Your unpopular pop opinions

[IMHO]

I wouldn't expect anything as tender as Runaway from Jay and Kanye together but I'd say Why I Love You does 'grandiose' well. And it's funny you should mention Monster as an example of going hard given that Jay sleep walks through his verse and proves himself to be far more agile and cutting on Watch The Throne, particularly tracks like That's My Bitch and the incredible Who Gon Stop Me. I don't know if I'd describe All The Lights as inviting (as amazing as it is), but New Day and Murder to Excellence have a similar narrative feel, while Made In America is far warmer that anything I would have expected from this particular collaboration.

As for the tracks you singled out; Niggas In Parris is just so knowingly audacious that I can't help but get caught up in its madness; Otis has some excellent one-liners but it does tread the line between clever and irritating as far as the sample goes; Lift Off is lacking in actual rap but features a chorus better than anything Beyoncé herself has produced since Sweet Dreams; and No Church In The Wild sees everyone involved playing a blinder, particularly The Dream's verse.

It's not as sprawling or surprising as Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (how many albums are?), but Watch The Throne does take some its cues from that album in terms of variety and scale but in a more streamlined fashion.

[Robinho#1]

Lily Allen's Littlest Things is one of her finest moments.

[Stacey.]

Don't like Lana Del Ray at all, and don't get her appeal to so many people.

[BML]

Don't like Lana Del Ray at all, and don't get her appeal to so many people.

Agreed. I even tried to get into her, but she's so damn boring.

[jackbox]

+ 1

I'm listening to Born To Die for the fist time as I speak; I think I'm about to fall into a coma while my brain liquefies and dribbles out through my nose.











Okay, not really. It's just pleasantly dull and leaving me wanting a nice cup of tea.

[Jonathan27]

I cannot at the above posts. I'm also listening to Born to Die right now, contemplating whether or not it's too soon to consider it one of my favorite albums ever.

[PantoponRose]

"Lana Del Rey is boring" is the most boring criticism ever.

[Lost In Japan.]

I thought she was boring, I was like "what the fuck is this dull Video Games shit" but oh my God, 'Born to Die' is a BRILLIANT album. It doesn't have a bad track!

[Jordlols]

^ Essentially my reaction as well. Except I don't like Carmen so I think the album does have 1 bad track!

Radio is far and away my favourite though, is that unpopular? I've not really seen enough discussion to know what the fan favourites are to be honest!

[JadeFan]

Born To Die has lots of duds. It has about 5 good songs.

[Stacey.]

Agreed. I even tried to get into her, but she's so damn boring.

+ 1

I'm listening to Born To Die for the fist time as I speak; I think I'm about to fall into a coma while my brain liquefies and dribbles out through my nose.



Okay, not really. It's just pleasantly dull and leaving me wanting a nice cup of tea.

I totally agree. She makes me feel completely depressed.

[SunshineConcubine]

I don't think Lana is boring. I can understand why people feel she's too depressing, but I like a bit of doom and gloom, especially when the musical landscape is littered with dance beats.

[LTG]

I first listened to the song Born to Die when I was absolutely wasted, I ended up dancing to it on my bed on repeat for about half an hour.

[Mushroom3]

If you feel depressed listening to Lana's music, such depression stems from personal issues and not the amazingness of Lana's music.

[duffy]

Born to Die is one of the worst albums of this year. I don't like Lana at all.

[invertedbutterfly]

She doesn't do much for me either. But to be honest, I'd just taken it as a sign that I'm getting old.

[Mr.Arroz]

^ Essentially my reaction as well. Except I don't like Carmen so I think the album does have 1 bad track!

Radio is far and away my favourite though, is that unpopular? I've not really seen enough discussion to know what the fan favourites are to be honest!

Radio is my fave, in a three-way tie with Video Games and National Anthem!

[Jonathan27]

1. National Anthem
2. Summertime Sadness
3. Either Born to Die or Without You. I can never decide.


Lana doesn't make me sad at all. I think her music is very glamorous in a self-awarely vapid way. It reminds of the TV show Revenge or Gossip Girl at its prime.

[Mr.Arroz]

Lana makes me sad in the sense that she allows me to delve into my memories because she has a knack for evoking deep thoughts of my past, which makes results in me wanting to revisit those times.

But that's what so moving about her music, is the vivid imagery it conjures, and how that imagery is so connective.

[KhiaShamone]

I can't help but think that people that are "Bored" by Lana must have incredibly low pop-attention spans. Like, if she's not flashing her coochie or miming to complicated choreo she ain't no good.

[Wishlight]

Lana Del Rey is as far as typical pop as Fiona Apple, Alanis Morrissette, Tori Amos and Bjork are. Some people won't understand her, but that ones that do will love her. As long as she continues to do such interesting music, that is.

[BML]

I say Lana Del Rey is boring because there's nothing there to grab me initially. I let the Born To Die album play twice in its entirety while I studied around the time it came out and nothing stuck out or made me want to ever come back to it. It was just like one long melancholic song with some woman mumbling pseudo ghetto-isms and one-liners.

[invertedbutterfly]

Lana Del Rey is as far as typical pop as Fiona Apple, Alanis Morrissette, Tori Amos and Bjork are. Some people won't understand her, but that ones that do will love her. As long as she continues to do such interesting music, that is.

This is why I don't really understand why I can't get excited by her - I'm a fan of atypical pop by female artists (three of those you name above are among my favourites). Lana has the sort of bored vocal delivery that I usually adore. And yet I find her completely impenetrable as a pop-culture phenomenon.

Part of me thinks she appears to be a pastiche of everything I like. But another part has the suspicion that I am just too old to embrace this sort of new artist. I hope the latter isn't true, but I fear it might be.

[Goodjorb]

I don't like Lana del Rey much either. Life is too short to mope around for an hour to depressing music.

[fancygreen]

Part of me thinks she appears to be a pastiche of everything I like. But another part has the suspicion that I am just too old to embrace this sort of new artist. I hope the latter isn't true, but I fear it might be.

I think she's self-aware of her pastiche-ness-ness-ness. I can see how it could irk some folk, but I think she rides the borderline between irony and legitimate beauty quite well.

There is a sense of her stuff falling towards juvenilia, like a young girl trying to act mature. (Hey, Lolita! Hey!) And, again, I think her 'bored-girl' precocity schtick is intentional. She's half a self-developed persona balancing with half a 'real' person that thrives in the allure of tragedy. But some of her newer songs and outtakes (ie 'Children of a Bad Revolution') veer more towards a confident side, even hinting at a possible direction towards actual maturity. (At least sonically. Her lyrical choices still seem stuck in cliché.)

Personally, I'm rather fascinated by her and how she'll grow. I think all of these collaborations are beneficial for her.






edit: That was a little wordy, wasn't it...