Oh please, you’re not living in a war zone. You still have freedom of speech. None of you have any idea what true oppression is. Apocalypse? You’re feeding yourself, you have time to make videos on TH-cam. You are the most coddled narcissistic generation in human history.
Your critical analysis is so rich and poignant all the way through but especially toward the back half of this video. IDK why I’m tearing up about it but I think it is the trauma of remembering that time in the western world and how well she painted it. Lana is truly a master at naming a melancholy so universally felt but so clumsily spoken about in the moment in which it’s experienced. It’s not until we retrospectively process it that we can see it she was so much more on the pulse in her melancholy than we were in our disillusionment and feigned hustle culture and survivalist optimism. Veeeery neoliberal, very consumerist therapy. Every time I hear it I discover something new to unpack
Mariners Apartment Complex and Venice Bitch came out a couple months after I graduated college, when I was depressed and uncertain what my future held. I was visiting my younger sister at the same college I had just graduated from, so I was surrounded by memories and bittersweetness when I listened to Venice Bitch for the first time and I was just in awe. It evoked such a unique mix of feelings for me, both sweet and sad and full of nostalgia, and I'll always remember it. Definitely one of my favorite Lana songs
excellent analysis! this album really did cap off the 2010s and acted as an omen for the cultural collapse that was 2020. this is the record that really set lana up as the successor to joni mitchell - someone who is able to synthesize her views on the world around her with her complicated and messy interpersonal relationships. nfr forever!
I looove this Lana series. Your commentary is of the highest quality and pushes the viewer to relisten to songs they already know with new perspective. Truly amazing work
I’d love to see a retrospective of the Disney-mainstream pop girl timeline. What was once novel with Britney, Christina, and Hilary, has now become ingrained in the Disney girl career trajectory. Also, excluding superbowl halftime shows, I’d love to see which pop girl televised performances you feel were the most excellent/career-defining. Great work as always!
This was brilliant. I literally never noticed that Venice Bitch was 10 mins(-ish) long before you mentioned it, and I've listened to that song a million times. It's just so good that it transcends time.
I’ve never had someone so perfectly describe my feelings for this absolute masterpiece of an album. She really did write the next best American record with this one. Definitely going down as one of the greatest of all time. 💯💯💯
This album cemented her as one of the best American songwriters and I feel it paved the way for her current level of popularity and critical/commercial success that she’s received in recent years.
A very well written essay. Excellent. Loved your thoughts. Also Few words for norman from my side. The album hasn’t aged a bit for me. It has the timeless sound. It is effortless. Lana and Jack really did THAT. It still haunts me NFR didn’t win any Grammys. (Don’t get me started) Also NFR really solidified Lana’s position in pop culture as a legend. Yes she changed music landscape with Born to die but NFR showed she still had more to offer after 9 years. It was a new Lana. She grew as a person and It reflected in this album. It’s almost like How Folklore is for Taylor’s career, NFR did exact same thing for Lana. Now forward whatever they do, doesn’t matter. As you said even 30% as good as these will be good enough. I am very eager to see if Taylor or Lana gives us another magnum opus in future. You never know these two woman can do anything ❤
NFR was a hit for me in quarantine. Its like she predicted the world falling apart as how we felt when the corona virus first broke out. In the greatest saying how this is it and how we dont Appreciate things until theyre gone and how it hit us so suddenly. In VB, the nostalgia of enjoying simple things like hanging around the backyard together and remenising thee good old time
I totally agree especially with the line "Miss doing nothing the most of all" like that's literally exactly what we were doing in quarantine just a few months after she released NFR.
I think it would be really interesting to hear you talk about the ‘Sad Girl’ aesthetic that took the Internet by storm in the 2010s, from its roots on tumblr and with artists such as Arctic Monkeys and ofc Lana, or modern this such as Billie Eilish and early Olivia Rodrigo (although her sound has changed since Sour and she’s more 2000s rock star now). I would also love to hear your thoughts on how the media portrays mental health in pop culture and the fine line between talking about mental issues and romnatizing it. Great video btw ❤
I’ve never liked to link an album to the title of greatest of all times, but I don’t know why norman f rockwell always comes to my mind when I think about it. That’s timeless music. Thanks for this video ❤️
i knew from the title alone this would be a brilliant analysis! really love that you've started speaking about pop culture more broadly as you bring a level of articulate insight that this niche of the internet severely lacks. lana's artistry has always felt like it transcended time, somehow both wildly ahead of its time yet feeling like it belongs amongst the historic greats of the 20th century. born to die literally revolutionised what it means to be a female musician, she forged a new path in the early 2010s that i truly don't think we give her enough credit for. and with nfr she closed the 2010s in an entirely different way. i see those two albums as perfect bookends for that decade, beautifully encapsulating how massively the world changed in just 10 short years. lana is a pioneer and sometimes she really does seem, as you said, 'clairvoyant'. her ability to somehow predict the changing tides is sometimes mind boggling. her music is timeless and i have literally no doubt that it will live on for a long long time. there is no one like lana. no one.
