The Merit of Lana Del Rey

[EffEmDoubleyou]

Today in hipster news, intelligent woman writes culturally relevant songs while also appearing sexually confident; people feel challenged and uncomfortable, lame cyberbullying ensues, sends wonderful message to school kids about women and their role in society. News at 11.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Im criticizing the phenomenon as well as defending my own interest...I have also defended Katy Perry in the past more mildly.

It gives me the creeps that the same people who praise Emile Haynie for working with Kid Cudi and Eminem trash Lana del Rey, who as a matter of fact, had severe stage fright, thus the awkward SNL performance...it's like vultures descending on a fresh kill. If that's cool I would rather be "lame."

Relax, I was just teasing. I have nothing against her, personally. I'm kind of indifferent. But I respect your opinion and your passion in defending her is admirable.

 

[Bullet]

Nevertheless, she is very popular and well regarded as original and talented, so I withhold my judgement beyond my personal taste. Music is rather subjective anyway. It's difficult to label something as truly "bad".

I both agree and disagree with this. Maybe it's an Fi vs Fe thing. I do think the value of music, and art in general, is primarily subjective. I certainly don't think popularity or consensus has any bearing on the merits of a work of art. I label music "bad" all the time. For example, I can't tolerate that noise recorded by the Beatles. I've had people try to explain to me why they are the greatest band ever, but no explanation can make their music sound more pleasant to my ears than fingernails scratching on a chalkboard.

I don't have a strong opinion regarding Lana Del Rey. I like Summertime Sadness, which is the only song I've heard from her. Judging from that song alone, she sounds better than most of the pop shit that gets played on the radio.

 

[á´…eparted]

I both agree and disagree with this. Maybe it's an Fi vs Fe thing. I do think the value of music, and art in general, is primarily subjective. I certainly don't think popularity or consensus has any bearing on the merits of a work of art. I label music "bad" all the time. For example, I can't tolerate that noise recorded by the Beatles. I've had people try to explain to me why they are the greatest band ever, but no explanation can make their music sound more pleasant to my ears than fingernails scratching on a chalkboard.

I don't have a strong opinion regarding Lana Del Rey. I like Summertime Sadness, which is the only song I've heard from her. Judging from that song alone, she sounds better than most of the pop shit that gets played on the radio.

Popularity and consensus is something I use to measure the validity of an opinion on something subjective that is more or less of no consequence. I also label music as "bad" as well, but just because I think it is, doesn't mean that it actually is. If however, I think of some music as bad, and many seem to regard it as bad, then it very likely is. Group consensus seems to be the only way to really objectively label something as good or bad. Any other metric will involve something personal to an individual that can't be agreed upon.

I'm very careful on how I word, and describe things that are rather subjective. Because effectively every opinion on it has value and holds some sort of weight, an absolution about it can't be stated unless there is some sort of metric that allows it. Usually, the only thing that does allow for it is group consensus. Of course, there is always the matter of who is the group, because who is part of it is a factor in itself.

I'm an Fe dom; group opinion, meta studies, etc. hold A LOT of weight to me. I actually find it baffling when people disregard it.

 

[Bullet]

Popularity and consensus is something I use to measure the validity of an opinion on something subjective that is more or less of no consequence. I also label music as "bad" as well, but just because I think it is, doesn't mean that it actually is. If however, I think of some music as bad, and many seem to regard it as bad, then it very likely is. Group consensus seems to be the only way to really objectively label something as good or bad. Any other metric will involve something personal to an individual that can't be agreed upon.

I'm very careful on how I word, and describe things that are rather subjective. Because effectively every opinion on it has value and holds some sort of weight, an absolution about it can't be stated unless there is some sort of metric that allows it. Usually, the only thing that does allow for it is group consensus. Of course, there is always the matter of who is the group, because who is part of it is a factor in itself.

I'm an Fe dom; group opinion, meta studies, etc. hold A LOT of weight to me. I actually find it baffling when people disregard it.

Fair enough. Group opinions don't matter to me at all, unless it pertains to something that involves the whole group like where does everyone want to eat? I value unanimity in similar matters like elections, but when it comes to art or personal taste, I put very little value on outside opinions.

 

[á´…eparted]

Fair enough. Group opinions don't matter to me at all, unless it pertains to something that involves the whole group like where does everyone want to eat? I value unanimity in similar matters like elections, but when it comes to art or personal taste, I put very little value on outside opinions.

I should clarify; I don't really allow it to influence my opinion much unless there is a well founded argument that I agree with. What I use it for is to test for validity of my opinions. If mine deviate from the norm, something may or may not be amiss, and it's worth examining. How it goes from there depends on a bunch of things.

