My 10 All Time Favorite Albums: Part 2

Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die."

I really got into Lana this summer, I was young and carefree, festivaling it up in Spain and then tanning on a beach to then go karting in the evening. This album is amazing to listen to, especially whilst going down an empty fast lane at night with the roof of the car down. You feel free, reckless and invincible.... Yet you still remain vulnerable, as if it could all end tomorrow, but in that moment nothing can touch you.

Even when I came back home to England, sitting in my friends back garden as they blaze up, we were one, connected by Lana, who lives a completely different life to us, yet seems to sing what we feel. We all came from different backgrounds with different stories, the girl who has everything, the boy who lost it all, the future Ceo, the abused victims, the athletes, the druggies, the girls who eat their feels and people who were perfectly happy. We were all connected by Lana Del Rey, we didn't see our stereotypes, but rather who we actually were. 



"Born to Die"

Born to die was my 2nd song I had ever heard by Lana, My friend Harry back home was blazing up in the park one day and he turned to me and said "Lisa, you like Lana, right?" I told him honestly I had only heard one song, he frowned at me and said "I bet it's Summertime sadness", to which I laughed and said no! He beamed at me this wild gummy smile, his eyes admittedly a little red, and said " You'll love this!" 
I did, I was instantly caught by the music, the sudden change in sound, and then Lana's voice drawls out
"Feet don't fail me now
Take me to the finish line
Oh my heart it breaks every step that I take
But I’m hoping at the gates,
They’ll tell me that you’re mine"
Her sound is so relaxed and easy, it just makes you want to sit back and look at the sky and appreciate the beauty around you and the people in your life.
I can see but once I was blind
I was so confused as a little child
Trying to take what I could get
Scared that I couldn't find
All the answers honey"
I think every Teen out there will be able to relate to this verse, we've all felt lost and confused, it's a natural feeling, but sometimes you're too scared to talk about it, so music is a good way to get that all out of your system, rather than being forced into sharing something you feel vulnerable about, you can listen to her and realize you're not the only one, it makes you feel more at ease with yourself. If you've had your heartbroken, lost someone or even did badly in an exam then music can be your comfort, a safe haven where you can drift off into another world.

"Blue Jeans"

You're so fresh to death and sick as ca-cancer
You were sorta punk rock, I grew up on hip hop
But you fit me better than my favourite sweater, and I know
That love is mean, and love hurts
But I still remember that day we met in December, oh baby!"

Blue jeans is SO melodramatic, I love it, she compares love to cancer and really plays on the "Fatal love" genre, or as the Guardian describes her as "doomed but devoted partner of a kind of Athena poster bad boy, all white vest, cheekbones and dangling ciggie.” She looks so cool, gorgeous, stunning, whilst watching/listening to her you want to experience her life, to be her, to feel her pain."Promise you'll remember that you're mine
Baby can you see through the tears
Love you more
Than those bitches before"
Lets be honest here, we all love it when our favorite songs have a little bit of swearing in, mainly because we think that it makes us look "bad ass", when you're with your friends singing along a little drunk if there's a line, we can all relate to, that has a killer beat and a cuss in there, you know you'll sing that line a little louder and laugh it off with your mates, and the older generation looks your way and shakes their head all disgruntled. Fucking love it.
Blue jeans ends on "I will love you 'til the end of time", because lets face it, we all crave love, and we'll go to all extremes to convince ourselves that we've found the one. When lets be honest he/she is actually your 101th.

"National Anthem" 

