Lana Del Rey’s tidal wave of international buzz (see gallery above) has gotten even taller lately as the release of her insanely anticipated (for better or worse) Born To Die approaches. In just the ten days since we checked in with her latest leaks, the controversial singer signed with a modeling agency, nabbed a BRIT Award nomination, released “Born To Die” for free on iTunes, and lined up appearances on Letterman and Ellen. And while this week she responds to those pesky questions of authenticity in a Billboard cover story, the only people who care about the answers spend too much time on the Internet. Tonight, on the other hand, saw a fair test of LDR’s staying power at large, as she became the first artist since Natalie Imbruglia (in 1998) to play Saturday Night Live prior to the release of a major label debut LP. It was her American TV debut. And, it was pretty rough. (Nerves and SNL‘s notoriously shitty sound are a bad combination). Watch the performance of “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans” below and don’t be so shy with your opinion this time.
“Video Games”
“Blue Jeans”
(via Audio Perv)
Born To Die is out 1/31 via Interscope. Here’s the confirmed tracklist:
01. “Born To Die”
02. “Off To The Races”
03. “Blue Jeans”
04. “Video Games”
05. “Diet Mountain Dew”
06. “National Anthem”
07. “Dark Paradise”
08. “Radio”
09. “Carmen”
10. “Million Dollar Man”
11. “Summertime Sadness”
12. “This Is What Makes Us Girls”
Deluxe Bonus Tracks:
13. “Without You”
14. “Lolita”
15. “Lucky Ones”
iTunes Edition Bonus Track:
16. “Video Games (Joy Orbison Remix)”
You Might Also Like
 Watch Bon Iver (And Kristen Wiig’s Lana Del Rey… |  Lana Del Rey To Perform On SNL, Two Weeks Before Her Debut… |  Watch Blur Play The Brit Awards |  Smiler – “Spender” (Feat. Lana Del Rey) |
 |
 |
TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH
Damn that was quick
._____.
that is all.
General reaction on Twitter wasn’t pretty… I read about 80 responses and maybe 2 were positive. Not exactly the right song for a first impression when the listener isn’t necessarily a fan of indie/lo-fi stuff. It’s too slow and long for TV.
her music is anything but lo-fi wow
Exactly. It isn’t indie either.
There are no excuses to be made. She’s terrible.
I think the word you’re looking for is botox-pop.
*collagen injections dude. not botox – her face moves. step yo insult game up
Seriously. Lo-Fi is not the same thing as Lo-Energy.
The changing of some of the high notes to low notes to make it easier for her to sing makes her voice sound terribly weird.
yeah I thought it sounded kinda like a transvestite.
She sounded like Jason Segel’s Dracula voice from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz………………..
Oh, this could have gone so much better.
I thought Blue Jeans sounded much better but the reactions are still overwhelming negative on Twitter.
I’m amazed any sort of sound got past all the collagen
You know, because her lips are big.
You guys are so funny, but I thought this joke was already dead.
Almost as dead as her career after this performance
You’re probably overreacting, but anyway, she could have gained a lot of american audience out of this… such a shame.
This is what it sounds like…when doves cry…to death.
to the unknowing eye, she could`ve passed as a skit with that wig and bad babydoll singing.
But that Exit Poll sketch was funny! #WIIG2012
I love the song, but she sounds like she’s doing Maya Rudolph doing Donatella Versace
First Tebow, now this? Maybe Nietzsche was right.
“Jesus Loves the Broncos!” – Nietzche
The Broncos/Pats game was as boring as this performance.
There was no solace Saturday night.
I’m a huge Lana Del Rey fan, but you could tell that was she was extremely nervous. Not a very good performance, but I think a lot of the shit being said on Twitter is pretty unwarranted
I can’t even figure out how you could be a huge fan. A huge fan of what? Two songs?
I think we should look into the authenticity of anyone who claims to be a “big fan” of Lana.
I think you should re-evaluate your life if you find yourself saying “I think we should look into the authenticity of …”
Chill bro. Pabst is in the fridge. Put your feet up, and your dick down.
Piece.
DT
We got a badass over here
Authenticity? Christ, are we all emo kids now?
Oh, that’s right. Let us always remember that appearing to care about anything is so uncool to Stereogum posters that any such offender is automatically diagnosed as “emo.”
no, it’s just that people take music way too seriously on this site, especially the idea of “indie.” Why should all these outside factors affect how people listen to music? I don’t exclusively listen to hip stuff; hell, i listen to some emo stuff myself. It’s just that we all need to chill and stop trying to look cool all the time
Alex, I guess the point is that people take music way too seriously on this site, especially the idea of “indie.”
