Norman Fucking Rockwell - Pre-Release Thread

[MoreCruelThanYou 5,277]

Is this thread a social experiment??

[LanaFlowers 8,751]

I'm a bit late to this discussion, but I just wanted to add that even IF she was "manufactured" or even if her dad "bought her a career", a successful career in the music industry isn't guaranteed. How many people out there are actually trying to rise to fame?

 

I think that some people assume too easily that pouring money into someone will always have a successful effect/outcome. What I'm trying to say is: there is no scientific formula (as in: if X then always Y) for 'how to become famous'.

No one said she isn't talented. No one said her voice sucks. No one said she isn't charming and charismatic. And we're not saying she didn't work hard either. That was never the subject here.

[Sugar Venom 9,651]

Is this thread a social experiment??

this whole era is

[LanaFlowers 8,751]

Look at ‘Old Money’ for example—did anyone really believe she was a mature woman in her late 40s, 50s or 60s looking back on her life and failed marriage? Of course not. That was simply the persona she stepped into for the sake of the song.

 

It was not ‘fake,’ ‘inauthentic,’ not a lie or a deception of any kind.

 

That is one way to interpret the song, but definitely not the only way. I'm several decades away from being 60, and yet I feel like I'm 80 years old. I am not alone in that sentiment. Many people feel exactly the same. You can feel old even if you're physically young, depending on the kind of life you've lived & are living. Some people, sadly, peak very early in life. And so you end up feeling past your prime even if you're still in your 20s. Don't forget that women, in particular, are constantly reminded of our "expiration date". I don't want to think about it, and I would never say it to another woman, but I really do feel that way. I do see myself as having very few "good years" left, whereas the men I've known seemed perfectly capable of thriving well into their 50s and 60s. And most of us are pressured into growing up quick, we're forced into "maturity" earlier.

 

All of this can lead to feeling very tired & burnt out and not considering yourself young even if technically, you are. That's what I got from Old Money. The only thing that implies the narrator is old is the part where she says "we were young", and like I said that could be seen as metaphorical. Other than that, she only makes a vague reference to the "power of youth" and how she's going to grow old & lose some of her beauty in the future. Those summer nights might certainly seem long ago, but seeming and being aren't one and the same. The song has a clearly nostalgic vibe, but she was never like "Hi, I'm Lana Del Rey, a 65 year old widow, and this is a song I wrote about my fourth husband Bartholomew who left me and the children to run away with his mistress 30 years ago". If that's what you want to visualize while listening to the song that's fine; it could easily be used as a soundtrack for a movie with a similar plot. You can interpret it that way if you want. But you don't have to. I didn't even think of it that way tbh.

[Vertimus 8,952]

That is one way to interpret the song, but definitely not the only way. I'm several decades away from being 60, and yet I feel like I'm 80 years old. I am not alone in that sentiment. Many people feel exactly the same. You can feel old even if you're physically young, depending on the kind of life you've lived & are living. Some people, sadly, peak very early in life. And so you end up feeling past your prime even if you're still in your 20s. Don't forget that women, in particular, are constantly reminded of our "expiration date". I don't want to think about it, and I would never say it to another woman, but I really do feel that way. I do see myself as having very few "good years" left, whereas the men I've known seemed perfectly capable of thriving well into their 50s and 60s. And most of us are pressured into growing up quick, we're forced into "maturity" earlier.

 

All of this can lead to feeling very tired & burnt out and not considering yourself young even if technically, you are. That's what I got from Old Money. The only thing that implies the narrator is old is the part where she says "we were young", and like I said that could be seen as metaphorical. Other than that, she only makes a vague reference to the "power of youth" and how she's going to grow old & lose some of her beauty in the future. Those summer nights might certainly seem long ago, but seeming and being aren't one and the same. The song has a clearly nostalgic vibe, but she was never like "Hi, I'm Lana Del Rey, a 65 year old widow, and this is a song I wrote about my fourth husband Bartholomew who left me and the children to run away with his mistress 30 years ago". If that's what you want to visualize while listening to the song that's fine; it could easily be used as a soundtrack for a movie with a similar plot. You can interpret it that way if you want. But you don't have to. I didn't even think of it that way tbh.

.

 

The main thing for me is that the narrator is singing about the past “when we [and, later, ‘the kids,’ by which I think she means their children] were young and pretty,” and remembering regretfully about their failed love and well as their lost youths.

