Norman Fucking Rockwell - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[love deluxe 8,811]

I really can’t believe it’s been 5 years since my favorite album of all time came out. What can I say? Norman, you’re really everything to me. From the moment I heard the premiere of Mariners Apartment Complex, followed by Venice Bitch a fews days later, I knew this record was going to be special, but I never knew just how special it would become for me, let alone for everyone else. 5 years on, and this record still feels new to me, and yet it feels like I’ve known the words to every song my whole life. It’s a true modern classic in every sense and it always takes me back to the end of summer 2019: a world pre-pandemic, and a world holding on for dear life. Personally, though I’m only 22, I don’t see any other albums topping this one before I die. It’s just that good. It’s also the album cycle that I joined LanaBoards during. Just crazy. I remember the high quality snippets of each song leaking and feeling so excited. And then the low quality full album leaking soon thereafter; cassete girl, we love you. And now, time for me to be annoying and rank every song from the album! (They’re all perfect!)  

 

Venice Bitch

Happiness is a Butterfly

Mariners Apartment Complex

Norman Fucking Rockwell

California

Hope is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have - but I Have it

Cinnamon Girl

Fuck it I Love You

How to Disappear

Bartender

The Next Best American Record

Love Song

Doin Time

[ivory almond 13,823]

Updated ranking:

1    California - 10/10
2    Venice Bitch - 10/10
3    The Greatest - 10/10
4    Mariners Apartment Complex - 9/10
5    Fuck It I Love You - 9/10
6    Cinnamon Girl - 9/10
7    Doin' Time - 8/10
8    Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have - But I Have It - 8/10
9    How To Disappear - 8/10
10    The Next Best American Record - 8/10
11    Love Song - 8/10
12    Bartender - 8/10
13    Norman Fucking Rockwell - 7/10
14    Happiness Is A Butterfly - 7/10

[Vertimus 9,362]

1 hour ago, ivory almond said:

Updated ranking:

1    California - 10/10
2    Venice Bitch - 10/10
3    The Greatest - 10/10
4    Mariners Apartment Complex - 9/10
5    Fuck It I Love You - 9/10
6    Cinnamon Girl - 9/10
7    Doin' Time - 8/10
8    Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have - But I Have It - 8/10
9    How To Disappear - 8/10
10    The Next Best American Record - 8/10
11    Love Song - 8/10
12    Bartender - 8/10
13    Norman Fucking Rockwell - 7/10
14    Happiness Is A Butterfly - 7/10

I agree heartily with No. 14. 

[Mer 58,945]

My favorite album of all time turning half a decade old 😭😭

 

Not to get all sappy but I remember the day this album came out like it was last week. I had just finished a BRUTAL summer internship, and was flying back to the east coast for university, and I couldn’t stop playing “The Greatest” and “How To Disappear” on repeat. 
 

I really don’t think I have such vivid and happy memories with any other album the way I do with Norman, the minute I play Mariners, I am 19 again walking around cobblestone streets living on my own for the first time. 

[dexter 1,248]

Perfect time to get the green repress 

[Honeymoonwitch 1,274]

Any insiders would like to share anything with us ? 🫦

[Without You 2,397]

Happy birthday to this masterpiece  this album never gets old I love it so so muchhh I always listen to it when I’m sad it’s just such a comfort album. I’d say my fav tracks would be California, The greatest, How to disappear and MAC 

[jimmyjimmycocoapuff 4,210]

this album is so relevant, i feel like it'll never age. No matter how many times I listen to Mariners, it's always fresh in my ears. It boggles my mind that this album even exists, it's just so perfect in every way. She could release a hundred shit albums after NFR and I wouldn't care because she has this diamond (and many others) in her discog. Not many artists have that. I was listening to Cinnamon Girl on my walk this morning and I got chills, even though I've heard it thousands of times

[Embach 35,749]

We need Ex-Glory and Jack's bombastic outtakes

[shadesofblue 12,531]

Happy birthday to this iconic album  one of my favorite albums of all time. should’ve won at least one grammy but it’s aged so well. I loved it before, but when I was living in SoCal it really connected with me in a different way. made me love and appreciate it so much more <3

[Veinsineon 74,856]

Happy birthday NFR!! I still have a love/hate relationship with you but the highs are incredibly high. The Greatest is such a fabulous piece of work. No one else can pull things like that off.