Lana del Rey has over 40 songs that were leaked on youtube. She also sings live on a lot of sets. That is why I am disappointed because she CAN sing.
Same here.
Uhhmmm…..there is a little bit more then those two songs. And quite a few stunning ones.
Harry Potter’s mess up made Lana nervous…
Lol, I’m glad somebody has some sense on here and realized that! His introduction for her was screwed up & I think it rubbed off on her. The reason why I say this is because she performed “Blue Jeans” in a much calmer matter.
Idunno… I’m hesitant to believe that a botched intro would have that big of an effect on the artists overall performance.
It does if you don’t have enough experience to handle it. Everything about LDR pisses me off.
*manner
Thought she was doing pretty good, but then my video unfroze..
Yeah.. also, the second half of ‘Video Games’ was not as bad as the first.
oops.. wrong comment. ohh well…
I don’t understand all the negative reactions to Lana Del Rey’s SNL performance. I thought her two comedy sketches were hilarious.
My bad. I’m being told those were actually genuine musical performances, not hilarious, over-the-top parodies as I had originally thought.
should have just gone with the one post
He still nailed it.
DM;NI (?)
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Can we start a laziest comments of the week post?
farrt
Instead of ‘Shut Up, Dude’ for best/worst comments, the laziest comment list would either be called ‘Relax’ or maybe ‘Stay Sitting Down, Man.
I think bobo dylan was kidding? Right? Do we know that and hate the joke that much? Either way, sorry for the downvotes, bobo dylan.
Yes except Animal Collective are talented instrumentalists and composers who are able to pull off the musical aesthetic they aspire to on record in a live environment, whereas Lana Del Ray is a girl with hair.
I think you mean lips.
I don’t think Stereogum is in any minority by giving Lana lots of attention. I think making a post like this just proves that they have a good feel for what people want. It is 9:45 on a Sunday and there are almost 60 comments. I think a more accurate statement would be Lana Del Rey is to Stereogum what Lana Del Rey is to every other music blog.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
…this performance was terrible though…
hahahaha! you TELL ‘EM, man! They would TOTALLY freeze up, cause they’re all, like, virgin music nerds and stuff, RIGHT?! and LDR is totally HAWT!
Jimmy Iovine is gonna be pissed.
Fuck Jimmy Lovine.
Her live performance of ‘Blue Jeans’ was better when she was on French television.
as a fan of both songs…this was really rough….bad karaoke…bad pitch…..the problem is the band sounded great…she sounded like a weird man/bird…yikes
born to fly
because birds and stuff.
She was horrible. One-hit wonder. Her album’s going to bomb.
Try saying that come the ‘Best of 2012′ lists.
I guarantee you, this is another case of the Vampire Weekend-s.
Loads of pre-album hype that actually IS true.
If you are basing an album’s performance on 1 SNL performance then you are legitimately ignorant. The publicity she has gotten from a bad performance is much more than had she had a good performance – people will listen to her album to see what all the talk is about. If it’s even decent, it will sell.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
It didn’t sound good, but she was obviously nervous. I hardly think one SNL performance is going to make or break her career.
the album is what’s gonna matter, really. not this “authenticity” shit or live performances.
well, to me at least. apparently not to other people
Exactly. Anyone remember Kanye West’s awful SNL performance?
Nope. My point exactly.
If you’re referring to his performances of songs from MBDTF, then no one remembers because they weren’t awful at all.
Nope, wasn’t referring to those…you have my point, sir.
Ashley Simpson.
nuff said
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
So now we’re questioning the authenticity of her nervousness?
I don’t think this is actually true, but it crossed my mind last night that she was just created by American Apparel or something and made to seem like she just came out of nowhere but really has teams of superstar songwriters and producers behind her. Anyone know who made the clothes she was wearing last night? She def will be in tons of fashion ads for someone sometime soon if she hasn’t been already.
It sounds like her voice was a bit worn out tbh, which is hardly surprising considering worldwide promo and the amount of times she sings that song. Also, whenever I see her perform, there’s this kind of “oh god, what am I becoming” aspect to her, it seems, where she attempts to wrestle herself out of the role that’s been created for her, one she doesn’t quite know how to fulfil. All of her lyrics, posing, etc., kind of remind me of the girl at school who has a massive reputation for being slutty but is secretly a virgin.
