West Coast

I couldn't have said it better myself.

I've personally learned not to trust what Lana says when she describes the album's sound prior to its release. The way she described both Honeymoon and Lust for Life prior to their release turned out to be completely different, or somewhat very inaccurate (for better for worse).

Well I said what I said. NFR is musically better than Lust for Life, but production wise, at least Lust for Life was somewhat consistent and had a clean sound. NFR on the other hand is all over the place with its cheap microphone, sketchy mixing and lack of bass.

Aren't we over these critics though? Like you know damn well that if Lana were to release Ultraviolence and Honeymoon today it would get critical acclaim, by the same critics I might add. Born To Die is the most innovative and influential pop album of the 2010s and critics paid it dust, it's literally still charting to this day. I stopped giving a crap about critics when Lana got like 5/10 for BTD by Pitchfork and called it a "fake orgasm" or something, and now they try and convince us that "Oh look at Lana Del Rey she finally released a great album, let's give her 9.4 to make us look like we know what we're talking about", give me a break, Jared. Edit: Another thing about Born To Die, if Lana hadn't released that album, there would be no Halsey, Lorde, Melanie Martinez, Troye Sivan and even Billie Eillish.

Let's just hope you're right about that. There's no arguing there though, Honeymoon, from a production point of view, is her best album! It has the most lush, refined and cinematic sound of all her albums. I can't believe this masterpiece turns four years old tomorrow!

Another day of pretending like the production of this album is not all over the place and doesn't sound like the music equivalent of Chuck's photography and editing skills. It has literally the least immaculate sound of all her albums. I honestly suggest you to go back and revisit her discography. You might stumble across an album called Honeymoon, which has literally the most immaculate sound and is far from pop music! There's a difference between wanting good production values and wanting Lana to go down the pop road again, henny. and also Halsey, Melanie Martinez, Billie Eyelash and all those little effers are trash.

All the instrumentals of this album (except Cinnamon and also How To Disappear) they pretty much all lack that climax moment, like you keep waiting for it to happen but the song they never kinda take off? And also as much as I enjoy Happiness Is A Butterfly, to me it sounds like she mashed three different songs together, the transition between each verse is very non-sensical to me. Jack is a wannabe great producer, he likes to think that he's like the best at this game and like Lana seems to think so too, which is odd to me since she has worked with Emile Haynie, Dan Auerbach, Rick Nowels, Tim Larcombe and even Rick Rubin (even though it was just for one song, to me, from a production standpoint, Ride is literally her best track).

The might be the best songs on the record, but the production of these tracks is fucking atrocious. They all have that dry/flat tone about them and the vocal mixing is a mess (except maybe Love Song), it sounds like it was recorded with the cheapest microphone they could find. Honestly I was so sad when I heard the HQ leaks of this album (which were FLAC files I might add, in other words possibly the highest sound quality music files available to everyone out there) and thinking this is what this album was meant to sound like???

For real though, the album was recorded a year ago and this is what we ended up with in terms of sound AND sound quality, choices. All tea right there!

Exactly it's not to say that I don't like NFR, or that I don't think it's a bad album, I just couldn't care less for Jack's production on this one. To me it just falls flat comparatively to all her others albums (even Lust for Life). Even the songs that I absolutely love on this album there are things I hate about the production (cue to The greatest, Norman Fucking Rockwell and California). The piano on NFR sounds like it was recorded with the cheapest microphone ever it sounds so bad you guys and also the instrumentals on The greatest... like the entire instrumentals lack bass and when it sorta pop off after she sings "I guess I'm signing off after all" it sounds so distorted and cheap, and it's a shame because that's like the best song on the record for me and even there the production is super lackluster. Also California pretty much sounds like a demo.

right?