 

[Thalassa]

Honestly it's more like the possibility that she's being hated on for being an upper middle class white woman instead of a poor black man (some of the biggest names in hip hop are actually associated with writing as well as production of Born to Die, including Kenye West, which makes the bias against her that much more absurd)...but mostly it's frankly that I think she confuses people by being mainstream sexually attractive like a pop star such as Britney, Madonna, Katy, whatever but she sings about more serious or literary ideas like a traditionally plainer or grunge indie artist, and people's heads are just exploding because they want her to get in her pretty white rich woman box and stfu.

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Honestly it's more like the possibility that she's being hated on for being an upper middle class white woman instead of a poor black man (some of the biggest names in hip hop are actually associated with writing as well as production of Born to Die, including Kenye West, which makes the bias against her that much more absurd)...but mostly it's frankly that I think she confuses people by being mainstream sexually attractive like a pop star such as Britney, Madonna, Katy, whatever but she sings about more serious or literary ideas like a traditionally plainer or grunge indie artist, and people's heads are just exploding because they want her to get in her pretty white rich woman box and stfu.

 

[chickpea]

 

[Evee]

 

[Thalassa]

 

[Stephano]

Lana Del Rey should thank her billionaire daddy for her success. All in all it's the same old Pop crap.

 

[Thalassa]

Lana Del Rey should thank her billionaire daddy for her success. All in all it's the same old Pop crap.

Um no, actually its not. Ultraviolence is the first album in forty to fifty years to be recorded live with a hand held microphone and a seven piece band, it's jazzy narco swing, her father is a millionaire, and Paris Hilton couldn't hold her own professionally even being a Hilton, so try to stop spending so much time on Hipster Runoff so that people don't start to wonder if you're musically retarded.

The parroting ignorance is almost starting to sound comical to me, like when idiot conservatives call
Obama a Muslim. THAT'S HOW DUMB WHAT YOU JUST SAID SOUNDS.

It's like you're reading from a hipster conformist script. Do you actually have anything educated or insightful to say about Lana del Rey? Do you usually get your opinions off of cereal boxes?

 

[Thalassa]

It would be nice if one of these kindergarten music critics had actually been aware that Ultraviolence even exists. How can you discuss the merits of Lana del Rey if you apparently are still quoting a script from 2012?

 

[chickpea]

 

[Thalassa]

At this point I should just report you for trolling and personal insults, but I won't since its clear that I have made a fool of you for parroting an outdated conformist opinion that you gave very little thought to, you don't even know Lana del Reys music, and now defend your ego by posting stalker videos. You are the pathetic one, not me. I mean seriously being stuck in 2012 and pretending to know about an artist you don't listen to doesn't make you look cool anymore. It's like wearing a mullet in 1993.

 

[chickpea]

I was a toddler in 1993, I think I would have been pretty cute with a mullet.

 

[Thalassa]

 

[kyuuei]

I felt this appropriate.

Also, courage. It's incredibly comforting to know that as long as you don't create anything in your life, then nobody can attack the thing you created.

It's so much easier to just sit back and criticize other people's creations. This movie is stupid. That couple's kids are brats. That other couple's relationship is a mess. That rich guy is shallow. This restaurant sucks. This Internet writer is an asshole. I'd better leave a mean comment demanding that the website fire him. See, I created something.

Oh, wait, did I forget to mention that part? Yeah, whatever you try to build or create -- be it a poem, or a new skill, or a new relationship -- you will find yourself immediately surrounded by non-creators who trash it. Maybe not to your face, but they'll do it. Your drunk friends do not want you to get sober. Your fat friends do not want you to start a fitness regimen. Your jobless friends do not want to see you embark on a career.

Just remember, they're only expressing their own fear, since trashing other people's work is another excuse to do nothing. "Why should I create anything when the things other people create suck? I would totally have written a novel by now, but I'm going to wait for something good, I don't want to write the next Twilight!" As long as they never produce anything, their work will forever be perfect and beyond reproach.



Read more: 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person | Cracked.com

I like Lana Del Rey. I didn't know about her until she was pretty popular, but I think she's got a catchy voice and the tunes are easy going and enjoyable. I'm not super elitist about my music or anything, but I think she's far far from 'bottom of the barrel'.

I'd consider this somewhere towards the bottom of that barrel.. I'd say Lana has a lot more class than this:

And even then, that's 1.8 million more views than I've got. so I wonder where that puts me...

 

[Tiltyred]

What do you like so much about this? Just curious.

 

[Thalassa]

What do you like so much about this? Just curious.

That song was written for her haters in part, so it was appropriate here in this thread. The audio is much more amazing on the album and in context of the entire Ultraviolence album (best listened to as a cohesive work from beginning to end, and other fans have agreed with me on this)...plus I like her blatant sexuality, because it's genuinely feminine...also if you search in the annals of Lanas music, songs like Hundred Dollar Bill acknowledge prostitution as a viable topic. She plays at being all sorts of women, from the femme fatale who murders her bad man in Kinda Outta Luck to The Other Woman...pretty much every feminine archetype except socially acceptable wife and mother.