That said, (and to clarify crude metaphors) I really don’t understand why people hate on her so much. She just seems kind of naive to me, and a little out of her depth, I mean, she’s only been wearing the LDR costume for 7 months or so, right? It must be pretty difficult going from a relative unknown to being on SNL, that fast, and having a team of people photoshopping an extra tiger into your video. Since Stereogum has been following LDR closely since the beginning, as a regular reader I now kind of feel affection for her, and I think it’s obvious she doesn’t really know what she’s meant to be yet. Her songs, with the exception of Video Games, which is great, tend to be weirdly overcooked, e.g. the shouts / awkward “urban” beat in Born To Die. I guess this is a major label thing, you know “we need more guys shouting on this track’, but if they were produced by Phil Ek, they would sound great, cos they are essentially pretty good songs. I feel kind of bad for LDR because she is obviously being pushed to do too much, too soon, when she should be given the time and space to grow into her music, her persona, whatever. Look how famous she already is without releasing an album … then read down this (or any) comments section and look at the price she has to pay for it.
I’m 100% with you on this because everything you said is true. Only time will tell what’s gonna become of this girl. I really think in the future (if she doesn’t become a cokehead, sorry but I had to say it) she’s gonna start releasing music that’s true to her.
In regards to “Born to Die”, it’s a great song for her voice, but I do agree with you that it’s over-produced. I feel like the violins (which, are probably just synths) are just cut and pasted. Sounds so unnatural…and the shouting is stupid!
But anyway, I don’t have to think twice about LDR. She’s got talent, it’s there. If people were honest with themselves, then they’d admit that they hate her because of the way she’s being marketed, not because of her singing.
It sounds like she’s been kidnapped and forced into collagen-pop superstardom against her will.
It does sound like that. she’s at best living the dream, and at worst being rushed into a million things at once. I’ve heard of worse jobs..
Obviously not, but it’s a matter of the speed, pervasiveness and unforeseen consequences of that “superstardom”. For example, I don’t imagine Lizzie Grant imagined, when she signed the contract, that she would encounter this degree of hype and backlash. I think it’s been obvious from some of the interviews Stereogum has posted that she was completely unprepared for it, and for what gets written about her online. And the point I was making with the songs is that they don’t truly sound like the cohesive vision of one artist, they sound like a compromise. And when LDR performs, it kind of looks like a compromise. The exact compromise is: she can be famous, be on TV, etc., but only at the expense of ‘being’ LDR. She’s an artist who formerly tried to make a go of things under her own name, but eventually had to become a persona to be successful, and I think the latent, “honest” singer-songwriter part of her is uncomfortable with that; the persona, the fake nails and the (debatably) “enhanced” lips. It’s like a part of who she is, is trying to portray etc., is out of her hands, has been decided for her, has been tampered with by the guys writing the cheques. So whilst it isn’t all against her will, it’s obviously not just her will that’s being taken into account.
I agree with iheartblondie that she could have a great future. I really like her voice.
I’m taking the time to reply to your post by saying that I don’t have enough time to take the time to read it.
for real doesn’t anybody TL;DR here?
guys, this was terrible.
Seriously, guys. The worst.
guyz*
Whoa, slow down. SNL is notoriously bad for artists. Granted, her songs are slow hut even great bands (U2, Radiohead) sound shitty on SNL. And by the way, when has Twitter dictated what is good? Fucking sheep.
Hey, what’s bad about the sound on SNL? A lot of people talk about the “notorious” bad sound, but for a live TV performance, the sound is generally quite well mixed. It tends to be very harsh on bad artists, or pop musicians who show up with backing tracks or pitch correction and rightfully so.
I personally think the “notorious” bad sound everyone brings up with regards to SNL musical guests is the fact that most people listen to it out of their TV speakers. Or worse. Peeps don’t have a clue. I had a conversation with a lady last night about how good vinyl was and how she tries to convince all her bands to sell records (she’s a manager) but she couldn’t explain to me why the sound was better and she admitted to me that she’s never listened to music through headphones (“I just don’t like it” she said.) I had to explain to her why she liked vinyl but also why the sound quality of vinyl isn’t actually better than digital. Anyways, my point is that’s as much a myth as the “notorious bad sound on SNL.”
Either way, Del Ray sucked last night. I still maintain that Video Games is a nice song, but this girl’s only role in the band is to sing, and she’s not very good at doing it live apparently. It’s not a sheep thing, its an observable thing by anyone with ears.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Yeah, no johnny_nutz. I’m not joking about how, objectively speaking, uncompressed digital sound is more precise than analog, doesn’t threaten snaps or pops, and moreover takes up less physical space and isn’t fragile as fuck. Not to mention most human hearing won’t detect the difference between a high quality record press and a high quality digital file. The argument in defense of vinyl is often subjective.
