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The Unreleased Spotlight

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Butterflies Part 2 has the distinction of being one of the strangest songs Lana has ever recorded, yet the result is not altogether bad. This track was recorded in 2011, presumably for Born To Die. It was written and produced with Jim Irvin (in his only work with Lana, ever) and Tim Larcombe (producer and co-writer of Off To The Races, This Is What Makes Us Girls and Gods & Monsters). The song is notable for its vocals, which are quite indistinct, due to their low volume in comparison to the instrumental. The song explores a relationship with a religious figure, who may be the mysterious "guru" Lana has recently begun to talk about in interviews. The song's lyrics do correlate with her descriptions of him, in that she describes herself as very drawn to him, despite his seeming pedophilia. This song is also quite funny to me, in that it's titled Part 2, as if the first part (the unreleased song Butterflies, which is unrelated, thematically) had been released. As a point of fact, the unreleased song Butterflies was never registered on any music registry database, yet Butterflies Part 2 was registered on several. Those are the many reasons I find this song so fascinating.

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Today, we'll be talking about a song that I built up a massive thirst for before it leaked. The Behind Closed Doors saga began on August 5th, 2013, when the demo version of Behind Closed Doors (which uses a different vocal take and only includes the first verse and three choruses, with just instrumental where more vocals should be) leaked online. Incidentally, the leak of this song was overshadowed within hours, because August 5th was also the day that the demo of Lady Gaga's Aura was posted on Soundcloud. Many fans didn't realize that the demo of Behind Closed Doors had leaked until almost a week later, when the initial haze from Aura had worn off. However, we're not focusing on the demo version today, as there was still a final version, which remained unleaked until February of this year. Lyrically, the song is very sexual, referring to a hot-and-heavy tryst with some anonymous man. The production, done by Miranda Cooper and Anthony Whiting, who never again worked with Lana, is very dance-y, employing sounds from old arcade machines. This song's casual view of sexuality is really marvelous, complemented by Lana's flirty lyrics ("No other man can lick me like you", "They don't see the dirty stuff you do to me", etc.). This song is a great contribution to her catalogue.

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Now, for the song that opened Lana up to all sorts of controversy in the fanbase: Go Go Dancer. This song is seminal pop Lana and was considered by many to be the ultimate pop song in Lana's discography from the time it leaked, up until Hit and Run came along. This song was never properly registered on any registration site, but it is presumed to be one of the songs Lana did with Tim Larcombe. It is, however, confirmed that this song was recorded in 2010. Lyrically, the song recounts experiences which may or may not be fictitious, from when Lana presumably worked as a go-go dancer or stripper. The chorus lyrics are occasionally contested ("Jukebox sweetheart" vs. "two-buck sweetheart" and "Vegas baby, if you play me" vs. "Vegas baby, if you pay me"), so this song may have some sort of prostitute undertone, but this is often considered to be poor proof. Still, it's a great song!

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For Day 9, we have a sexy little bop called Oooh Baby. I know what you're thinking already: "Oh god, what a terrible title. Britney flashbacks incoming,". I can assure you, Lana's Oooh Baby is infinitely better than Ooh Ooh Baby. This song was recorded and produced in 2009 by Eg White, most well-known for his collaborations with Adele, Florence + The Machine, Sam Smith, Chlöe Howl and Kylie Minogue. The song features a sample from Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing", which adds to the sweetly sexual atmosphere of the track. I'll be the first to admit that this track isn't exactly lyrically brilliant. It explores themes that were done better in other songs and utilizes clichés unabashedly, but regardless, it's still a very nice addition to Lana's unreleased stuff. You may not love it on first listen, but it really does grow on you after you've given it a fair shake.

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Now, we come to one of my favorite unreleased tracks: Hollywood. This song is an absolutely gorgeous midtempo. It leaked almost exactly a year ago, during the well-publicized Rick Nowels debacle, when five Lana songs (including two Ultraviolence demos) produced by Rick Nowels were left in unprotected directories and then cross-posted to Soundcloud. The song is an outtake of the Paradise EP, recorded during the same sessions as Starry Eyed and JFK. Its lyrics explore some of the same themes later explored during the Ultraviolence era, which is potentially one of the reasons it was scrapped for Paradise. It's quite uptempo, considering its subject matter and explicit lyrics.

 

Can you explain the Rick Nowels thing? I can't remember it.

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Can you explain the Rick Nowels thing? I can't remember it.

 

Rick Nowels' website had unreleased music files from dozens of artists uploaded, but because of improper security measures, they were publicly accessible. Rick was aware of this, because he locked down his files pertaining to Lykke Li and Lana, but people had downloaded the songs before he took those precautions. Ultimately, the directories he posted the songs in were made completely public and about 30 unreleased songs from various artists leaked as a result. Lana had five songs leak, which became colloquially known as The Untouchable Five. They were Hollywood, the Black Beauty demo, Starry Eyed, JFK and Angels Forever, Forever Angels.

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Rick Nowels' website had unreleased music files from dozens of artists uploaded, but because of improper security measures, they were publicly accessible. Rick was aware of this, because he locked down his files pertaining to Lykke Li and Lana, but people had downloaded the songs before he took those precautions. Ultimately, the directories he posted the songs in were made completely public and about 30 unreleased songs from various artists leaked as a result. Lana had five songs leak, which became colloquially known as The Untouchable Five. They were Hollywood, the Black Beauty demo, Starry Eyed, JFK and Angels Forever, Forever Angels.

:gasp:

Do you know if we'll be getting any Lana leaks in the coming weeks? I SO need Greenwich to leak. :creep:

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And now we're back on track! The real song of the day today is one of my favorite unreleased tracks ever: Hundred Dollar Bill. There are two versions of this song, like many of Lana's unreleased songs, but we'll be focusing on the more upbeat "pop" version. This version was produced by Jayson Michael, who Lana seems to have never worked with again. Lyrically, this song seems to relate to many themes expressed in other songs, but it does so in a much more down-to-earth way. Though the song was written in 2009 or earlier and this version was recorded in 2010, it uses the phrase "ultra-violent", potentially indicating that Lana had considered the concept of Ultraviolence prior to the release of her third studio album. Either way, this song is cerebral and highly interesting. It's a track that I've seen nearly every Lana fan enjoy!

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