Trends: Lana Del Rey

So, My new teen crush Lana Del Rey hit the stage of Saturday Night Live

Clickity Click for the "Goods"

I am perplexed. I have never been so confused by a performer in my life. I LOVE IT!

She really is keeping up with the enigmatic bizarreity here. It's like watching a combination of an awkward 8th grade teen's first music night performance and a monologue wherein she poorly plays someone with a personality disorder where they clunkily switch from doe-eyed Dorothy Gale to sexy Russian temptress over and over again. Honestly, It has been a while since I have watched a live performance and have just not known anything. Just nothing. No words. Deathly awkward silence.

Here's the deal. I love this because we have come to believe that everything on the television, in the films is so perfect. Some effed up Utopia. If not perfect then tiresomely structured (news stories, for example, present gritty, hard-hitting happenings that are anything but harmonious) and it's refreshing to see something that has been broadcast to thousands of people that is perhaps unrehearsed, candid and, quite frankly, pretty shit.

And as the insecure bastards we are, we'll jump at any chance to tear apart someone else because we so despise ourselves and our imperfect lives that we have been measuring against unrealistic standards our whole lives - someone else's standards!

So, It's been boiling around the internets for a bit but people are starting to get more and more sceptical of Ms. Del Rey's abilities, preferring to run to 'he said she saids' and say "yeah, it makes sense". Specifically, Teh Haterz have been entertaining some rumours that she has been paid into the music industry because her daddy is rich therefore she's a 'puppet' in the music industry and apparently she has a producer who writes all the songs for her.

This is the thing, all of these insults are somewhat concerned with musical integrity. Integrity? I don't even believe that's a legitimate concept any more. Much less, if you're buying into this whole narcissistic internet social networking bullshit. As far as I'm concerned, We're attempting to sell ourselves to the world (and we're failing). We're all big narcissists and we all want the world to know (and think that they care for that matter) when our cat shits on our carpet or we win a blue ribbon at the little athletics 100 metres sprint. No one has integrity, unless you're like Gandhi or something. I'm not gonna lie, I just think that before you go and embarrass yourself by making some naive remark about someone being a 'puppet' of a particular industry you should consider; who has the handle of the wooden cross holding up your strings.

Music: Current Faves

No Man's Woman - Various Artists

I'm attempting to bridge the gap of not liking any male artists, much less Australian male artists. So, I knew this existed (released 2007) but I had always disregarded it because I thought it was a cheap attempt at that whole She Will Have Her Way thing. After 5 years of this placating I decided I should just give it a go, it might be fun. Of course, It has all the big hits from all the big female artists I love. Of particular note is Lior's cover of the Fleetwood Mac famed Landslide and The Vines' cover of famed twins The Veronicas' Forever (which itself is a twin of Pink's U + Ur hand but that's another kettle of fish). It features covers of other crowd faves such as Wuthering Heights, River, Hyperballad, To Bring You My Love, I Am Woman and the karaoke fave, Nothing Compares 2 U, but at the end of the day, I haven't been converted to any of the artists and the only reason I vaguely like any of the CD is because the songs on their own are such excellent pieces of work. Let's face it, anyone can cover Joni Mitchell's River and it'll be good because it's a fucking good song! bottom line.

Lana Del Rey - Self Titled (2010)

Lana Del Rey has been the new hot tamale everybody is talking about. She is ridiculously stunning with that whole golden day hollywood glamour appeal not to mention her breakthrough single Video Games which got people talking about its D.I.Y production and erryfing. And then in interviews she's all introverted and a bit candid so she comes across as a bit of an enigma. Naturally, I love her! Since her album which features Video Games and Blue Jeans hasn't been released I did some sleuthing and discovered she had made an album in 2010, fairly independently, simply titled, her stage name, 'Lana Del Rey'. It's great! It has all these folk elements and then you get a more uptempo April March kind of vibe (especially on my current album fave, Kinda Outta Luck) and it has been pointed out to me that sometimes she gets a bit Lydia Lunch on yo ass! (Mermaid Motel). So, it's a really good album and I enjoy very much how her look is all a bit incongruent with her image etc because that perpetuates this idea that if you're something you don't have to exclusively be this one thing! Eclecticism!

Grace Jones - Portfolio (1977) 

Let's face it, we all love a bit of Grace Jones! She's was a muse for Andy Warhol, she has a plethora of music spanning through decades and she still does it even though she's basically 80! I happened across this kind of 70s Disco Trilogy of Albums. This is the first, Portfolio, it pre-empts Fame and Muse. They're all 5 track beauties of fabulous, nasty disco! It's wondrous! I'm particularly fond of this one because it opens with this fantastic Medley which combines Send In The Clowns, What I Did For Love & Tomorrow into one glorious 18 minute groove fest. What's not to love? She goes on to do a cover of La Vie En Rose which is always a winner and then onto two other Gracey originals and then finishes with the famed I Need A Man. It's pure greatness! and madness! I'm going to be listening to these and pretending I'm some sort of gay man in the 70s wearing my jeans high and cut off, with my intensely legitimate tan and fondling my handlebar moustache as I dance around on docks cruising for dick.