She definitely was game changer, not just for the music but the visuals, eras, and production that is so ahead of her time, in some way she teach new generation to be better
suuuch a well written review of this album. a friend said that nfr is a “look into the past and you’ll see yourself in the future” type of album and i always think of that sentence whenever i revisit it
Ah I LOVE when you do these video essays Zach! So excellent! I'm pretty new to Lana's music so it's a huge treat to get someone like you give context to the music!
Incredible and insightful video! Elton John wrote Candle in the Wind originally for Marilyn Monroe, another famously doomed "sad girl". For Diana he changed the words to "goodbye English rose".
Just when I think I’m finally beginning to grasp Lana’s music, the Lanaoligist is here to prove me wrong. You make me appreciate her albums so much more. Thank you
I‘d really love to see a deep dive into MARINA‘s (former Marina and the Diamonds) discography or at least her latest album „Ancient Dreams In a Modern Land“ . I feel like especially that album is massively underrated even though it has beautiful songs and lyrics.
as a long time fan i think over the last 1-2 years i really have realized that NFR truly is her best era. i love all her records/eras equally but my god this whole era.. the visuals, the songs, the vibes, seeing her on tour… it truly was the culture. you made so many amazing points!
So grateful for these videos because I feel like sometimes I get so lost in just absolutely obsessing over the music that I forget it even has deeper meaning and context other than just being beautiful poetry
I'm so glad I'm not the only one thinking venice bitch is such a good record i have no words how good it is and the fact it's 10 minutes long adds to the perfection
Zack- it would be nice to have you run down the top contenders for AOTY Grammys this year. I would love to hear your take. Thanks for this LDR content. Off to listen to NFR for the first time, aware that I just made many jealous with that statement #luckyme ❤
Been binge watching your videos lately! Obsessed with these analysis. And I STRONGLY agree. NFR was and will always be THE moment. My favourite track on the record is definitely Hope because of it's atmospheric and delicateness. Such a monumental song for Lana. Btw, I'd really appreciate it if you're gonna tackle Taylor's Folklore, it's legacy and how it affected the critics' and the locals' view of her art and artistry. Another great and well put video from the -swiftologist- lanaologist!
ICONIC!! I love Lana,she’s you unique!!! and you explain her and her style so well !!!! I’m obsessed with happiness is a butterfly!🦋🦋 and Cinnamon Girl!! 🤎 so thank you for this video !! 🙏🏻
for real, this video is a NFR album kinda like on its own! Masterpiece! this is so beautiful: the way you made us feel through your feelings, words and material you brought to analyze the moment this album is and was, wow, I'm still emotional from everything came through. I'm a huuuuuuge Lana fan and now I'm a fan of yours too!! I'm El! can't wait for your next video!! bye!
Her not winning the award for NFR (album of the year) really shows how rigged the awards are. NFR was literally the top reviewed critically acclaimed album of that year and still didn't win. It's all about popularity, Billie Eilish was the "It Girl" of the moment. Lana Del Rey has maintained a longesvity in both critically acclaimed albums and a solid fanbase 12 years later. Lana has changed the landscape of pop music, Billie Eilish/Lorde/Banks wouldn't be nearly as popular if it wasn't for Lana paving the way, Not hating on anyone I'm just trying to highlight Lana's ability to transform the landscape, I just wish she would get more recognition. Surprised they gave her a VMA for Candy Necklace. Good for her.
im 13 and i loved this and it shows me how much meaning songs and albums can have and how you have to analyze the lyrics to really understand a song. also i saw you in taylor swifts rep secret sessions vid!
You are so incredibly articulate and your thought process is impressive! I love listening to you speak about things you love and are passionate about even though I sometimes disagree with the takes Also your enunciation is so good that it’s ear candy for a English as a second language speaker like me
I love that the first mention of this album from Lana was ‘Bartender’. It’s always been my favorite song from NFR! I love that she plays it at every show and I love that she loves the song so much. I understand it’s not everyone’s favorite but it’s one of my fav Lana tracks for sure! Can’t wait for your next Lana video!
