Hey,
I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll say it again. I
love Lana del Rey. I admire her voice, her persona, her confidence, and her
lyrics. She fits the femme fatale mold that society squeezes her into, but
jumps out of it just as quickly as she went in. She is equal parts sweet and
tough and her songs show a wide of range of emotion. In my mind, she is one of
the best female acts out there, perfectly straddling the line between indie and
mainstream, a difficult feat, no doubt.
Bottom line: I love her. J
I enjoy her released stuff, but there are definitely some hidden gems in her
unreleased material, most of which is available on YouTube. Tonight, I present
to you my top 5 favorite unreleased Lana Del Rey songs.
5. "You Can Be The Boss"- This song is different from her released stuff, which is why I felt it should be included. The instrumental section is nothing compared to her vocals, which travels from high and girlish to low and smoky. The lyrics detail some girl telling some guy he can "be the boss," whatever that means. I think, at its core, it's about a good girl dating a bad boy. Overdone theme, but at least it's well-written. :) 4. "Every Man Gets His Wish"- Opening with a whistle section, giving way to her immortalized love lyrics, and sultry vocals. Lana's music truly does feel like a throwback to music from decades ago. From some bold open references "We're gonna party like it's 1949" to just her bouncing vocals that switch as often as she wants, it sounds like something that could have been released in the 1950's instead of the 2000's.
3. "Kinda Outta Luck" This time, we have a bad girl who turns a good boy bad, she tries to be good, but it doesn't work and she leaves him or kills him; I'm not quite sure which one. Point being, she decides to run away and relies on the "kindness of strangers," an ambiguous phrase that she deliberately tosses in there. Lana is an expert at storytelling lyrics without feeling like she's telling a story. Her lyrics are creative while spinning a tale. Excellent song.
2. "Hollywood's Dead"- After a failed romance, Lana feels that everything she once held dear, old Hollywood icons, has died as well. She is alone and without direction. I love how the lyrics are depressing as heck but the instrumentation, though slow, is still swelling and grand, as opposed to reclusive and demure. The contrast is really powerful. As well, that sort of muffled thing she does about two minutes in proves that she could have been a famous singer back in the 1950's.
1. "Serial Killer" - I like how the song it begins with just her voice and some twinkling instrumentation but the percussion does not really begin until about 20-30 seconds in. The lyrics compare her to a serial killer of love, warning a guy not to fall for her. Love it.
I do want to make a quick note here. You may have noticed all of her songs I highlighted on here are about love and I've complained in the past about Taylor Swift writing all her songs about love. I am not a hypocrite, I swear. The reason I like Lana is because, first and foremost, she has a wide vocal range; Taylor just sounds pretty much the same unless they add dubstep in the background. Lana acknowledges that she cannot fit into one genre. She is baroque pop, soft pop, rock pop, and ballad pop. Taylor tries to be country but still be pop at the same time. Seriously, girl, adding a banjo does not make a song country. Evidence here. Anyways, Lana writes her songs with the help of one other dude; Taylor used to write her own stuff, but now has an entire team of people helping her who mostly just choose which words she should repeat.
Honestly, I don't totally care that Taylor writes all her songs about love;I mean, I get that. I'm young too, you know? I understand how exciting love is. But, Taylor's songs just show a lack of emotional maturity. When she was 16, it was kind of cute, like, "Awww, he broke her heart." Now, she's just mean about breakups. What the heck happened at the Grammy's? Seriously, T-Swift, that was a super lame British accent. Believe me, I'm not a Directioner, but I do admire Harry Styles, her ex, for not saying a single bad thing about her. She, on the other hand, is parodying him in music videos and openly mocking him. Maturity...she does not have it.
I saw this really good thing on Pinterest that showed that Taylor and Adele are the exact same age, but one still acts like she's in high school. It's really true. A high schooler could get away with what she says in her songs, but a twenty year old should not be writing musical taunts, i.e., "We are never, ever, ever, getting back together." Not very mature, especially compared to the majority of Adele's song which are lyrical masterpieces (and Lana's, as well).
So, that, readers, is why I like Lana even though some might argue she is somewhat similar to Taylor.
Thanks for reading!
Until next week,
Bella
