Masterpiece Theater: Norman Fucking Rockwell - Lana Del Rey: Review
Is an American pop singer and songwriter who controversially emerged in the early 2010's with smash hits in Video Games and Summertime Sadness. She released another record with a softer stylistic approach in 2014 on Ultraviolence before muting her style even further and channeling a throwback aesthetic on Honeymoon. Lana seemed to return to form with her critically acclaimed fourth record Lust For Life and released a number of singles in the past two years while working with producer Jack Antanoff and set the release date for the highly anticipated Norman Fucking Rockwell a few months ago.
Review By Lavender:
I fucking LOVE Lana Del Rey, and I pretty much always have. 2012's Born To Die has been the runaway for best pop album of the decade since the moment it came out and while there is a personal attachment I have to the record from an aesthetic standpoint for a particular time in my life, the fact that the record stands up so unbelievably well even to this day more than proves the albums brilliance. As if this wasn't enough just two years later Lana released the sleaker, darker and more mature Ultraviolence in 2014. The album featured some brilliant singles in songs like West Coast and some amazing deep cuts like the title track and Fucked My Way Up To The Top. Lana switched up her lane for her 3rd record in 2015 embracing much older sounds on Honeymoon an being met with more critical shrugs than any of her other records, but followed it up with an excellent return to form on Lust For Life a long and consistent album that I had just outside my top 10 records of the year and gave a very solid 9/10 to in my first review of Lana's music. While Lust has a number of great tracks it's ceiling wasn't quite as high as Lana's first two records and I was hoping that moving forward she could drop a record that blended together her influential sounds of old school 60's singer-songwriter music with a modern pop flare and it certainly looked like it was coming when the long series of singles began the Norman Fucking Rockwell era. Now that the record is here Lana has met, and even gone beyond my highest expectations and dropped the best album of 2019 so far.
The first single of the era came out last year in Mariners Apartment Complex and I was thrilled. It has the energy of a heartland rock tune but caked in Lana's charming girlishness. The song has an absolutely wonderful build where Lana sounds completely in control of the swelling instrumentation that Jack Antanoff brilliantly assembles to back her which got the era off to an amazing start. Shortly after this Lana released the albums second single and since its initial release in September of last year I have become convinced that the track is one of the greatest songs of our time. Venice Bitch is a nine and a half minute masterpiece that sees Lana blending together a grand psychedelic instrumentation with the intimate and tangible songwriting she has been so well known to master. The core refrain is an undeniably catchy one that is not only easy to get stuck in your head but also eloquently and brilliantly sung. The grand instrumental passage that splits the songs core refrains into two halves is a blissful wonderland of tender folk and psych pop founds that work together to form nearly 10 minutes of absolute brilliance showing that Lana is as capable as ever of assembling some of greatest pop tunes of all time.
The third of the six singles was released earlier this year and serves as the closing song Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have - But I Have It. I loved the song as a single but was surprised to see it on the tracklist as it seemed like a very spur of the moment release and it addressed a lot of very topical things in her observable life. But hearing it as the albums closing song it sounds like a triumph of Lana accepting her situation and refusing to be scared of it. Her delivery in the second half of the track is inspiring and dynamic in a way that wraps the record up in a seriously excellent way. Doin' Time is an amazing cover of the Sublime classic of the same name that pulls directly from the west coast aesthetic she has been a champion of for years. Not to mention she started off with a great tune and did an excellent job replacing it for a wonderful single and yet another highlight on the record.
The next two singles were released together and make for a great listen one after another. Fuck It I Love You is a classic Lana track that is effortlessly sexy even in its stark minimalism. Her vocals are commanding and captivating on the songs amazing hook and makes for another single I love that still holds up amazingly in the context of the album. The song that truly made Norman Fucking Rockwell one of my most anticipated albums of all time was The Greatest. An absolutely brilliant single with amazing keys backing Lana singing an incredible ballad. Lana perfectly assembles her performance and songwriting on this song to encapsulate everything she has been so fantastic at throughout her career as breathy girlish vocals meet bellowing and dramatic singing to make for another one of the best singles of her career and one surely to land high on my year end list.