Masterfully constructed video essay on one of the most important albums of the era. The first time I heard Venice Bitch, I knew that this album was going to speak to my soul. And as the summer fades away…nothing gold can stay. That line is so important. That same melancholy feeling you get when autumn starts to creep in is also the feeling you get when you’re at the end of an era. You try to hold onto the beautiful summer memories, but reality is going to hit. My favorites off of the album are Norman, Mariner’s, VB, Butterfly, and Hope. Though let’s be f@ucking honest there are no skips. Ocean Blvd is on par with NFR for me, and I love to see our girl experiment and develop. Thank you for all of your hard work♥️. To me, you will always be the best Lanaologist on the planet. Love the A&W beat switch when you changed into Lanaologist btw!
NFR really captured my conflicting thoughts and consciousness that was happening in 2019 within the trump era of USA as well as incoming Miss Rona that was gonna change everything I was in my second year of college and a lot of things from the past were still holding on to me but I needed something to let it go and move forward to the future or at least be more retrospective to the past so I can be more understanding of the bitterness and be aware enough to know you gotta move forward, that unique lyricism of using a toxic doomed romantic relationship to the collapse of the American dream myth was excellent and genius artistic direction I didn’t think were correlated to each other until NFR
So excited for this video! NFR is my all time favorite LDR album and my fav non Taylor album of all time, it is so sonically beautiful and definitely had a hand in so many artist’s today ‘s music. My favorite songs on the album are happiness is a butterfly, cinnamon girl , mariner apartment complex, and the title track!
Hi Zac, as a fan of both Taylor Swift and Lana del Rey I really appreciate your video essays on both artists and find them extremely entertaining💛I have an album suggestion for a video essay and that is ‘I Can’t Let Go’ by Suki Waterhouse. I find that some of the lyrics on that album are really intriguing and provocative so I think it would be an interesting album to analyse for a video essay.
Even as someone that isn’t in to Lana on that level, this was a really insightful video. I’m gonna have to hear it again given all this context because it didn’t hit me this hard. Great vid!
As someone who started listening to Lana between her Ultraviolence and Honeymoon era, there are many of her works that were huge parts of my life, but this one managed to take the prize. Which still blows me away, because I became a fan when I was a super young teen, and the fact that she could get such a hold of me (and a bigger hold than she had before) when I was in my second year of college is one of the reasons why I admire her work so much. Thanks for this analysis Zach! Your viewpoint is always appreciated and I'm so happy about this new video💚
I’m not the biggest Lana fan, I haven’t listened to many of her albums too many times, (mostly bc I’m stubborn and my friend is almost as obsessed as you so she keeps trying to get me to listen to them so that’s why I have only listened to the albums once, other than NFR bc I love this album!) but just with the little I’ve listened to I can tell how amazing she is. She’s so amazing and NFR is such an amazing album!
This video was recommended because of the LDR algorithm. I feel like I am now smarter for watching this video. You’re very well spoken, and it was refreshing.
This album stamped such a moment in my life! I remember hearing it a few days after it’s release and it completely sweeping me off my feet! Lana is a genius in this ❤
One comment - the Candle in the Wind reference is probably a throw back to Elton’s original lyrics about Marilyn Monroe. The sad, tragic beautiful bombshell rings more true to me than the tragic British princess… both work, but I am thinking Norma Jean resonates more.
What I think is interesting anout The Next Best American Record is how the lyrics were changed significantly from the demo, going into talking about a somewhat happy relationship rather than a critique of a past partner. Rather than "You did it all for the fame, tell me how that treats you now", we got "Whatever's on tonight, I just wanna party with you".
Personally, I'm a casual Lana enjoyer who really likes Chemtrails Over The Country Club and like half of Born To Die but couldn't get more than a few tracks into NFR, so it was really interesting hearing your thoughts on its significance and themes.
WAITING FOR THIS FOR A WHILE!! made my day. I thought i couldn’t love this album more than i already did but this video made me even more appreciative of it
Love you’re assay about nfr, it’s one of my fav albums of all time, adding a more dense layer of knowledge and insight of the rollout for nfr, truly appreciate your work here🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
maybe your most well done video thus far Zack! my relationship with Lana is different to most of the Lanaologists. her music only clicked for me a couple years ago, and i’m so glad i did. listening to NFR for the first time 2 years after its release, i weirdly felt like it perfectly encapsulated how we felt in 2019, in a way i wouldn’t have thought listening to it at the time of its release. so interesting that this is the critical darling, given that it was her least “mainstream” album at that point an a+ video, the video of the century, your commentary continues to astound me, worth the long wait for sure!