I suppose you also believe recording to a DAW is better than tape….
You can record well on either. You can put crap on tape. And yes, I absolutely would and I’d be right.
The sound wasn’t shitty for her back-up band, so I don’t really see any merit in the SNL-sound-is-shit argument.
And this sounds pretty damn good to me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7y4J5EusH8&feature=related
Thank god someone said something intelligent about vinyl. Records are a freaking twee novelty item
@michael ashworth – SNL sounds great usually, that radiohead perf was above and beyond though. And relative to the simple set ups they usually get (cough cough Black Keys) that is an incredibly tough group to mix for. I wonder if they bring their own sound guy, and if NBC would allow that?
@sarcasticmeow – there are arguments for vinyl though…I do like the sound of it – there’s something that is kind of nice and organic about it. Also some people dig the large artwork. It is telling, that the response was “hehe, you’re joking right”and “I suppose you believe” instead of an actual argument, using words that make some sort of, oh i don’t know, opposing point.
I believe the claim against SNL sound is relative to the stage itself. Some artists can deal with it (those who’ve paid serious dues dealing with these limitations), whereas some have more trouble (those who have a career go from 5mph to 200mph in a few months.)
Her live vocals are never as bad as people claim them to be. Her stage presence has a long way to go.
It seems she feels the need to embellish the vocals, which the music doesn’t require.
this is probably a discussion for a different thread, but i’m willing to go to bat for vinyl being objectively better-sounding than digital audio, especially when whatever you’re listening to was recorded in an all-analog environment.
the problem with digital audio is that it tries to break what is an inherently continuous phenomenon (sound), into discrete chunks by sampling. analog recording deals with sound as a continuous stream of voltages, which is more representative of how it exists in the real world. vinyl reflects this in playback as well.
a related problem with digital audio (unless you’re listening to audio recorded at super-high sample rates like 96kHz, which corresponds to super-big file sizes) is something called aliasing. it’s sort of complicated but what it means in practical terms is that this “chunky” nature of dealing with sound disallows high frequencies above a certain point (one half of the sample rate, to be specific) from being represented.
i think the best argument for digital over vinyl is that with digital audio you have a theoretically infinite dynamic range. but in order to take advantage of it you need a large number of bits representing each sample, what’s called “bit depth,” which again translates to larger files. and the amount of compression used on a typical album in 2012 kind of negates this anyway.
i think you could make a case for digital being as good as vinyl, but i certainly don’t think it’s objectively better by any stretch.
I appreciate all of these points, and when it comes to analog recording, its very relevant…especially when you consider the intention and media that a recording was intended to be played on. For sure.
I suppose my concern when people bring out the Vinyl argument is that they are always referring to the lowest common denominator as being represented by digital. For example, when you point out listening to music at low rates…well, for sure those are going to sound worse. Completely agree. But that isn’t representative of “Digital music” in so much as listening to a Gramophone through a tin can is representative of “Analog music.”
And anyways, “better sound” is a subjective thing. I wasn’t defending Digital as being “better” than vinyl either. I’m defending the point that vinyl is not “superior,” like some (pretentious) people suggest. I’ve never said that digital is objectively better…but the dynamic range capacity does imply that digital can be more precise, no? Either way, whether one is “better” is a subjective thing to say. Some people say it. The (pretentious) lady in my anecdote said it with no information to back it up. That always raises a red flag for me. Johnny Nutz was dubious for some reason as well.
apologies, i misread your original comment. i thought there was a sentence in there to the effect of digital being better than vinyl.
you’re right about it being subjective. for me, when i listen at home it’s generally vinyl, when i’m in my car it’s mp3s. each format has its strengths.
and when i talk about “better-sounding,” what i really mean is “more accurately representing and reproducing the way sounds behave in real life,” which i do believe vinyl is better at.
and as far as the dynamic range thing goes, what it boils down to is that a record’s dynamic range depends on its thickness, in the same way that a .aiff or .wav’s dynamic range depends on its bit depth. that’s why you have fancy remasters that come out on 180 gram vinyl and stuff like that.
i don’t have any real scientific data to back this up, but to my ears, the dynamic range on the high-quality end of each format (lets say 96khz/24 bit digital audio and 180 gram vinyl on a good turntable) is about equal. the difference is that in digital audio you could theoretically use how ever many bits you wanted per sample whereas there’s only so much thickness you can give a record.