Given that NFR had such an amazing foundation Lana could really have coasted and still come out on the other end with a pretty solid record, but in a delectable turn of events she decided to go harder than ever before and assemble and absolutely brilliant collection of songs on this record. The album opens up with its title track and some lyrics that set a quintessentially Lana tone from the very first words of the album. The song is a sensual piano ballad that reaches absolute divinity when Lana reaches into her upper register in the song second half and sets the tone both lyrically and sonically for the album ahead. Love Song is one of the more reserved and intimate tracks here with gentle strings that call back to Born To Die and a soft vocal performance, all of which walks a very fine line leaving the song delicate and beautiful throughout without stripping back what makes it a compelling tune.
Cinnamon Girl is one of the more detailed instrumentals with hazy and distant percussion that I really enjoy. Lana's falsetto on the hook is impeccable and the lyrical concept of being the "Cinnamon Girl" is one that has me thinking about it through the entire rest of the record, making for yet another in the records long list of highlights. How To Disappear oozes with the classic sounds of americana with the soft plucking stings in its instrumental but modernizes it with a gorgeous and sexy lead vocal performance alongside a punchy drum machine fill. The song is beautiful and slow developing but in a way that makes every moment worthwhile as once it begins to work up into its emotional peak the instrumental carries with it fantastically and makes a song that's impossible to not be compelled by.
California is a seriously personal ballad that pulls from some lyrics displaying a deep emotional connection with someone, which is one of the records core themes. The song is a strong lyrical highlight and a stripped back ballad that manages to make the few times it truly swells with emotion very worthwhile. I absolutely adore the calls of "If You Come Back To America" in the songs second half as one of the records best individual refrains but the entire track is excellently written and performed. The Next Best American Record is the most truly narrative and thematic on the record as it faces the albums lyrical themes head on which of course makes it another one of the most lyrically compelling tunes. Diving into the obsession with Americana and focusing so hard on some specific criteria that you lose sight of the brilliance of an idea and wraps this in tandem with the records ongoing relationship narrative in a way that I seriously didn't know Lana was capable of. While this isn't the most jaw-dropping tune on the album it is really meant to serve as a typing up of some of the songs consistent thematic elements and the ability to focus on what Lana is saying seems like the right artistic choice for the track.
Bartender does have a lyrical question mark or two in its first verse but it recovers on a brilliant hook with Lana's separated syllable singing and the gorgeous cries of 'Tender" that come off as dejected but so amazingly passionate. The lyrics improve in the second half two as Lana takes the bartender theme to heart and pretty effectively uses drinks to express very tangible feelings. The last song I have to talk about is Happiness Is A Butterfly which borrows a refrain from the Born To Die song Off To The Races and executes it with the perfect refreshing blend of maturity and poise. This moment is flanked by some much more steady and patient moments but the out as one of the most impassioned on the record and is the perfect musical swell before Hope's sentimental and inspirational outro.
Norman Fucking Rockwell is Lana Del Rey sounding more mature than ever, and serves as one of the most captivating pop albums of the 2010's. Lana and Jack Antanoff combine on this record to pull emotional extremity out of minimalism in a way that is so rare in the ever growing world of pop music packed to full it's bursting with energy. The song writing and performances are consistently brilliant across the entire record and the album is the vision of a changed artist, different from the one that dropped her first masterpiece seven years ago. While Lana's sound has changed she kept in tact her artfully delicate performance style and makes this record truly her own in every way. The major highlight of Norman Fucking Rockwell is Lana's ability to make some incredibly compelling themes hold the album together and her exploration of the ongoing relationship across most of the record is the glue that holds these tracks so perfectly together. Personally I am living for the themes expressed on The Next Great American Record as the attachment of labels has always been such a compelling assignment for me to mull over and losing yourself artistically and creatively in trying to achieve something specific or grander than yourself is an intoxicating prospect that can become a nightmare. Lana handles this with a poise that I never anticipated from her and across the album she is showing clear signs of growing as a songwriter as the narratives of these track impress one after another with no exceptions.
On what is by far the biggest triumphs I've heard all year Lana simultaneously proves that she is undeniably the queen of pop music in the 2010's, while also showing that there are more reasons than ever before to look forward to her output for decades to come as the little bit of time she mas been maturing and developing as a songwriter has shown incredible dividends. For the third time in her short discography of just 5 albums in seven years I think Lana has dropped a record truly deserving of the best score my scoring system has to offer. 10/10