Agreeee, I've legit been saying this since Lana released MAC... From a production standpoint Norman Fucking Rockwell is honestly my least favorite album, it sounds so flat an subdued, and also I don't know what happened or didn't happened during the production, or what got lost during the mixing, but this album it's just lacking... in general. Honestly, the recording process is a mess, it sounds really disjointed and cheaply recorded (vocals and instruments), sometimes like the instrumentals legit sound like they were recorded by some high school band or something, it's bad. Jack ain't it at all, sorry fanboys. He doesn't challenge Lana at all and it shows. Now unto Kevin Parker... that's something I definitely can get behind, I haven't really been a fan of what he produced with other artists (except his work on Uptown Special and that one song with Kali Uchis) but his solo work his impeccable! Unlike Jack, his production style is extremely polished and well balanced, literally nothing to complain about! I want some Lana Impala!

Oh I feel that very much. To me NFR is a good record, but that's it... lol. I definitely see Lana sticking to that dry/flat sound if Jack stays around and having yet again another album filled to the brim with California references.

I just can't get my head around Lana working with Jack on another album. Don't get me wrong, NFR was a good record. But from a production standpoint, it might as well be my least favorite of hers (I know Lust for Life exists, but from a production standpoint, although it's still very much my least favorite album of hers, to me it's superior to NFR). He might be a talented composer and musician, but from a recording perspective NFR is lackluster and kinda cheap to me. I don't mean to stir the pot, but oh well.

Kinda stressing out right now, I have not received any shipping information yet and it's been almost two weeks now...

Ngl this is probably my biggest critique about the entire album, I feel like pretty much all the songs lack that climax moment or really intense production, everything is so subdued and soft, or rough sounding? It lacks a heavy drumbeats, even electronic beat, and most of all bass. California is a great song, but much like How To Disappear, it sounds more like a demo than anything. Honestly after three weeks now, I'm back and forth listening to the album and much like Lust for Life (for different reasons) I find myself skipping so many songs like a minute in, and sometimes a second in. Doesn't really have the replay value of Born To Die, Ultraviolence and Honeymoon, which to me were pretty much on repeat for like a year after the release, and then some.

Makes a lot of sense to me! I really feel that, I tend to listen to music pretty loudly especially in my car, but a lot of songs on NFR end up sounding pretty scratchy unfortunately. The quality of the recording process is questionable That's debatable, when Lana goes in for the high note before the second verse it sounds a little iffy to me, also I don't like how her vocals sound super muffled towards the end. But my biggest criticism about the title track, even though I think it's one of the best on the record, the piano sounds super cheaply recorded.

Ultraviolence is raw sounding, but it didn't sound unpolished? A lot of tracks on NFR have either this demo-like quality or just sound like they were recored with a cheap microphone (The title track, Cinnamon, HTD, California, The greatest) I mean I love most of these songs, but the production is extremely lackluster to me.

Interesting? I mean all her other albums sounded great on any platform I was listening to them, whether it was in my car, with headphones or on speaker? NFR is a good record, but that production ain't all it. Also I wonder with what kind of cheap microphone it was all recorded with tbh.

not remotely

I listen to the album in my car (which has pretty bassy, but neutral sound typa speakers) and also with my headphones (don't mean to namedrop brands, but: Bose Soundsport and this old ass pair of Beats Studio) and the album sounds hella flat to me (except like Cinnamon and How To Disappear), comparatively to all her previous albums (for instance, Ultraviolence was pretty bassy and the percussions were pretty well balanced with the rest of the instrumentals and like Sad Girl makes my car shakes when I listen to it somewhat loud).

you mean to play it louder because apparently when they recorded the album they had no idea what a baseline was Edit: In case my comment didn't make sense. I meant to say that while the album is great, to me personally, it just lacks bass and percussions. Like the production and mixing of the album feels somewhat flat and bland to me.

Hold up sweetie, there's a whole difference between using loud backtracks and lipsync! Lana uses these loud back tracks in pretty much all her performances because she doesn't have choristers on stage with her, if she had those pretty sure we wouldn't hear the back tracks. Also, she probably uses it to be "kept in track" with the beats and melodies, because she often improvises on stage and sing random high notes. Anyway, this is still Lana's live voice we here on stage.

Loud playback tracks during live performances is kind of a staple for Lana

Agree, seeing it live was so magical. She sounded amazing and the entire stadium was silent, I honestly think this is one of her best performances.