Tux Life

Let me break it down for you: she’s writing herself into existence. She’s giving herself a part to play because, God knows, no one else will and she wants to matter in this life. As far as I can tell, it’s working. I went straight to iTunes and bought her new release “Born To Die” in toto (how often do I do that??) because it was more than a collection of songs or a performance, it was a phenomenon. Maybe all the more so because she’s not overwhelmingly talented. The minute I hear the whisperings of “how dare she,” I’m interested. I don’t have to like it, it doesn’t have to be worthy.

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Liz Phair, defending Lana Del Rey. Fuckin’ A.

I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about this album that is so alluring. It wasn’t until I read this op-ed that I realized it: Just as Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville first got me with its unapologetic titillation and PJ Harvey’s Happy and Bleeding with its unapologetic affirmation blues, Lana Del Rey’s “bad girl” persona is a total tease in every good and bad sense of the word. And the best part is that the more you listen, the more your perception changes. It forces me to listen for entirely different reasons than a woman might, but at least we’re both listening.