It’s actually a matter of preference, silly buns. The main difference between analog and digital audio is the matter in which they are compressed.
tv on the radio duh
Paul McCartney sounded awful last year, and it was entirely a mix issue. I know that’s just one example, but he’s a guy who can definitely sing, and his band can definitely play. The mix was a disaster.
That being said, the mix was definitely NOT the issue last night. I feel bad for her because I’m sure she can sing fine, but she was just totally not ready for this. She also desperately needs to figure out a way to move better onstage because she looks extreeeeemely uncomfortable. But I do think she has some really great songs, and her image is immaculately crafted, so I guess we’ll see where it goes from here.
Allow me to shed some light. I am a sound engineer who has worked for a band that appeared on SNL and have mixed on every late night show (except the Tonight Show and the new Conan show). Basically, the bands regular live sound engineer is allowed to “produce” and “direct” the broadcast engineer (supplied by NBC…a full time position, and one with a massive background in recording studios). However, according to union laws, visiting engineers can not physically touch the console. Now, in every late night television show I’ve been a visiting engineer, I’ve been able to handle the faders on the console for any special effects or cues within the song. STILL, I can not physically mix the taping. HOWEVER every broadcast engineer, with the exception of one, allowed me to freely direct and also took notes from the artist after the taping was complete (and note they are not required to do this but as a whole, these are very generous people).
What the audience hears is the mix as engineered by a professional but produced by the bands engineer. Without experience, a live engineer can produce the mix completely wrong, make it sound completely dry, and it will sound shitty coming out of your television and laptop speakers. I am afraid the blame would fall on the visiting engineer more so than the broadcast engineer. But that is just my humble opinion.
Your comment makes me happy
Amazing, thanks for shedding this light. If you’re still around, curious…without having to disclose which band you mix, what did you think of how their SNL appearance turned out?
Well, I was happy, the label were super happy, the band was happy (I believe). I have a couple small regrets about not mixing certain vocal fx higher during the taping (I mixed them a touch high for my taste during the dress rehearsal, and over corrected some during the actual live performance). Overall, it was what I expected. Personally, I’ve been happy the most with my Letterman and Fallon mixes though. Fallon’s engineer is one of my favorites to work with BTW…always consistently great engineering and instincts.
I don’t watch a lot of Letterman anymore, but the guests on Fallon always sound terrific. I don’t know what the pressure is like, but being the house engineer on a late night talk show seems somewhat like one of the best jobs available for someone working in sound.
Actually, funny enough (although I think I’ve mentioned it), my cousin Virgil is a PA on letterman although he has had a bit of exposure to the sound guys. He found it really hard to get anything accomplished with the strings they keep him on. He said he never had his own voice.
This is the “big shot” at an award show – lucky bugger
Now all Pitchfork needs to do is to right a wrong they made a few months ago by not giving her debut a good review, and she will slowly go away just like The Black Kids.
I still think the whole Black Kids thing was a lowblow, and they should have given it a fair review. I never actually listened to the thing but still
Up to this point, what wrong has Pitchfork made? “Video Games” holds up as a great song, regardless of how good or shitty ‘Born to Die’ turns out to be.
Were they the ones who started the LDR hype? I feet like all the major music blogs covered the debut of “Video Games” around the same time. Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all Pitchfork’s doing.
It wouldn’t matter anyway. As Ed Droste recently tweeted, LDR “is on basically every magazine cover ever across the globe. O____o”.
I thought she was pretty bad. I never totally understood why she got so much hate. I thought it was just backlash because she was a pretty girl, but after last night I think it is very possible that she is really lacking talent. She just doesn’t seem to bring anything to the table. Her voice is not good, I thought she was talking more than singing half the time. She had no charisma what so ever. She just stood there like the girl from Seinfeld who didn’t swing her arms when she walked throwing in the occasional twirl. She doesn’t seem to play an instrument. I’m assuming she writes her own lyrics. Anyone know if she writes any music? I still think her album might sound alright, but if she cares at all about curbing most of the criticism she gets she needs to improve as a performer big time.
I do think her performance proves that she it totally hot. I was arguing with some people in the indie crushes of 2011 post whether or not she was hot and after last nights performance I don’t know how she could possibly be famous and performing on SNL if she wasn’t. Case closed.