This is one of my favourite videos on the internet. You are an amazing content creator!! Could you please do the video about “hope is a dangerous…” i am really interested in your point of view❤
id love you to analyze honeymoon & LFL! I feel like people often go for BTD NFR and UV and forget these other albums! + the post nfr ones would b nice too
The day I heard this album for the first time in August of 2020 honestly altered my brain chemistry. I had never REALLY listened to Lana until then but instantly became a die hard fan. I didn’t need any lore or prior context to be able to *get* this album, the music just spoke for itself. Also F it I Love You is so good
I just love your videos and I'm here just to say that don't pay attention to the mean people, you're amazing and that skin care routine is WORKINGGG king
ok tbh i've been dying for you to make a video on pop culture and how it's become inflated and disillusioned so i'm super excited for this. if there's anyone who can do it it's you! edit: i love the b-roll
Lana needs to see this. This is exeptional and brought back a lot of real memories and associations around what was happening around thw time the album was released
I still remember where i was, what i was doing, where i was going and what had happened before and immediatly after the first time I heard the first lines of the first track of this album
LOVED this analysis of NFR - forever gonan be my favourite albums on lanas discography and forever will be culturally important and is the album that caps off the 2010's and quite foreshadows in my opinion the absoulute state of 2020 - I Would love to see you delve into more of lanas albums soon especially Lust For Life, Chemtrails and Blue Banisters
Would LOVE a little video about your literary recs! Maybe a breakdown of Lana’s literary references. Whatever u like. Rlly wanna see that from ya ❤ Also- anything Lana makes me tear up. Every time.
thank you Abbie! I'd love to do a video about my literary faves, but not sure how to incorporate them with my regular content....will think on it for sure :) I do post about reading more on my ig though
this album truly felt like an impending apocalypse...and that's exactly what happened
YUP barely 6 months later
Oh please, you’re not living in a war zone. You still have freedom of speech. None of you have any idea what true oppression is. Apocalypse? You’re feeding yourself, you have time to make videos on TH-cam. You are the most coddled narcissistic generation in human history.
Now that you mention it, I can see why I felt like it was dark album but I couldn’t point my finger at what exactly it was
Thinks went down when NFR was robbed at Grammys and Justin started the year 2020 with Yummy release. Two heneous crimes.
@@Mynameisdarkxxo It's all in minor key and all about disappointment lyrically. It wasn't hiding
Your critical analysis is so rich and poignant all the way through but especially toward the back half of this video. IDK why I’m tearing up about it but I think it is the trauma of remembering that time in the western world and how well she painted it. Lana is truly a master at naming a melancholy so universally felt but so clumsily spoken about in the moment in which it’s experienced. It’s not until we retrospectively process it that we can see it she was so much more on the pulse in her melancholy than we were in our disillusionment and feigned hustle culture and survivalist optimism. Veeeery neoliberal, very consumerist therapy. Every time I hear it I discover something new to unpack
thank you so much! and yes I totally agree, I learn something new each listen
Mariners Apartment Complex and Venice Bitch came out a couple months after I graduated college, when I was depressed and uncertain what my future held. I was visiting my younger sister at the same college I had just graduated from, so I was surrounded by memories and bittersweetness when I listened to Venice Bitch for the first time and I was just in awe. It evoked such a unique mix of feelings for me, both sweet and sad and full of nostalgia, and I'll always remember it. Definitely one of my favorite Lana songs
Doesn’t matter when I disagree or agree with you, you’re INSANELY well spoken. You would make an excellent lawyer
The Lanaologists are screaming and crying rn (me included)
as you should
Dont we cry and scream on a daily basis?
@@Cats.JustCatsaccurate 🤣
excellent analysis! this album really did cap off the 2010s and acted as an omen for the cultural collapse that was 2020. this is the record that really set lana up as the successor to joni mitchell - someone who is able to synthesize her views on the world around her with her complicated and messy interpersonal relationships. nfr forever!
so true!
THIS
Mariners Apartment Complex is one of the beautifully jaw dropping songs I have ever heard. Easily one of my favorite songs of all time.
I looove this Lana series. Your commentary is of the highest quality and pushes the viewer to relisten to songs they already know with new perspective. Truly amazing work
thank you so so much! that's always my goal
Happiness is a butterfly is my favorite. I start crying whenever it comes on🫠
Lana del rey video essays are what keep me alive (apart from Lana herself)
LMAO
NFR is one of the most iconic albums, can’t believe it didn’t win AOTY
Right! I love Billie's Record, but NFR Is more meaningful and beautiful.
like literally nobody care about the grammy it’s better off , nfr is higher to be judged by an award
@@jenn9049 trueee but if it did win it’d probably be more appropriate by the genera public other than just the lana fans 🥲🥲 but still ur right
@@Ja79X ‼️ i think the grammys like to highlight newer artists and at that time lana was not new.
It’s album of the year every year to me personally
I’d love to see a retrospective of the Disney-mainstream pop girl timeline. What was once novel with Britney, Christina, and Hilary, has now become ingrained in the Disney girl career trajectory.
