Norman Fucking Rockwell - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[Eugene 26,670]

i love this girl

 

 

[lanaismamom 11,549]

On 4/24/2023 at 1:54 AM, ultrabanisters said:

you posted this in the wrong thread love!! its okay, the links here x

 

 

[Eugene 26,670]

imagine hate Lana's best album 

[ultrabanisters 45,609]

2 minutes ago, Orville Peck said:

imagine hate Lana's best album 

i too cannot imagine hating ultraviolence

 

nfr on the other hand... bottom of the barrel 

[Eugene 26,670]

2 minutes ago, ultrabanisters said:

blue garbage on the other hand... bottom of the barrel 

[lanaismamom 11,549]

7 minutes ago, ultrabanisters said:

i too cannot imagine hating ultraviolence

 

nfr on the other hand... bottom of the barrel 

[Dark Angel 202,785]

2 hours ago, Orville Peck said:

imagine hate Lana's best album 

 

sadly there's some who cannot appreciate lana del ray a.k.a lizzy grant

[Eugene 26,670]

4 minutes ago, Surf Noir said:

 

sadly there's some who cannot appreciate lana del ray a.k.a lizzy grant

when you know, you know 

[nfrs daughter 17]

ive been wondering what nfr is truly about. what was lana thinking and what emotions did she have? its truly amazing to me that you can have two completely different feeling tracks like “Doin Time” and “Bartender” but still keep the same vibe throughout the whole album. if anyone knows the background of the album pls respond <3 

stay safe and listen to lana <3

[DeadSeaOfMercury 23,045]

Read This…

[PARADIXO 32,976]

To romanticize the concept of the album, it's a casual day in the life of this singer-poet in LA, not necessarily Lana Del Rey the megastar, but really just a Los Angeles citizen witnessing the decay of the American dream... American culture and politics. It's a call out to the weak and abusive men in her life and a rather trippy insight into her mind. One could even argue that sonically it is a day-in-the-life experience, with the title track being early in the morning and Hope being her in bed just before going to sleep.

 

Norman Fucking Rockwell!

 

Norman Rockwell is known basically for painting the ultimate American dream imagery.

 

"Why wait for the best when I could have you"
"Can a girl just do the best she can?"

"Beautful losers"

"I moved to California but it's just a state of mind, it turns out everywhere you go you take yourself, that's not a lie"

"Is it safe to just be who we are? / I would like to think that you would stick around"

"If you hold me without hurting me, you'd be the first who ever did"

"All of the guys tell me lies but you don't, you just crack another beer"

"We were so obsessed with writing the next best American record"

"We didn't know that we had it all, but nobody warns you before the fall / I'm facing the greatest loss of all"

"You don't ever have to be stronger than you really are when you're lying in my arms"

"I'm a modern day woman with a weak constitution"

 

The lyrics really capture the feeling of a broken dream, ideal or even stereotype, and embracing that. Also the feeling or idea that everything was better before (for some short-minded people she means that America was better before, but no, she's means other more personal stuff) and things are darker now. There's just a huge "fuck it/whatever" feeling through the whole record.

 

It also adds a certain edge that she put this out at the very end of the decade.

[taco truck 33,271]

I desperately wish I could go back in time and listen to this album for the first time again 

[Rody29 72]

I met my BF when NFR released  so much nostalgia for this era, miss the summer vibes in Brazil listening to Venice Bitch in 2018

[Life 3,979]

Still her best and that’s just facts 

[mlittle11 12,232]

missing the vibes of this album  feels so pure n summery. i need to be driving down a freeway lined with trees at sunset listening to this album rn

[Bonita 12,591]

When she said hand on the bible on Candy Necklace she meant this

[GeminiLanaFan 49,245]

NFR, just like BTD, has this incredible feeling of « encapsulating the American culture » of this peculiar era, stepping a bit outside of Lana’s realm, into a larger scope, to tell the story of the decay of the US dream and American loneliness pre-pandemic. I guess it’s why it is still today considered her « best work » by critics. 
UV, HM and OB, although phenomenal, all lack that « time capture », concentrating on Lana’s story or getting into a certain vibe (although there are some « sprinkles » of postpandemic world in OB, it’s not as «present » as Norman or Born to Die, IMO). 