Lana is a beautiful girl with a good voice and writes her own lyrics. What’s wrong with that? I think what you’re really angry about is the hype/promotional/marketing aspect…which, admittedly, is a little over the top. But really, let’s reel in some of this hate directed towards Lana and push it towards Interscope.
I’m sure some of the hate is unfair, but this post is about her performance last night and I think a lot of people objectively watched it and came to the conclusion that she wasn’t good.
Maybe, or maybe a lot of people already didn’t like her for very subjective reasons and used last night as “objective” support.
I think we would need some sort of sound bro in here, without the video accompaniment, to judge the quality of her singing. because, other than a blind sound bro, I think we’re all a lil biased. knowmsayin?
I understand that whether or not you liked her performance last night was a matter of opinion, and people opinios are effected by the opinions of others but I know what I saw last night and to think that she was not good is completely valid. If you liked her last night that’s cool, but to assume anyone who thought she sucked is just some sort of sheep is a little redic.
As for the bad SNL sound argument, I really have no idea. Maybe she got hosed by bad sound but for now all I can base my opinion on is what I saw.
Well she definitely sung flat on Video Games. And she has an interesting style, but technically not that impressive. I mean, it doesn’t sound like she’s had years of vocal training. Better than Bieber, but she’s no Great Caruso. I mean really, the hype is clearly misled.
You could say the only singer worth the hype…
…would be the next great Caruso
YEEEAHHHH
Maybe none of this is real and we’re living in a dream of 311′s dummer, Chad Sexton.
ReneDescartes.jpeg
I hated this.
Lana Del Rey is bad, her lyrics aren’t good her music in general is just really bad and, judging by last nights performance, she isn’t very good live either.
No one is good on SNL. Does anyone remember Chris Martin prancing around the stage to “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall” in an extra small pink tee and glorified sweatpants? The stage/the atmosphere/the mix just sucks. Thus, being a musical guest on SNL is a necessary evil – if you aren’t a musical superstar like Gaga or Coldplay, then playing on SNL is nothing more than a way to garner attention to yourself.
Even still, Lana needs to figure out her stage image, which doesn’t necessarily have to be exactly the same as her existing music video/photo/modeling image. What have we seen Lana Del Rey do in her music videos? Sit between tigers, sit on a throne, stand by random objects, make out with tattoos guy, scowl, frown, scowl more, etc. None of these things are fun to watch in a live setting (except maybe the tigers), so maybe she should grab a guitar (so the standing in place isn’t so painful) or take some dancing lessons.
Finally, her voice kinda threw me off because with songs like “Blue Jeans” and “Off To The Races” she goes from the very low end of her register to the high end in such a short amount of time. Honestly, I like the weird inflection of her voice. More than anything, it reminds me that LDR is attempting to pursue an image beyond “indie pop icon”. Maybe she just listened to a lot of Janis Joplin growing up?
I suppose we’ll see how the rest of the album fares. But as of now, LDR is walking a hard line between “serious pop” and “I can sort of jam to this in the car pop”, and she can’t really do that for much longer before going one way or the other, and whichever direction she ends up picking is ultimately going to dictate what her stage performance becomes.
Lots of people are good on SNL
Chris Martin’s wardrobe has nothing to do with his performance
The mix doesn’t always suck
Being a musical guest on SNL would be amazing. It’s not a “necessary evil.” Performing in front of that many eyes on a show like that…that would be awesome. “Nothing more than garnering attention” my ass. What an incredible opportunity squandered.
radiohead was awesome on SNL
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Do you jerk off during SNL or what?
Even better question is why do you only jerk off from 11:30 to 1 on a Saturday night?
What’s wrong with you man?
This post is about Lana Del Rey, Kelly Clarkson was the musical guest last week.
I’m with cale. Quit wasting our time, Lana!! And moar Amber Coffman, pls!!
She was not that great, awkward, and seemingly ungrateful to me. Though, this is the first time I’ve heard or seen her. Good looking though!
So from an SNL performance, admittedly the only thing you have ever seen or heard from here, you discerned that she has not talent and is “ungrateful”?!? Ungrateful?!?!? WTF?!?
I’m appalled that these are the musical guests. There are so many bands out there that are catchier and more upbeat. Put the Born Ruffians on SNL They would kill it.
I agree. I’ve been dying to see Ingrid Michaelson on SNL for awhile. She has a soft, sweet sound but she is FANTASTIC live, which is something I didn’t anticipate when I saw her here in Houston about two summers ago.
She has so much charisma and she is a beautiful performer. I hope SNL will invite her on since she’s releasing her new album, “Human Again”, on January 24th.