Also, excluding superbowl halftime shows, I’d love to see which pop girl televised performances you feel were the most excellent/career-defining.
Great work as always!
great idea! maybe something I can touch on in my 50k stream :D
I love your Lana content. Please don`t hesitate to do non-taylor-swift cultural commentary. Its amazing!
I love how high quality this video essay is, especially for NFR. Great work. I love this album and happiness is a butterfly is also one of my favs.
Thank you so much!
This was brilliant. I literally never noticed that Venice Bitch was 10 mins(-ish) long before you mentioned it, and I've listened to that song a million times. It's just so good that it transcends time.
omg thats so interesting
I’ve never had someone so perfectly describe my feelings for this absolute masterpiece of an album. She really did write the next best American record with this one. Definitely going down as one of the greatest of all time. 💯💯💯
This album cemented her as one of the best American songwriters and I feel it paved the way for her current level of popularity and critical/commercial success that she’s received in recent years.
@@zoidberg6848 so true. i admittedly became a lana fan because of nfr and now it's my favorite album in the entire world
A very well written essay. Excellent. Loved your thoughts. Also Few words for norman from my side. The album hasn’t aged a bit for me. It has the timeless sound. It is effortless. Lana and Jack really did THAT. It still haunts me NFR didn’t win any Grammys. (Don’t get me started) Also NFR really solidified Lana’s position in pop culture as a legend. Yes she changed music landscape with Born to die but NFR showed she still had more to offer after 9 years. It was a new Lana. She grew as a person and It reflected in this album. It’s almost like How Folklore is for Taylor’s career, NFR did exact same thing for Lana. Now forward whatever they do, doesn’t matter. As you said even 30% as good as these will be good enough. I am very eager to see if Taylor or Lana gives us another magnum opus in future. You never know these two woman can do anything ❤
totally agree with you!
What an amazingly well put together analysis of this masterpiece and Lana’s masterful writing, bravo Zach.
thank you for watching
Agreed
NFR was a hit for me in quarantine. Its like she predicted the world falling apart as how we felt when the corona virus first broke out. In the greatest saying how this is it and how we dont Appreciate things until theyre gone and how it hit us so suddenly. In VB, the nostalgia of enjoying simple things like hanging around the backyard together and remenising thee good old time
yes it became so much more prescient in quarantine
I totally agree especially with the line "Miss doing nothing the most of all" like that's literally exactly what we were doing in quarantine just a few months after she released NFR.
I think it would be really interesting to hear you talk about the ‘Sad Girl’ aesthetic that took the Internet by storm in the 2010s, from its roots on tumblr and with artists such as Arctic Monkeys and ofc Lana, or modern this such as Billie Eilish and early Olivia Rodrigo (although her sound has changed since Sour and she’s more 2000s rock star now). I would also love to hear your thoughts on how the media portrays mental health in pop culture and the fine line between talking about mental issues and romnatizing it. Great video btw ❤
love this idea!!
LOVED this analysis. Would love for you to do a video essay on Lorde’s Melodrama - with it being such a monumental album in pop culture too!
oh the melodrama essay has been percolating in my brain.....
I’ve never liked to link an album to the title of greatest of all times, but I don’t know why norman f rockwell always comes to my mind when I think about it. That’s timeless music. Thanks for this video ❤️
it really is timeless - great word to describe it
lanaologist is back!!!
i knew from the title alone this would be a brilliant analysis! really love that you've started speaking about pop culture more broadly as you bring a level of articulate insight that this niche of the internet severely lacks.
lana's artistry has always felt like it transcended time, somehow both wildly ahead of its time yet feeling like it belongs amongst the historic greats of the 20th century. born to die literally revolutionised what it means to be a female musician, she forged a new path in the early 2010s that i truly don't think we give her enough credit for. and with nfr she closed the 2010s in an entirely different way. i see those two albums as perfect bookends for that decade, beautifully encapsulating how massively the world changed in just 10 short years. lana is a pioneer and sometimes she really does seem, as you said, 'clairvoyant'. her ability to somehow predict the changing tides is sometimes mind boggling. her music is timeless and i have literally no doubt that it will live on for a long long time. there is no one like lana. no one.
thank you so much for appreciating my work! always makes me feel good when people truly get it
A perfect album at the perfect time in history for it to be put out.
louder!
She definitely was game changer, not just for the music but the visuals, eras, and production that is so ahead of her time, in some way she teach new generation to be better
Ocean blvd and Nfr are hands down top lana albums
suuuch a well written review of this album. a friend said that nfr is a “look into the past and you’ll see yourself in the future” type of album and i always think of that sentence whenever i revisit it
your friend is so wise! thank you for watching
As an unapologetic music nerd, this is the kind of deep dive, intellectual, analysis that I deeply appreciate. Keep 'em coming!
