Download Lana Del Rey's Born To Die for FREE for a limited time on iTunes right now.
I’ve been obsessed with Lana Del Rey and her seductive voice for several weeks now. It’s been impossible to go a day without playing her music in the car at least once. Among my favourites are “Blue Jeans” and “Born To Die” (which you can download for free right now on iTunes as mentioned above), and not too long ago I declared “Kinda Outta Luck” to be my personal theme song—though I could never do such a thing to my dad (see lyrics).
Lana a.k.a. Elizabeth Grant performed on SNL tonight as the musical guest while Daniel Radcliffe was the celebrity guest. I normally don’t tune in to the weekly show, but I had to catch LDR in her first U.S. TV debut. If you didn’t tune in, well, let’s just say that I was glad my smartphone ran out of battery and that I couldn’t check Twitter for all the #snl and #lanadelrey comments.
As most musical guests do, she performed two songs: “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans”. Within the first verse of the first song, I think most people knew this would not be LDR’s best performance. It’s like she tried to suppress her vocals, push for a deeper pitch and do something different to the song than what’s on the recording. It was a bit of a disaster. Having seen videos of her live performance (e.g. at The Mod Club in Toronto), I knew she was better than that—though my expectation was still relatively low; I just never know what to expect from her in a live setting. Her “Blue Jeans” performance was a tad better, but still far from perfect. I can’t begin to imagine how nervous she must have been. From a recent interview with MTV:
So have you been practicing all week for SNL?
Well, no, I haven’t because I’ve been working. I don’t even know what I’m singing! I know it’s “Video Games” and I think “Blue Jeans,” but I thought it was supposed to be “Born to Die,” so I have to go figure that out. I better fucking figure that out! [Laughs] There’s a lot going on so there’s a lot of catching up to do.
Are you excited?
Yeah … I’m excited if it goes well. If it doesn’t, I’m gonna kill myself! But yeah, what an honor. And who knows why, but it’s really nice for me.
Her album Born To Die comes out on January 31—I already have this date marked on my calendars. Apparently she will be making her next two U.S. television performances in February on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Ellen Degeneres Show. I hope that she will be able to redeem herself and that TV viewers will give her a second chance. After all, that SNL performance was nothing compared to Ashlee Simpson.
“XO til we overdose…”
Part of me is mad at Drake (aka Aubrey Graham) and The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) for bringing everyone into my world of XO.
Yes, I claimed it to be my own. There is something so beautiful about the marriage of the letters x and o that had/have me loving the idea of kisses hugs intimacy relationships love. It’s simple, meaningful, yet so tragic.
When I began this post, I had The Weeknd’s “Next” at the top. I have been listening to the Echoes of Silence mixtape on repeat despite thinking, just months ago, I’d never fully enjoy his music. How wrong was I to dismiss him and his work. Browsing through Tumblr just now, I stumbled upon Beatrice Martin (Coeur de Pirate)’s reblog of The Weeknd’s posting of that song. When I went to The Weeknd’s Tumblr, I was reminded of the XO symbol now so ubiquitous and popularly associated with him and Drake. The “XO Gang,” they call themselves.
I was suddenly reminded of what XO means to me—what it meant to me, not now but years ago when things weren’t so…what’s the word…composed.
If Elliott Smith was still alive today, he would be turning 43 this August. I can only imagine how his life would have turned out: I dream of a world that becomes inspired by his music, his talent, and his emotions; but the reality is likely that the same tragic ending would nonetheless have occurred somewhere down the road. It almost seemed inevitable that he would part from us too soon, his life too short-lived (but maybe that’s all/what he wanted/needed).
Elliott Smith’s 1998 album titled XO changed my…life—I hesitate to use this word in fear of demeaning what I’m getting at, but I have no better way to put this. His music effectively changed my outlook; He made me feel like I belong; I could relate to him, although I knew I could never understand all that he went through and how he felt.
He empowered me to love. And all that I can do to thank him for his influence is to live my life as happily and confidently as I can, always seeking the positive in every situation, person, success, and mistake.
Looking out on the substitute scene
Still going strong
XO, Mom
It’s ok, it’s all right, nothing’s wrong
Tell Mr. Man with impossible plans to just leave me alone
In the place where I make no mistakes
In the place where I have what it takes
The No.1 Cardinal Sin of Twitter
The number one cardinal sin of Twitter a brand can commit (according to me) is the improper use of the @mention in the beginning of a tweet.
I cannot begin to tell you how much it drives me crazy when a brand “replies” to me—or a brand I manage—on Twitter when the [clear] intention was to broadcast the tweet to all of their followers, with me/my brand included as a mention or in hopes I/we would retweet.
In cases with the latter intention where brands hope my brand will retweet the message, most of the time it’s warranted because the tweet is by a brand related to my brands. Fine, I don’t care if you do it; I’m actually more than happy to spread your message for you… BUT, please-oh-please-oh-please, for my sanity and that of everyone else who I may rant at in frustration (and those rants occur far too often), do not place my/my brand’s Twitter @username at the front of your tweet.
I know, it could be tough and time-consuming to re-write your tweet when the drafted tweet already makes so much sense and sounds perfect when you read it aloud. But, c’mon. If you are a community/social media manager, you should know the simple fact that a @username in the front of your tweet acts as a @reply. Only your followers who also follow me/my brand will read your tweet in their timeline.
This doesn’t only apply to brands. It also applies to regular users/non-brand owners…but when a brand commits this sin, and when it’s a multi-million dollar brand that I know can afford a decent community manager, it’s especially unacceptable.
It’s a simple concept.
Tweet right. Do it right. Don’t make me feel bad for you.