 

Maybe she’s as young as 35, who knows? I see the kids as no longer ‘young and pretty,’ therefore at least 18 to 20. That would make the narrator approximately 40 or older. I see her as older, especially as she says, “I’m out of time.”

 

This is an interesting example of how various individuals see and interpret things very differently.

[ivy 1,693]

No one said she isn't talented. No one said her voice sucks. No one said she isn't charming and charismatic. And we're not saying she didn't work hard either. That was never the subject here.

 

I'm not following... Did I miss something?

 

Sorry if I misunderstood the discussion

[godsmonster 13,795]

why is Old Money being discussed here when the Ultraviolence Post-Release Thread exists...?

[Sugar Venom 9,651]

i always thought of old money like she felt distanced from that time - not necessarily that she was implying she was physically old? like i'm 20 years old, i recently got in touch w my friend/crush from high school that i haven't talked to in four years which isn't really long at all (we were sophomores when we stopped talking but had known each other since like 7th grade), but i feel much older than i was then obviously bc of linear time but also in terms of maturity and stuff and in general that part of my life is pretty far from me now so it feels old, not me . like it's just far removed but it doesn't mean 20+ years have gone by. thats what i always thought of, especially bc i can easily relate to the lyrics with regard to the thing w my friend even while we were still friends so it's not like i was looking back on our relationship as a 55 year old woman reminiscing lol 

 

i haven't read the past posts so idk how old money has to do w nfr so i hope i don't get any warning for being off topic but lol 

 

i'm really goin thru it rn and lana singing the feminine pronouns in doin time is the only thing sustaining my will to live at this point like i am just a pile of dust . lana please feed us your children are dying 

[Vertimus 8,952]

why is Old Money being discussed here when the Ultraviolence Post-Release Thread exists...?

Because we’re discussing her stepping into lyrical roles as a narrator or song protagonist, and whether doing so makes her ‘fake’ or ‘inauthentic’ or simply creative, and I used ‘Old Money’ as an example.

[godsmonster 13,795]

Because we’re discussing her stepping into lyrical roles as a narrator or song protagonist, and whether doing so makes her ‘fake’ or ‘inauthentic’ or simply creative, and I used ‘Old Money’ as an example.

Marina made a whole album around the concept of a character

obviously it's authentic because it explores a persons creative ability to step outside of themselves and create a whole new person

[Vertimus 8,952]

Marina made a whole album around the concept of a character

obviously it's authentic because it explores a persons

creative ability to step outside of themselves and create a whole new person

Full agree.

[LanaFlowers 8,751]

I'm not following... Did I miss something?

 

Sorry if I misunderstood the discussion

 

I think there might have been a misunderstanding. What we questioned was whether she lived the life she claims to have lived, experienced the things she claims to have experienced...if she's the person she claims to be. No one said she was a lazy bitch with no talent who had success handed to her. I don't think anyone here believes there's a surefire ticket to fame, a guaranteed way to make it.

[ivy 1,693]

I think there might have been a misunderstanding. What we questioned was whether she lived the life she claims to have lived, experienced the things she claims to have experienced...if she's the person she claims to be. No one said she was a lazy bitch with no talent who had success handed to her. I don't think anyone here believes there's a surefire ticket to fame, a guaranteed way to make it.

 

Yeah, I thought we were on the same page, because that was my point exactly! lol 

[anwdelrey 8,964]

Make sure you guys purchase the song off of iTunes. I really hope we debut on the billboard hot 100 because I feel like the label released on a Friday to see how it would perform...

[MoreCruelThanYou 5,277]

Make sure you guys purchase the song off of iTunes.

[FallingCherry 7,731]

Make sure you guys purchase the song off of iTunes. I really hope we debut on the billboard hot 100 because I feel like the label released on a Friday to see how it would perform...

Be ready for the people saying "I wIlL nOt PuRcHaSe ThE sOnG bEcAuSe ShE dElAyEd ThE aLbUm FoR tOo LoNg AnD sHe DeSeRvEs To FlOp"

[violets 11,893]

[Vintage Music 568]

Omfg you b!tches are losing it! 

We're basically back to where we started! We know nothing! Just sit back and enjoy the mess ladies! 

[honey dew 10,352]

[Foxglove 2,266]

 

still the same damn conversation