Ah I LOVE when you do these video essays Zach! So excellent! I'm pretty new to Lana's music so it's a huge treat to get someone like you give context to the music!
love showing newbies the gospel
Incredible and insightful video! Elton John wrote Candle in the Wind originally for Marilyn Monroe, another famously doomed "sad girl". For Diana he changed the words to "goodbye English rose".
Marilyn parallels never stop never stopping
I really appreciated this video essay. NFR IS THAT GIRL. I would love to see you do a similarly formatted video for Folklore/Evermore🧡
noted!!
Just when I think I’m finally beginning to grasp Lana’s music, the Lanaoligist is here to prove me wrong. You make me appreciate her albums so much more. Thank you
I‘d really love to see a deep dive into MARINA‘s (former Marina and the Diamonds) discography or at least her latest album „Ancient Dreams In a Modern Land“ . I feel like especially that album is massively underrated even though it has beautiful songs and lyrics.
Second! Second! Second! 🪐❤️🔥🤠
as a long time fan i think over the last 1-2 years i really have realized that NFR truly is her best era. i love all her records/eras equally but my god this whole era.. the visuals, the songs, the vibes, seeing her on tour… it truly was the culture. you made so many amazing points!
So grateful for these videos because I feel like sometimes I get so lost in just absolutely obsessing over the music that I forget it even has deeper meaning and context other than just being beautiful poetry
NFR is the Album of the decade, this is the Video of the decade. It’s that simple 💅
so true
I'm so glad I'm not the only one thinking venice bitch is such a good record i have no words how good it is and the fact it's 10 minutes long adds to the perfection
Zack- it would be nice to have you run down the top contenders for AOTY Grammys this year. I would love to hear your take. Thanks for this LDR content. Off to listen to NFR for the first time, aware that I just made many jealous with that statement #luckyme ❤
might do this in a TH-cam short
I was lucky to see her perform this album at a beautiful theater in my town ♥️ it was my favorite show
VERY VERY VERY JEALOUS
Been binge watching your videos lately! Obsessed with these analysis. And I STRONGLY agree. NFR was and will always be THE moment. My favourite track on the record is definitely Hope because of it's atmospheric and delicateness. Such a monumental song for Lana. Btw, I'd really appreciate it if you're gonna tackle Taylor's Folklore, it's legacy and how it affected the critics' and the locals' view of her art and artistry. Another great and well put video from the -swiftologist- lanaologist!
thank you for watching!! I would love to do a similar video to this on folklore, def on my list
yay!! def anticipating that
I'm so glad someone else agrees NFR is her best album. Not a single skip on this one.
could not agree more with every word you've spoken. what a beautiful album and perfect encapsulation of a moment in time. AOTY in my heart.
tysm!! album of the century!
ICONIC!! I love Lana,she’s you unique!!! and you explain her and her style so well !!!! I’m obsessed with happiness is a butterfly!🦋🦋 and Cinnamon Girl!! 🤎 so thank you for this video !! 🙏🏻
i been waiting for any kind of essay/video-essay like this about nfr for a long time now... i love this, and i love your journalism, keep it up!
long overdue but its finallllly here!! thanks for watching x
Suuuuch an incredible record. Love to hear all your thoughts as always!
thanks for watching!!
for real, this video is a NFR album kinda like on its own! Masterpiece! this is so beautiful: the way you made us feel through your feelings, words and material you brought to analyze the moment this album is and was, wow, I'm still emotional from everything came through. I'm a huuuuuuge Lana fan and now I'm a fan of yours too!! I'm El! can't wait for your next video!! bye!
Her not winning the award for NFR (album of the year) really shows how rigged the awards are. NFR was literally the top reviewed critically acclaimed album of that year and still didn't win. It's all about popularity, Billie Eilish was the "It Girl" of the moment. Lana Del Rey has maintained a longesvity in both critically acclaimed albums and a solid fanbase 12 years later. Lana has changed the landscape of pop music, Billie Eilish/Lorde/Banks wouldn't be nearly as popular if it wasn't for Lana paving the way, Not hating on anyone I'm just trying to highlight Lana's ability to transform the landscape, I just wish she would get more recognition. Surprised they gave her a VMA for Candy Necklace. Good for her.
The way that Love Song and Cinnamon Girl are sisters production-wise as the former directly mirrors the exact arrangement as the latter BREAKS HEARTS
im 13 and i loved this and it shows me how much meaning songs and albums can have and how you have to analyze the lyrics to really understand a song. also i saw you in taylor swifts rep secret sessions vid!
