We have a first for Throwback Weekends — a week where almost the entire Hot 100 Top Ten has already been featured on the blog.
Here were the songs at #1 through #9 the week of September 28, 2013: Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball,’ Katy Perry’s ‘Roar,’ Lorde’s ‘Royals,’ Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines,’ Avicii’s ‘Wake Me Up!,’ Jay Z’s ‘Holy Grail,’ Lady Gaga’s ‘Applause,’ Eminem’s ‘Berzerk,’ and Drake’s ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home.’ Whew!
Yesterday we heard a computer-generated Jeff Buckley trying his hand at a Lana Del Rey song, and today a computer-generated Lana Del Rey is returning the favor.
For some reason, this clip segues from Del Rey’s vocals back to the original about two thirds of the way through, before switching back to Lana again. Not sure if that was a computer error or an attempt to make this more of a duet than a cover, but it makes for an interesting listen. You can kind of hear in real time the way one voice is morphed into the other.
One of the most popular uses of AI in the music space is the resurrection of dead artists. This technology allows us to hear (or at least pretend to hear) new material from singers who were sadly silenced. This is particularly poignant when applied to those who died young.
Jeff Buckley was just 30 when he drowned in 1997 having released only one studio album (1994’s wonderful Grace). Several posthumous releases have attempted to capitalize on his popularity, which is just a pre-AI form of exploitation. I’d argue that the AI efforts are less cynical because they aren’t rooted in capitalism.
Continuing my track-by-track appreciation of Lana Del Rey’s newest album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd…
Track 16: ‘Tack Truck x VB’
On an album filled with lyrical and musical references to her past work, it’s only appropriate that Del Rey wraps things up with an extended, grunged-up sample of one of her most beloved and iconic songs, ‘Venice Bitch.’ That’s what the “VB” stands for in the title of this track, and it comes as quite a giddy surprise halfway through the album’s final song.
Continuing my track-by-track appreciation of Lana Del Rey’s newest album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd…
Track 15: ‘Peppers’
On an album obsessed with death and memory, Del Rey waited until track 15 to just kick back and have some fun. That’s the best explanation for this oddball song, which borrows its Angelina Jolie-referencing chorus from Canadian “underground rap queen” Tommy Genesis.
‘Peppers’ finds Del Rey throwing caution to the wind, dancing naked in front of an open window and kissing her COVID-infected boyfriend while listening to fellow Californians The Red Hot Chili Peppers. It’s as if the soul searching and heart baring of the previous 14 songs shed her of all that emotional baggage and led her to this surf rap oasis.
Meet Me In Montauk 