[Vertimus 9,632]

11 minutes ago, GeminiLanaFan said:

NFR, just like BTD, has this incredible feeling of « encapsulating the American culture » of this peculiar era, stepping a bit outside of Lana’s realm, into a larger scope, to tell the story of the decay of the US dream and American loneliness pre-pandemic. I guess it’s why it is still today considered her « best work » by critics. 
UV, HM and OB, although phenomenal, all lack that « time capture », concentrating on Lana’s story or getting into a certain vibe (although there are some « sprinkles » of postpandemic world in OB, it’s not as «present » as Norman or Born to Die, IMO). 

I know that's the general, wide opinion of NFR and its 'vision,' but I don't see it. There's a couple very mediocre tracks, the awful 'Next Best American Record' redo, and 'The Greatest,' 'VB,' 'Hope' and 'MAC,' with 'Doin' Time' thrown in at the last minute, and so not really a part of the album's "vision." 

 

'Hope,' 'VB,' 'MAC,' and 'The Greatest' are all narrated from Lana's POV, so I don't see how she stepped outside of her "realm" or subjective world, or added commentary about loneliness or the decay of the" American Dream." 'Bartender,' 'Love Song,' and 'California' also told from her POV. Where is there a reference to the decay of the "American Dream"?

 

'The Greatest' is about the end of the entire world, not just America, and it's due to meteors striking the Earth while at least some people have been relocated to Mars. There's nothing in the song about the decay of America. And she's written about the end of the world before, as in 'Last Girl on Earth.' 

 

'Hope' is very personal, it's about her own madness or mental ill health, how is that a commentary on present-day society? Because some of the standards of 1950s America were constraining for women? But those particular constraints on women were destroyed by the cultural revolution of the 1960s. 

 

I find all of 'NFR' to be mediocre with the exception of 3 or 4 songs. The mawkish ending of 'How to Disappear' is embarrassing for a songwriter of Lana's stature, and she completely ruined 'Happiness is a Butterfly.' 

[taco truck 33,271]

25 minutes ago, Vertimus said:

I know that's the general, wide opinion of NFR and its 'vision,' but I don't see it. There's a couple very mediocre tracks, the awful 'Next Best American Record' redo, and 'The Greatest,' 'VB,' 'Hope' and 'MAC,' with 'Doin' Time' thrown in at the last minute, and so not really a part of the album's "vision." 

 

'Hope,' 'VB,' 'MAC,' and 'The Greatest' are all narrated from Lana's POV, so I don't see how she stepped outside of her "realm" or subjective world, or added commentary about loneliness or the decay of the" American Dream." 'Bartender,' 'Love Song,' and 'California' also told from her POV. Where is there a reference to the decay of the "American Dream"?

 

'The Greatest' is about the end of the entire world, not just America, and it's due to meteors striking the Earth while at least some people have been relocated to Mars. There's nothing in the song about the decay of America. And she's written about the end of the world before, as in 'Last Girl on Earth.' 

 

'Hope' is very personal, it's about her own madness or mental ill health, how is that a commentary on present-day society? Because some of the standards of 1950s America were constraining for women? But those particular constraints on women were destroyed by the cultural revolution of the 1960s. 

 

I find all of 'NFR' to be mediocre with the exception of 3 or 4 songs. The mawkish ending of 'How to Disappear' is embarrassing for a songwriter of Lana's stature, and she completely ruined 'Happiness is a Butterfly.' 

Well for one I knew this was going to be a horrible take the second you called mac, vb, hope, and the greatest “mediocre”. But all this is telling me is three things. 
1. You didn’t read the lyrics of the album

2. You don’t know what a theme or a metaphor is 

3. You don’t understand American/West Coast culture 

[Vertimus 9,632]

5 minutes ago, taco truck said:

Well for one I knew this was going to be a horrible take the second you called mac, vb, hope, and the greatest “mediocre”. But all this is telling me is three things. 
1. You didn’t read the lyrics of the album

2. You don’t know what a theme or a metaphor is 

3. You don’t understand American/West Coast culture 

Firstly, I didn't call "mac, vb, hope, and the greatest" mediocre; I said they were the exceptions to the mediocre songs. 

 

Secondly, I was an English major and am a published author, so I think I do know what a theme, metaphor, or trope is.  

 

Thirdly, I was born in the OC in Laguna Beach and know a great deal about California/West Coast culture, especially So Cal.