You are so incredibly articulate and your thought process is impressive! I love listening to you speak about things you love and are passionate about even though I sometimes disagree with the takes
Also your enunciation is so good that it’s ear candy for a English as a second language speaker like me
I love that the first mention of this album from Lana was ‘Bartender’. It’s always been my favorite song from NFR! I love that she plays it at every show and I love that she loves the song so much. I understand it’s not everyone’s favorite but it’s one of my fav Lana tracks for sure!
Can’t wait for your next Lana video!
Cannot wait. Don’t know Lana beyond SOTB and I am sat, waiting to understand her more. Thanks Zack!
hope you fall in love with her!!
Masterfully constructed video essay on one of the most important albums of the era. The first time I heard Venice Bitch, I knew that this album was going to speak to my soul. And as the summer fades away…nothing gold can stay. That line is so important. That same melancholy feeling you get when autumn starts to creep in is also the feeling you get when you’re at the end of an era. You try to hold onto the beautiful summer memories, but reality is going to hit.
My favorites off of the album are Norman, Mariner’s, VB, Butterfly, and Hope. Though let’s be f@ucking honest there are no skips.
Ocean Blvd is on par with NFR for me, and I love to see our girl experiment and develop. Thank you for all of your hard work♥️. To me, you will always be the best Lanaologist on the planet.
Love the A&W beat switch when you changed into Lanaologist btw!
what a beautiful description of VB!! I love that line too :)
thank u for handing us the mic during happiness is a butterfly 🥰
Of course!!
NFR really captured my conflicting thoughts and consciousness that was happening in 2019 within the trump era of USA as well as incoming Miss Rona that was gonna change everything I was in my second year of college and a lot of things from the past were still holding on to me but I needed something to let it go and move forward to the future or at least be more retrospective to the past so I can be more understanding of the bitterness and be aware enough to know you gotta move forward, that unique lyricism of using a toxic doomed romantic relationship to the collapse of the American dream myth was excellent and genius artistic direction I didn’t think were correlated to each other until NFR
I will never get over this album! I get chills every time I listen to it. Sometimes a few tears. One of the best albums of all time for me 💞
You are brilliant. And yes, Happiness is a butterfly is definitely a favourite.
So excited for this video! NFR is my all time favorite LDR album and my fav non Taylor album of all time, it is so sonically beautiful and definitely had a hand in so many artist’s today ‘s music. My favorite songs on the album are happiness is a butterfly, cinnamon girl , mariner apartment complex, and the title track!
Hi Zac, as a fan of both Taylor Swift and Lana del Rey I really appreciate your video essays on both artists and find them extremely entertaining💛I have an album suggestion for a video essay and that is ‘I Can’t Let Go’ by Suki Waterhouse. I find that some of the lyrics on that album are really intriguing and provocative so I think it would be an interesting album to analyse for a video essay.
what a great analysis of such a brilliant album. thankyou for this, i’d love to see more lana content from you 🤍
there will always be lana content on my channel!
Even as someone that isn’t in to Lana on that level, this was a really insightful video. I’m gonna have to hear it again given all this context because it didn’t hit me this hard. Great vid!
As someone who started listening to Lana between her Ultraviolence and Honeymoon era, there are many of her works that were huge parts of my life, but this one managed to take the prize. Which still blows me away, because I became a fan when I was a super young teen, and the fact that she could get such a hold of me (and a bigger hold than she had before) when I was in my second year of college is one of the reasons why I admire her work so much. Thanks for this analysis Zach! Your viewpoint is always appreciated and I'm so happy about this new video💚
thank you for watching!!
had to go listen to the album again with this analysis in mind, so interesting her mind!! has been one of my favourite albums since it’s release
this album is timeless
The Lanaologist is back!! We missed him
I’m not the biggest Lana fan, I haven’t listened to many of her albums too many times, (mostly bc I’m stubborn and my friend is almost as obsessed as you so she keeps trying to get me to listen to them so that’s why I have only listened to the albums once, other than NFR bc I love this album!) but just with the little I’ve listened to I can tell how amazing she is. She’s so amazing and NFR is such an amazing album!
This video was recommended because of the LDR algorithm. I feel like I am now smarter for watching this video. You’re very well spoken, and it was refreshing.
every song on this album is perfect but normal fucking rockwell the song and cinnamon girl give me chills
sooooo valid
This album stamped such a moment in my life! I remember hearing it a few days after it’s release and it completely sweeping me off my feet! Lana is a genius in this ❤
One comment - the Candle in the Wind reference is probably a throw back to Elton’s original lyrics about Marilyn Monroe. The sad, tragic beautiful bombshell rings more true to me than the tragic British princess… both work, but I am thinking Norma Jean resonates more.