National anthem actually followed me all the way to university, in fact I still play this song with Philip and when I'm in the gym. I was for a while, addicted to the music video of this song, its based on the Kennedy assassination and after watching this mv about 10 times straight I actually went on some huge research into the Kennedy's.
But yeah so the first memory I have of this song is being on a bus on my way to go clubbing in Piccadilly. It was around 11 pm, we had had our prinks at home and in a pub, so needless to say we were quite tipsy, there were about 15 of us, most of which were 6ft tall boys who were bellowing out to Lana Del Ray, whilst sober they would deny any reaction to her music, but that night we were singing our hearts out. The bus driver stopped the bus twice to tell us to be quieter, because there was a middle age man on the bus who kept complaining, so the boys would begin giggling and shushing each other, as soon as he got off the boys started up again. It was one of the funniest moments of my life, seeing your friends slurring out that:
"Money is the anthem
Of success
So before we go out
What's your address?"
It completed me. Thank you for the memories boys.
But the song, again easily relatable, "He says be cool, but I don't know how yet" all of us have these worries, "ohhh how do I act around him bla bla bla", if you're one of those people right now, take my advice, act yourself, if he wants to change you, he's not worth it. Shouldn't s/he love you for who you are?"God, you're so handsome
Take me to the Hamptons
Bugatti Veyron"
But again I love the honesty of this song, cause completely honest here, if you're good looking and rich then you're considered a full on 10/10. You're a little more attractive if you have money, just look at all them hook up sites, such as sugar daddies/mama's. We live in a materialistic world, as Madonna will let you know.
Coming to university, I found myself in Hailsham one night with the two Alex's and Umay, they played this song and it was that moment where I was like "you know, I'm going to be fine here." 

I think I've babbled on too much tonight, but check out Lana Del Rey! Oh and not all my friends are druggies I promise you, and neither am I!

My 10 All Time Favorite Albums: Part 1

Hey Monster Munch!
So Today I was with Phil, and we were discussing what we could both blog about tonight, his previous blogs were brought up as we discussed how his most read blogs were the ones with were supposedly "scandalous and controversial", to which he received a huge backlash, yet ones such as his "My 10 All Time Favorite Albums" didn't get as many views or comments. Whereas I appreciated his blog post on albums, because it wasn't out there, and people couldn't rile up against it, it wasn't as successful as his "I'd Suckle Those Teats".
However, I enjoyed looking at his music taste, and being the one in the group with the "worst music taste in history", I decided I would respond with one of my own, except I will be doing one album a day!
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Marina and the Diamonds- Electra Heart.

I absolutely adore this album, I didn't really give it a listen until I'd say at the end of 2013, and its now the end of 2014 and I still listen to this album everyday. I adore her uniqueness, straight from the first verse of the very first song you can already relate to this album "I'll chew you up and I'll spit you out, because that's what young love is all about". You can listen to this song anywhere, be that on a bus straight home or at a sleepover with all your girls jumping around on a bed. We all experience what we think is love when we're young so we can all relate, "Oh dear diary, I met a boy... Oh Diary, we fell apart"
 Then we have the famous "Primadonna" which is my soul song, I swear all diva's will understand this song and say its speaks to them, "I wanna be adored."

I'll skip along to "Power and Control,which to me has an eerie kind of feel, Its about the power struggle in a relationship "Women and men we are the same, but love, but love must be a game.. eternal game of tug of war." I love the whole feel to this song, mystic and dreamlike, I also listened to this song a lot when my best friend was facing abuse from her boyfriend. 
My personal favorite was "Teen Idle" which is about depression and suicide, when Alice died, I think I listened to this song on repeat for about a week. It made me think of what she had gone through, it made me think of everyone else around me that felt trapped. 
"I wanna be a bottle blonde
I don’t know why but I feel conned
I wanna be an idle teen
I wish I hadn’t been so clean"

But also I saw myself in the lyrics, I mean I've never considered that I was depressed or anything like that, I was always content with who I was, and I always knew where I stood, I was Lisa, I was loved and I had loads of friends and I was doing well for my self, so suicide never had the chance to cross my mind, I was genuinely a really happy person, so I never really thought about how others might be effected by it. But when Alice died, It woke me up and  I suppose I allowed my self to fall in a abyss of self pity for a while, I was 17, my soul sister was dead, I'd never been in a real relationship ,never been touched. Before I held that as a beacon "I'm untouchable, a pure figure amongst the dirt" I used to announce proudly, I was a silly girl.  But then after Alice, everything around me, exams and school all felt like a waste of time, instead of being in a classroom, I should have been with Alice experiencing life, what use would Pythagoras be in a life and death situation? But I don't mean to say this song made me feel shit, but rather it made me understand things more. I finally got what Alice had been saying, It dawned on me what real sadness feels like.How the world feels like its over.
So, this album helped me to release some feelings that I couldn't really get out by myself! Needless to say I love Marina!