Besides listening to her single from Human Again,”Ghost”, I am currently obsessed with this cover of Gotye’s “Somebody I Used to Know” that she uploaded recently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUxLK1misbw
Thumbs up if you think GIRLS should be a musical guest some time this year (hopefully this February!)
Thumbs up if you’re reading this comment in 2012!
“one-tit wonder” and “botox pop,” are you kidding me? She can sing live and has proven it on multiple occasions, this being the only poor one I have seen from her. Also, she does have more than two songs. She has an entire independently released album called Kill Kill, which housed several great songs like “Raise Me Up (Mississippi South)” and “Queen Of The Gas Station.
Watch her on Jools Holland, compare it to SNL, tell me it wasn’t nerves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOP2Yd_jpYQ
it wasn’t nerves.
She should’ve enjoyed it more. She was overly self-conscious… pity.
YAH BUT SHE CUTE THO
She is so elegant for SNL viewers.
“Holy turd burgers, Batman!”
I really didn’t even wanna comment anymore on this story, but does anyone else think she should have sang “Born to Die” instead of “Video Games”. I’m so sick of VG (how much longer is she gonna milk that song?) and after all, BTD is her new single anyway.
Sure. I agree. But “Videogames” is the womb from which she was born. It’s an undeniably “good” song with catchy hooks and a very modern theme of playing videogames with hot chicks that will be impossible for high schoolers and college kids to avoid falling in love with.
For the majority of people, the quality of the music is not of first importance. People want image and they want hooks. Cheesy lyrics poorly sang are quickly forgiven. “Videogames” will sell. A lackluster SNL performance will not stop her from becoming even bigger as the year goes since she is riding on a song like “Videogames”. For better or for worse.
Lol I guess you’re right
Do you not watch SNL?!? Anyone who performs always play their biggest single first from their recent album and the will follow that up with something else. ALWAYS – no matter if that single is 3 months old, it is still the 1st song to be played.
sounded like a new jersey stevedore, no?
enough stories on lana del rey holy shit.
With that hair color she looks like Hope Sandoval with fake lips, and sings 1/10th as good as her.
Haters will hate. Lana – do your thing girl.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
LDROL
i bored myself it dunt wusnt good nuff
This is not a dig at Kate Bush (whose music I love), but maybe Lana should take a cue from Kate and just bypass the live performances, make haunting pop singles with provocative videos and call it a day.
Or she could just quit, stop making music and get a new hobbie, like gardening or origami.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Play the first seven seconds of ‘video games’ on a loop and you have a decent video.
(sorry, too lazy to make a .gif)
I watched these with my 17 month old. His response, “Uh-oh.” Uh-oh indeed.
Whatever. She did fine. It’s not transcendent but it’s totally a decent performance of a fairly lovely song. I’m not even a fan of LDR but the hate seems to mostly be sour grapes. She’s not the first person to get what others perceive as undue acclaim and she won’t be the last. The fact is, that these “breakouts” are never as accidental or sudden as they appear because, guess what? We don’t know everything about these people’s lives!
I’m hazarding a guess that most of you talking shit are 16-year-olds who will never put yourselves out there creatively in your lives, so yeah…keep that up.
You’re so severely confused. Literal tens of thousands of people (sometimes way more) watch SNL; she got mostly poor reviews. It’s not just weird 16 year olds hating, she disappointed hella people of every demographic. Her SNL debut was pretty much universally deemed whack. You don’t need to know everything about a performers life to know when they suck. The blogosphere’s vocalization represents the huge number of people who didn’t like that performance, and the infinitesimal number that did.
After LDR was done performing, I got this text from my dad “LOL, what the fuck? I listened for a second, zoned out, zoned back in and thought I was listening to Burt Reynolds sing Karaoke, zoned out again, and by the time the song was over, I had a huge beard, was talking to a volley ball, and had partially grown tits.”
Ten minutes later I got another text saying “Just listened to Broken Bone three times, I think the tits are going away now.”
Yeah, total lulz except we don’t give a fuck about your dad’s thoughts.
lol, what an unnecessary and mean response. Why would you write that? My dad’s 60, just got through a hella tough bout with cancer, and is a jovial as fuck Brendan Gleeson lookin ass mufucka with a real thick Welsh accent.
I thought he had a hilarious response to the SNL performance, if you didn’t just don’t fuckin comment on it asshead.
He also used to be a critic and was friends with Les Bangs so show some respect.
