Norman Fucking Rockwell is the best album of the decade and the finest work of the Californian Singer and Songwriter – yet.
With soporific psycho rock jams and mellow piano ballads, Lana Del Rey drags the listener into her retro and baroque world where she sings about freedom, love, transformation and chaos.
In her 6th studio album, Lana Del Rey paints idyllic postcard scenes like Norman Rockwell, American painter and illustrator whose work is described as “romantic realism”. Lana produces balanced, elegant and dazzling songs about the aspects of everyday life in her iconic and beloved West Cost.
The rhythm is slow and hypnotising like the waves crashing on Venice Beach. Her voice is sexy and soft producing sweet psych-pop lullabies influenced by 70s classic rock music. Her lyrics are filled with allusions and references: from Dennis Wilson, member of the Beach Boys that drowned in Marina Del Rey Harbour to author and poet Sylvia Plath who struggled with depression her entire life. Her verses are emotional and nostalgic. As described on her Twitter bio “I am large, I contain multitudes”, her music is a clear reflection of this.
NFR! is an ode to California which has always played an important role in Lana’s writing. California is not only a geographical place for Del Rey but a “state of mind”. The Sublime’s cover “Doin’ Time” is a staggering example that Del Rey is in love with the West Coast and all its culture.
The album was produced by Jack Michael Antonoff who has recently worked with big stars like Lorde and Taylor Swift. The collaboration between the two sparked cynicism due to their completely different styles. However, Lana del Rey showed that her aesthetic could not be changed by any producer. Antonoff brilliantly understood her American influences and nostalgic style by producing magnificent pieces. Her writing is all about the best days in the past: “I shouldn’t have done it but I read it in your letter”.
Lana Del Rey creates a bubble where Californian and American myths are revived, inviting to join her for an hour. Sit down on Venice Beach, get some cherry coke from her favourite bartender and walking around the West Coast thinking about love and the past.
Norman Fucking Rockwell is an iconic album. It won Best Album at the NME Award with a “Thank you so fucking much” during her online acceptance speech.
On NFR!, Lana lives in the old American dream. The album ends with “Hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have…but I Have it” she is talking about not only California but American as a whole. The old American dreams and its dreamers.
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