their jokes, her fourth album Red has already sold 3 million copies in its two months of release. With simplistic acoustic numbers, Swift shows that she’s matured into a brilliant songwriter, and with a Dr. Luke produced stormer like “I Knew You Were Trouble,” she shows that she could just as easily be a pop princess.
Top tracks: “State of Grace,” “Red,” “Sad Beautiful Tragic,” “Begin Again”
7. Frank Ocean, Channel Orange
Maybe Frank Ocean isn’t the savior of R&B that the media makes him out to be, and maybe his album has received extra attention due to Frank Ocean coming out as bisexual this summer, but Channel Orange is still a remarkable album. It’s not like anything better is nominated for a Grammy this year after all. The imagery in his lyrics compliments the beats so well. Andre 3000’s guest verse on “Pink Matter” is the best part of the album.
Top tracks: “Thinkin Bout You,” “Super Rich Kids,” “Pyramids,” “Bad Religion,” “Pink Matter”
6. Cheryl Cole, A Million Lights
After trying to be an R&B starlet with 3 Words and releasing the awfully patchy Messy Little Raindrops, Cheryl Cole released her best album yet in 2012, cementing her status as Girls Aloud’s breakout solo star. While the hype surrounding her has died since her stint on The X Factor, Cole still scored a number one hit with “Call My Name,” produced by man of the moment Calvin Harris. The album is sleek and modern, a great British pop album embellished with flourishes of EDM.
Top tracks: “Call My Name,” “Girl in the Mirror,” “Screw You,” “Ghetto Baby,” “Telescope”
I’m not saying that MDNA is Madonna’s best album, but I’m not saying that it’s a bad album. MDNA is a return to form for the Queen of Pop after 2008’s Hard Candy. While “Turn Up the Radio” may be dismal, Martin Solveig proved his worth with the infectious lead single “Give Me All Your Luvin’” and the Guy Ritchie diss “I Don’t Give A.” Alle and Benny Benassi direct the album to the dancefloor with club bangers “Girl Gone Wild” and “I’m Addicted.” The savior of the album has to be William Orbit, who reunites with Madonna after a decade apart. “Love Spent” is an album highlight, while “Gang Bang” may in fact be a career highlight.
Top tracks: “Gang Bang,” “I’m Addicted,” “Some Girls,” “Love Spent,” “Falling Free”
Sticking to her tried-and-true formula of knocking out a new album every year, Rihanna released her seventh(!) studio album Unapologetic towards the end of 2012. Instead of putting out a dance hit like “We Found Love” or “Where Have You Been,” Rihanna put out the more classic-sounding “Diamonds” as the album’s lead single. In fact, the album’s loudest moments are two tracks produced by David Guetta. The first half of the album features a more urban sound, echoing Rihanna’s Instagram feed, while the second half of the album recalls the wounded balladry of 2009’s Rated R. Unapologetic became Rihanna’s first number one album in the U.S., at last, and it’s easy to see why.
Top tracks: “Diamonds,” “Pour It Up,” “Jump,” “What Now,” “Stay,” “Get It Over With”
3. Marina and the Diamonds, Electra Heart
In order to justify exploring a more mainstream, pop sound, Marina and the Diamonds developed a strange alter ego Electra Heart – a blonde Barbie, a bubblegum bitch, a homewrecker, a prima donna, a teen idle. Regardless of her motives, it worked. Electra Heart is one of the best pop albums of the year, despite the pretense behind it. “Primadonna” is Dr. Luke’s best production in years, while “Homewrecker” is the kind of quirky pop that makes Popjustice readers go mad. Even though the lyrics pander to the Tumblr generation – “oh god, I’m gonna die alone,” Marina sings on “Teen Idle” – Electra Heart is compelling, enticing, and only a little ironic.
Top tracks: “Primadonna,” “Homewrecker,” “Starring Role,” “Power & Control,” “Teen Idle”
2. Lana Del Rey, Paradise
Not content with becoming the year’s most-talked about artist with her major label debut Born to Die, Lana Del Rey gave us more to talk about with her 9-track EP Paradise (available packaged with Born to Die or as a singular entity). Paradise follows the same recipe for success as its predecessor; however, here, Lana is a little drowsier, a little more haunting, a little more wounded. Lana is less heartbroken, less Lolita, and instead a rawer, more sexual being. On “Gods and Monsters,” she boldly states, “In the land of gods and monsters, I was an angel / Looking to get fucked hard.”
Top tracks: “Ride,” “American,” “Gods and Monsters,” “Bel Air” (the whole thing really)
1. Lana Del Rey, Born to Die
Back to the start. Despite cries of “talentless” and “manufactured,” Lana Del Rey showed critics why she was so talked about with her major label debut Born to Die. A spruce of melodrama, a healthy dosage of American dream, and a winning marriage of cinematic orchestra and hip-hop beats created one of the most compelling debut albums in years. From the lovelorn lyrics of the title track, “Video Games” and “Dark Paradise” to the sexualized teenage rebellion of “Lolita,” “Carmen,” and “This Is What Makes Us Girls,” Lana truly produced a perfect album. Not to get ahead of myself, but if it’s not already one of my favorite albums of all-time, it’s my favorite album of 2012.