Your dad’s personal problems and friendship with Les Bangs has nothing to do with me, us, LDR, or SNL. Sorry that he was/is fighting cancer.
Still don’t give a shit about the text he wrote. And just for the record, fuck Les Bangs.
Is it any wonder why she might have been nervous for this or any other recent performance, reading these comments and what is said about her on Twitter, etc.? If you think artists don’t look at that stuff, you’re crazy. Haven’t seen a non top 40 artist this overly criticized or scrutinized in my life. Especially for every reason other than the songs themselves.
Exactly, I wonder where all the hate comes from. It’s obvious that Ms.del Rey has work to do but personally I think she has great potential(yes, she can sing…).
Maybe SNL came too soon, and maybe she will never be a great performer. But even then she has created some great songs, and Videogames is only one of them.
I like Lana Del Ray. She’s cool but pretty boring. Emphasis on pretty. But man the personalities in indie world are boring as fuck these days. Now we have that nerdy chick who was like the 35th ex-guitarist in Titus Andronicus complaining about LDR’s authenticity. Internet rock star rants were better when actually whackos like Ryan Adams was getting high and trying to figure out the universe via his blog.
You can tell she is nervous because she keeps grabbing her chest in an attempt to release the tightness which is probably due to nerves. I didn’t hear anything “cringeworthy” here and to call it a bomb is a bit of an overstatement, it just didn’t really do anything that would bring in new fans. I think about it this way, you’ve got a major album coming out, it is much better press to say that she bombed because now people want to see what was so horrible about the performance, then go back to the original so you can compare it. It seems like there taking the adage that there is no such thing as bad press and turning something that was just alright and portraying it as a train wreck. Well played.
whats funny is this is a perfect example of any press is good press. Had she given a fantastic performance would she have gotten this much press? When was the last time any performance on SNL got attention from Gawker, or the LA Times, or CBS News, The Telegraph in London? Most SNL performances seem to just disappear into the ether. The press she’s getting now, will only turn more people onto her music and cause her shows to be more indemand and more hyped and buzzed about.
And second, does it matter if an artist isnt talented live? Video Games is undeniably brilliant and a great tune, does it matter if she cant perform live? The translation of a song from studio to a live performance is a tricky task that sometimes doesnt work. we all know multiple bands that either arent good live, or cant translate a song or two live.
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Wow, such an intellectual response is amazing!!! Can you please enlighten us all with further criticisms taken out of the Ebonics dictionary?
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Sooo we know it was bad, I’m thinking she had a beer and pharmaceutical cocktail before she went on. Looks like she’s going to fall asleep, very sluggish up there. I’m not a fan, but I do think she would have looked a hell of a lot less awkward doing something like playing a piano, but if my theory is correct then that would have been a nightmare too. :s
Her face at 3:50 in the first song.
I can’t see it, her lips are in the way.
I’d rather play video games than watch this. Then again, I’d rather play video games than do a lot of things.
she is the perfect hybrid of natalie portman and julia roberts.
hey guys, the backing band was good.
pretty good!
I don’t get all the fuss. After reading all this negative feedback everywhere I turn I was expecting this performance to be total dog shit, a train wreck. It’s not. Yeah, it’s boring and sounds like a zillion other things but most of the shit thrown in our faces these days is run of the mill anyway. That’s what kids like…. safe and average. She just sounds like some chick singing a mediocre song. Big deal. The majority of music in heavy rotation on this site is a lot worse. Next…
lana del ray is like a walking tickle me elmo.
I think everyone’s expectations are too high. A bad artist gave a bad performance, this happens often.
This is so good! She is amazing
Man, I don’t get it? This sounded good to me. Who is watching this expecting some level of perfection? Are you ppl Idol fans? SNL is such an incredibly lame 90 minutes of television that I really cannot understand how this would be seen as anything less than a highlight on an otherwise terrible show. Are the same ppl pooping on Ms. Del Rey the same ppl that have made Sandberg a popular ‘comedian’? Cause that would make a little more sense to me.
Has SNL become a place to see great performances lately?
I’m going to patten Lana bobble head dolls. That shit’s going to sell better than William Hung. I can’t wait for her Christmas album!
Del Ray is hot enough to stay and move on
I was pushing down my cuticles during this. Wait was I watching something?
I told people she is overrated. Looking pretty and sounding pretty recorded is not enough. Eventually, especially if you suck, the claws will come out. You gotta back your shit up. Damn hipsters ruin everything.
Her performance wasn’t as bad as that of the server hosting these videos.