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Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Lana Del Rey was relatively unknown when she uploaded the self-made music video for her single “Video Games” in 2011. The nostalgic images she used combined with her sultry and cinematic voice captivated many and she became an online sensation. Her second single, “Blue Jeans” soon followed, and she began facing many questions and criticism as people discovered her musical past as Lizzy Grant. Elizabeth Grant was born in 1985 and raised by her upper middle class parents in upstate New York. In 2005, she began trying out open mic nights in New York City as Lizzy Grant, and while attending university she self-recorded some songs under the name May Jailer. She got signed to a record label after a songwriting contest and digitally released the album Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant, although it never saw a physical release and was pulled from iTunes after a few months. She wanted a more refined stage name and aesthetic that she felt captured the mood and cinematic aspect of the music she wanted to create, so she tweaked the Lana Del Ray name to Lana Del Rey and quietly ignored her previous work.
Lana blends pouty pop songs with themes of glamour and tragic romance in a beautiful and melancholy way. Her major label debut, Born To Die, was released in January 2012 and included the previously-released singles “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans”, as well as other popular tracks “Born To Die”, “National Anthem”, and “Summertime Sadness”. A remix of “Summertime Sadness” by Cedric Gervais became popular on the radio and the album went on to spend over 300 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, being one of only three albums released by a woman to do so (the others being Adele’s 21 and Carole King’s Tapestry). It recently landed on 7 major decade-end best of lists and is often credited with having a big influence on pop music at the time turning a little moodier. In November 2012, the Paradise EP (or, Born To Die: The Paradise Edition) was released and featured a reworked version of a song from the Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant album as well as the popular single “Ride”. The accompanying music video for “Ride” felt more like a short film as Lana played up the cinematic aspect of her music. This carried over into 2013 with her short film Tropico (a music video for three other Paradise tracks) and her very popular song from The Great Gatsby soundtrack, “Young & Beautiful”. Since then she has released four other albums- Ultraviolence in 2014 (with lots of production from Dan Auerbach) is an extremely moody record, much more guitar-driven than her debut, and my personal favorite with standouts like “Cruel World”, “Shades of Cool”, “Brooklyn Baby”, and “West Coast”. In 2015 this was followed up with Honeymoon, a much more ethereal and dreamy sounding album with standout tracks “Terrence Loves You” and “Freak”. In 2017 she released Lust For Life, which saw her collaborating with other artists on one of her albums for the first time including The Weeknd, Stevie Nicks, ASAP Rocky, and Sean Lennon. In August 2019 she released Norman Fucking Rockwell!, heavily produced by Jack Antonoff, with standout tracks including “Norman Fucking Rockwell”, “Mariners Apartment Complex”, “Venice Bitch”, “Fuck it I love you”, and “Cinnamon Girl”, as well as a cover of Sublime’s “Doin’ Time” which found success on the radio. It went on to be not only her most critically acclaimed album, but the most critically acclaimed album of 2019- making 37 year-end lists and named album of the year by 13 of them. In an interview with The Independent, Lana confirmed that her sixth studio album, White Hot Forever will be released in 2020. Her first book of poetry and accompanying spoken word album, Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass will come out in 2020 as well.
Sounds Like
Genre: Sad Pop, Dream Pop Similar Artists: Fiona Apple, Lorde, Cat Power Similar Artists on The Farm: The closest thing would probably be Sylvan Esso or Cuco.
Suggested Listening
"Video Games"
"Born To Die"
"Ride"
"West Coast"
"Shades Of Cool"
"Mariners Apartment Complex"
"Venice Bitch"
Live Show
Maybe you’ve seen that tragic SNL clip from 2012, maybe you haven’t. I don’t know if that was a case of nerves or if there were other circumstances, but I’ve seen her perform since then and she’s definitely so much better now! She is much more confident and has a better control over her voice and generally seems like a more comfortable and overall better performer. If you are a fan of Lana's music you will probably have a great time at her set. If you aren’t a big fan it might be a bit boring as there isn’t much to her show besides her serenading us with her slow tunes. Sometimes she has a swingset or a few dancers swaying along with her. On the NFR! tour she has collaborated with other artists to perform their music with them on stage, I doubt something like this would happen at Bonnaroo but you never know!
Lastly, if you made it this far and have 15 minutes to kill and want a little more Lana content, I like this video a lot. It addresses a lot of the criticisms early in her career, which I touched a little on previously.
Post by Ambassador Of Fun on Feb 5, 2020 15:58:38 GMT -5
If you are a fan of Lana's music you will probably have a great time at her set. If you aren’t a big fan it might be a bit boring as there isn’t much to her show besides her serenading us with her slow tunes.
I had a question prepared for you, and I'm glad to see you answered it right here. I'm passingly familiar with her music, and I do like what I've heard. I just feel like her set would probably bore me in a festival setting. I'd love to be convinced otherwise, though. Thanks for your thorough, thoughtful post.
If you are a fan of Lana's music you will probably have a great time at her set. If you aren’t a big fan it might be a bit boring as there isn’t much to her show besides her serenading us with her slow tunes.
I had a question prepared for you, and I'm glad to see you answered it right here. I'm passingly familiar with her music, and I do like what I've heard. I just feel like her set would probably bore me in a festival setting. I'd love to be convinced otherwise, though. Thanks for your thorough, thoughtful post.
Personally I'm a fan of the occasional chill festival set, especially on a Sunday at Roo when I'm super exhausted. I'd say if you like her music and there isn't a major conflict to check her out, but in the moment if you know you want something more upbeat you would probably wanna find another set to wander off to
I had to sit through City and Colour and The 1975 so my gf could get a decent spot for Lana at Lollapalooza 2016. It was engaging enough, the stage setup was elaborate and they had the side screen filtered through some sorta vintage filter for all the #retrovibez. My favorite moment was part way through the show, she gracefully descended from a staircase that appeared center stage and did a solid 5 minutes of hugs, selfies, and signing with the front row. If I had to do it again, I would camp out ALL DAY for hugs and kisses with Lana!