Top tracks: Where to begin? “Born to Die,” “Off to the Races,” “Video Games,” “Dark Paradise,” “Summertime Sadness”
REVIEW: Lana Del Rey, “Paradise”
Lana Del Rey has been praised for her beauty and talent, but she’s been called many other things in between – a fake, a sellout, and an industry puppet. Her allegedly collagen-injected lips received almost as much attention as her breakthrough song “Video Games.”
The release of Lana Del Rey’s first major-label album, Born to Die, in January, was overshadowed by cries of “talentless” and “phony.” After all, it’s not like Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Lady Gaga, or Frank Ocean release their music under pseudonyms. We won’t talk about the “Saturday Night Live” performance.
Lana Del Rey, born Elizabeth Grant, continued to prove critics wrong with her evocative songs, inventive music videos, and numerous festival appearances. Born to Die, which told tales of troubled youth and tumultuous love, has sold two million records worldwide.
Paradise, available as either a stand-alone EP or packaged alongside Born to Die, follows the same recipe for success – a spruce of melodrama, a healthy dosage of American dream, and a winning marriage of cinematic orchestra and hip-hop beats.
However, like the fantastic lead single “Ride” suggests, the EP employs a drowsier yet more seductive sound. The beats and melodies feel mellower, and many of the tracks certainly feel more provocative.
In place of the lovelorn lyrics of “Video Games” or “Summertime Sadness,” Lana Del Rey kicks up the Lolita persona another notch. In the music video for “Ride,” Del Rey portrays a biker chick who sleeps with an assortment of older men.
On “Cola,” after peculiarly stating that her privates taste like Pepsi, Lana sings, “I got a taste for men who are older.” She portrays the younger mistress in a relationship: “We can escape to the great sunshine / I know your wife and she wouldn’t mind.”
If Born to Die suggested sorrow and heartbreak in the wake of lost love, Paradise explores sexual encounters in all their forms – as pleasurable bliss, as a cure for loneliness, and as a loss of innocence.
“What I truly want is innocence lost,” Del Rey confirms on “Gods and Monsters.” She boldly states, “In the land of gods and monsters, I was an angel / Looking to get f––ked hard.”
“Burning Desire” is Lana at her most seductive. “Have to touch myself to pretend you’re there,” she sings, a lyric more expected from Britney Spears or Madonna. Her bedroom eyes stare are easily imagined.
“Body Electric,” titled after the Walt Whitman poem “I Sing the Body Electric,” feels more like Born to Die than anything else on the EP, complete with the sadcore lyrics: “My clothes still smell like you / All the photographs say that we’re still young.”
An updated version of fan favorite “Yayo,” which first appeared on Lana Del Rey’s independently released debut album, is included on the EP, as well as a cover of the 1950s classic “Blue Velvet.”
Eerie and truly gorgeous, “Bel Air” is more ethereal and haunting than anything Del Rey has sung before. There are no traces of Del Rey’s “gangster Nancy Sinatra” guise or gimmicks, just a truly beautiful cry for love.
“American” is quintessential Lana Del Rey. Sweeping strings take center stage, alongside a whimsical nostalgia for the post-war Zeitgeist of the American dream. “Be young, be dope, be proud,” Lana sings, “like an American.”
The fact that Lana Del Rey has already fashioned herself a trademark sound and image with just one album and a follow-up EP is a testament to her shrewdness and talent.
Whether you’re listening for background noise or to accompany an existential breakdown, Paradise is an incredibly enjoyable record from start to finish. Here’s hoping that Lana Del Rey hangs around for a while.
4/5
Top tracks: “American,” “Gods and Monsters,” “Bel Air” – but with just nine tracks, download the entire EP.
SONG OF THE DAY: Lana Del Rey, “American”
Lana Del Rey announces Paradise tour dates
UK:
12 May – O2 Academy Birmingham
15 May – O2 Academy Glasgow
19 May – London Hammersmith Apollo
23 May – Manchester O2 Apollo
GERMANY:
6 April - Hamburg, o2 World
15 April - Berlin, Tempodrom
17 April - Düsseldorf, Mitsubishi Electric Halle
20 April - Frankfurt, Jahrhunderthalle
25 April - München, Zenith
FRANCE:
27 April - Paris, l’Olympia
SWEDEN:
8 April - Stockholm, Annexet
DENMARK:
12 April - Kopenhagen, Falconer
IRELAND:
26 May -Dublin, IE
NETHERLANDS:
29 May - Amsterdam, Heineken Music Hall
BELGIUM:
31 May - Brussels, Vorst Nationaal
VIDEO: Lana Del Rey, “Ride”
A truly beautiful cinematic masterpiece.
REVIEW: Lana Del Rey, “Ride”
After literally stopping the world in its orbit with her stunning debut album Born to Die, Lana Del Rey is breaking hearts once more with her new single “Ride.”
Following in the footsteps of her breakthrough hit “Video Games” and its follow-up “Born to Die,” Lana’s latest track is a simplistic ballad with evocative piano and orchestral embellishment.
“I’ve been out on that open road,” Lana sings, taking us along on a dreamy tour with her melancholy vocals and haunting soundscape. “Ride” isn’t miles away from anything on the album, but why mess with perfection?
As the song crescendos towards its bridge and final chorus, Lana wails: “I’m tired of feeling like I’m fucking crazy.” Just like everything else the chanteuse’s vocals have ever touched, the song is flooded with melodrama.
“Ride” is the first official single to be taken from the Paradise Edition of Born to Die, which also features her cover of “Blue Velvet,” a re-recording of pre-fame favorite “Yayo,” and six other new tracks.
