Interscope Artist Lana Del Rey

[john]

Lana sure gets a lot of media attention. I noticed the Billboard logo on in the Next Media video to see if there was a review of the album. This came up first in my search:

Lana Del Rey's Boy Toy in 'Born to Die' -- Meet Bradley Soileau

How did you meet Lana and become part of the "Born to Die" video?

I got picked because the photographer, Armen Djerrahian, shot me for The Wild Magazine and knew the director of the video, Yoanne Limoine. I met Lana at the video shoot.

What was it like working with Lana and embracing her for over three minutes on camera like that?

Lana was amazing to work with. The whole crew was. Everyone made me feel very comfortable so everything went so smoothly. Lana is an amazing woman. She has a beautiful soul and she's so much fun to be around. Embracing her was easy. Everyone asks the same question, did you have a boner? Ha! No, I didn't. There's a huge crew of people staring at you shouting, moving around, bright lights everywhere. Madness.

What's your view on gender roles in music videos now that you're a 'man behind the woman' type?

Most chicks in rap videos are basically hos... and I kind of feel exactly the same. . . .

---

Many of the tracks from the new album have been floating around on YT for a long time which makes it's actual release rather anti-climatic.

Billboard does review it (here).

So: is it any good? Well, at 15 tracks, it's as puffy as the singer's oft-debated lips. Many of the songs tread the same lyrical territory (good girl falls for bad boy, or vice versa; variations on lines like "kiss me on my open mouth" and "take your body downtown" are used throughout), and the noir production from hip-hop vets like Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Jay-Z) and Emile Haynie (Lil Wayne, Eminem) starts to sound stale on late-album cuts "Million Dollar Man" and "Lolita."

BTW, Chris Seefried, who wrote Wonderland with Haley, composed a song with Elizabeth Grant named Boarding School (apparently it was not released). I guess Elizabeth left Boarding School behind, for Lana's Born to Die.

[john]

LanaDelRey Lana Del Rey
Thank you for making the record #1 in 11 countries. Your sweet words have softened the effect of even the harshest reviews. I adore you
30 Jan Favorite Retweet Reply

[Miguel]

Lana performed "Video Games" on the David Letterman show tonight. The responses on Twitter were 99% positive, with many feeling she had redeemed herself after the SNL performance. Letterman came over to her after the performance and was effusive in his praise. Said something to Paul and then asked Lana if she could come back tomorrow to perform again. When she said she was busy, he said, "How about Monday?" He then held up the album again and reminded everyone it comes out next week (vinyl version maybe?).

One of her more defensive fans on Twitter interpreted Letterman's behavior as "rude."

[john]

Buzz continues...



3:16
That's Lana Del Rey.
Who?
Lana Del Rey.

[Miguel]

^^ She seemed younger, more girlish there because she smiled and laughed. But what was the point? She didn't sign anything or work the line (assuming there was a line).

Not signing anything is probably a management directive, don't you think? That seems contrary to Haley's nature.

[john]

^^ She seemed younger, more girlish there because she smiled and laughed. But what was the point? She didn't sign anything or work the line (assuming there was a line).

Not signing anything is probably a management directive, don't you think? That seems contrary to Haley's nature.

The "Stupid Famous People" people wrote that she worked the line after the show for an hour (and they would have video). She did have a more relaxed and lighthearted demeanor here, which is nice to see. In interviews I've seen she comes off to me as showing an affected ditziness, and on stage she seems awkwardly pretentious. (Gangsta Nancy Sinatra)

[john]

Lana Del Rey and Leonard Cohen: Billboard Top 10 Bound

February 03, 2012
By Keith Caulfield, Los Angeles

Lana Del Rey's major label full-length debut album, "Born to Die," is off to a fast start. Industry sources say that the set may sell between 60,000 to 70,000 copies by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, Feb. 5. That should easily give the album at No. 2 debut on the Billboard 200 chart next week.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/...7752.story

[Miguel]

‘SNL’ flop delays Lana tour

Lana Del Rey’s tour has been postponed in the wake of the chanteuse’s disastrous “SNL” appearance last month.

The “Video Games” singer’s gigs were to coincide with the release of her album, “Born To Die” — but the plug was pulled after her tour managers, booking agents and label heads at Interscope powwowed following her bizarre, listless appearance on “SNL” that grew so notorious, it was spoofed by Kristen Wiig on the show itself last weekend.

“[Lana] and her manager decided to cancel [the tour] after ‘SNL,’ ” a source said. “She was very upset.” But, the source added, “They figure it allows time for her to clear her head, then go back to selling tickets. More importantly, they figure, the extra time gives them more distance from ‘SNL.’ ”

...Another source said Interscope’s Jimmy Iovine and Del Rey’s booking agents at CAA knew after “SNL” that she wasn’t ready to tour, and that live shows would hurt record sales.

“Jimmy knew if she would have disappointed again, it would have backfired,” the source said.

The puffy-lipped songstress was slated to perform 30 dates across the country at small venues for 1,000 to 3,000 ticket holders, sources say. The tour was to kick off as soon as March.

We hear Del Rey has been in the studio for the past week working on her performance, and her management is already planning to re-think the tour so they can promote the album.

“Interscope had nothing to do with booking or postponing a tour. Jimmy [Iovine] is excited and thankful that Lana is performing at a Grammy event in his honor this week,” a label rep said. Del Rey’s rep and a CAA rep didn’t get back to us.

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/snl_flop...z1lj3z9SQt

[john]

Send her off to tour Europe for a while so she can hone her new skill set.

[Miguel]

She sounds like she might be done.

...the huge backlash over questions of authenticity are starting to take their toll on the 25-year-old singer, including a savaging by the blogosphere over her questionable performance on Saturday Night Live.

Now in an interview with Vogue, which the singer appears on the cover, Del Rey has indicated that this may be her only record she releases as she’s run out of things to say and has grown tired to seeking fame.

Del Rey admits “I don’t think I’ll write another record. What would I say? I feel like everything I wanted to say, I’ve said already..."



Her statements add further fuel to comments she made earlier in the week while speaking to the Press Association. “Rejection and not getting anywhere changed me,” she told reporters. “I’ve gone from wanting to be a world-famous singer to wanting to focus on becoming an active, helpful member of my community who lives their life with dignity and grace.”

http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/news/internat...record.htm