What I think is interesting anout The Next Best American Record is how the lyrics were changed significantly from the demo, going into talking about a somewhat happy relationship rather than a critique of a past partner. Rather than "You did it all for the fame, tell me how that treats you now", we got "Whatever's on tonight, I just wanna party with you".
Personally, I'm a casual Lana enjoyer who really likes Chemtrails Over The Country Club and like half of Born To Die but couldn't get more than a few tracks into NFR, so it was really interesting hearing your thoughts on its significance and themes.
Oh you ate this up! great job, the record i want you to talk about for future videos are CTRL or SOS (or maybe both)
I will DEFINITELY do a CTRL video one day. that record. is everything.
Happiness is a butterfly 🦋 is honestly the best 💗
Omg you’re amazing! What a beautiful description right on the money!
Very well said!
My favourite part of the album is the start of the first song when the strings slowly fade in. Sounds so beautiful and wistful
your videos are the only ones i dont watch on 2x speed because i want them to last as long as possible
aw thank you !!
WAITING FOR THIS FOR A WHILE!! made my day. I thought i couldn’t love this album more than i already did but this video made me even more appreciative of it
Feels good to be early! I always learn so much from your videos. Thank you for your contributions 👑
Love you’re assay about nfr, it’s one of my fav albums of all time, adding a more dense layer of knowledge and insight of the rollout for nfr, truly appreciate your work here🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
Your videos are very addicting to me. I knew you were not trouble when I visited your channel, because now you’re one of my favourite content creator.
maybe your most well done video thus far Zack! my relationship with Lana is different to most of the Lanaologists. her music only clicked for me a couple years ago, and i’m so glad i did. listening to NFR for the first time 2 years after its release, i weirdly felt like it perfectly encapsulated how we felt in 2019, in a way i wouldn’t have thought listening to it at the time of its release. so interesting that this is the critical darling, given that it was her least “mainstream” album at that point
an a+ video, the video of the century, your commentary continues to astound me, worth the long wait for sure!
thank you so much for watching!!
This is one of my favourite videos on the internet. You are an amazing content creator!! Could you please do the video about “hope is a dangerous…” i am really interested in your point of view❤
The Greatest is her best song, it was prophetic af. Thank you for the video Zac!!!! 🫶🏻
I need to see this opinion more....
My favorite lana album 💛 thank you for the amazing video! My favorite track from NFR is cinnamon girl.
great choice
I vividly remember the first time I listened to the NFR album. Lana really got me fighting my demons that night
So excited for this! Mr.Swiftologist back at it again with another amazing video! P.s. loved and enjoyed 2017 part 1
thank you x2!!
id love you to analyze honeymoon & LFL! I feel like people often go for BTD NFR and UV and forget these other albums!
+ the post nfr ones would b nice too
Omg ive been manifesting this, thank you for another amazing Lana video 😍
and here it is ... thank you for watching!!
OMGG more lana videos pls this is exquisite
The day I heard this album for the first time in August of 2020 honestly altered my brain chemistry. I had never REALLY listened to Lana until then but instantly became a die hard fan. I didn’t need any lore or prior context to be able to *get* this album, the music just spoke for itself. Also F it I Love You is so good
too real
I just love your videos and I'm here just to say that don't pay attention to the mean people, you're amazing and that skin care routine is WORKINGGG king
LOL thank you!!
ok tbh i've been dying for you to make a video on pop culture and how it's become inflated and disillusioned so i'm super excited for this. if there's anyone who can do it it's you!
edit: i love the b-roll
thanks for watching!! and appreciating the b-roll lol
your takes are so unbelievably thoughtful zach. love your content x1000000000
thank you for watching!! xx
Lana needs to see this. This is exeptional and brought back a lot of real memories and associations around what was happening around thw time the album was released
I still remember where i was, what i was doing, where i was going and what had happened before and immediatly after the first time I heard the first lines of the first track of this album
game changer....
LOVED this analysis of NFR - forever gonan be my favourite albums on lanas discography and forever will be culturally important and is the album that caps off the 2010's and quite foreshadows in my opinion the absoulute state of 2020 - I Would love to see you delve into more of lanas albums soon especially Lust For Life, Chemtrails and Blue Banisters
tysm for watching!! chemtrails is next
I was binge watching your videos for the last two hours and you released a new Lana Del Rey video! Thanks and love.
clairvoyance like mother...
Would LOVE a little video about your literary recs! Maybe a breakdown of Lana’s literary references. Whatever u like. Rlly wanna see that from ya ❤
Also- anything Lana makes me tear up. Every time.
thank you Abbie! I'd love to do a video about my literary faves, but not sure how to incorporate them with my regular content....will think on it for sure :) I do post about reading more on my ig though
nfr is honestly my fav album, every lyric in that album is full with emotions and meaning and you can feel it, it really deserves AOTY