I feel like in some other form, place in time, context, I'd love you more. I remember being so excited during the teasing and release of MAC/VB, but the wait kinda turned sour for me, and then i felt like by the time we got the actual record, the impression of a vision we were given had shifted beyond recognition. Idk, Maybe there's earlier drafts / ideas that make more sense or open my eyes a little more, and I know the outtakes are going to be great and I'm just missing the bigger picture, but in some small way it feels like lanz was over the album as soon as it came out, and lowkey me too 

 

But ur still the album i accredit to lana getting her flowers finally and i luv u for it 

 

 

Spoiler

1    Norman fucking Rockwell                                                                                - 7/10

2    Mariners Apartment Complex                                                                         - 9/10

3    Venice Bitch                                                                                                       - 10/10

4    Fuck it i love you                                                                                                - 6/10

5    Doin' Time                                                                                                           - 6/10

6    Love song                                                                                                           - 7/10

7    Cinnamon Girl                                                                                                    - 8/10

8    How to Disappear                                                                                              - 2/10

9    California                                                                                                            - 8/10

10  The Next Best American Record                                                                    - 6/10

11  The greatest                                                                                                      - 10/10

12  Bartender                                                                                                           - 6/10

13  Happiness is a butterfly                                                                                  - 6/10

14  hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but i have it  - 4/10

 

15  Looking for America (Bonus)                                                                         - 8/10

 

 

OVERALL SCORE                                                             67/100

 

[The Sun Also Rises 5,034]

Happy Birthday, Norman Fucking Rockwell! 

 

I can't believe it's been five years since this perfect work of art came into the world! I'm never sure where to place NFR! on my Lana ranking — it's perfect. Sometimes, I think it's too perfect. The thing that sets NFR! apart for me is that it doesn't just immerse me in Lana's world; it's the one album that inspires me to create. After listening, I want to reach for my pen and paper and start writing. I want to make my life a work of art. I want to live, and, to quote Lana, "You make me feel like there's something I never knew I wanted."

All of Lana's other works transport to me to a place or time within my life. NFR!, though, feels like it is life itself. It has an evolution through so many experiences and feelings that it seems like the ultimate journey, seen through the eyes of someone who is desperately in love, and living with true freedom. Not the type of freedom in BTD that comes from the kindness of strangers, gas stations, and accepting the nihilist nature of life — but the freedom of feeling the ocean crash over your body, surrendering yourself completely to love and life, of riding the wave. of feeling so comfortable in your own being that you allow yourself to exist with abandon ...



My top songs are Mariners Apartment Complex, Venice Bitch, How to Disappear, The greatest, and hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but i have it. Honestly, the strength of just two of those favourite tracks would be enough to give the album a spot in my top records of all-time. That's how great I think they are. Lana's poetry is "hot like a gun" as she says. She's never been a better songwriter than in NFR!, which encapsulates perfectly her strongest style of songwriting; telling a story through disjointed fragments, feelings, snapshots in motion. 

 

1. Norman fucking Rockwell: Possibly her best opening lines of an opening song, ever. Iconic. 
2. Mariners Apartment Complex: Some of my favourite Lana lyrics, ever. This is a beautiful song in every way possible. It's very reminiscent of Leonard Cohen (and references him "I'm your man") and almost every single line is quotable. 
3. Venice Bitch: Her magnum opus, as people like to say. The psychedelic-style soundscape is inspired. The lyrics are referential and although simplistic, it's the kind of song I'd want to live in. It's literally perfection. 
4. Fuck it I love you: The pop song of pop songs. 

5. Doin' Time: Possibly the only on-album Lana cover I wouldn't have guessed was a cover if I didn't know the original song. The production, her vocals, and the music video are all incredible. It's the perfect choice for NFR!. Not sure why it gets hate. 

6. Love song: Not one I listen to often but when I do, I feel it. The lyric "You know that I'd just die to make you proud" is probably one of her most relatable. 

7. Cinnamon Girl: I'll never forget the first time I heard this. It felt like Ultraviolence, but in this era. "There's things I wanna say to you, but I'll just let you live" is on the same level as "Sun and ocean blue / Their magnificence, it don't make sense to you." 

8: How to Disappear: Probably the finest example of Lana's ability to tell stories through songs. I love the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reference in the lyrics esp. as she name drops them later in Bartender. 

9: California: Great song title and heartbreaking lyrics.

10. The Next Best American Record: Honestly, not a week goes past without me thinking of this verse and the way she sings it: "It's you—all the roads lead to you / Everything I want and do / All the things that I say / It's true—all the roads lead to you / Like the 405 I drive through."

11: The greatest: A top 10 Lana song. Incredible. No words. It's captured this era for me in a way that no other song has and probably no other song ever will. From the guitar solo to the last verse, it's how it feels to live in these uncertain times, stuck between nostalgia for times past, hopelessness, and everything moving so fast around you ...  

12. Bartender: Despite the hate, I love this song. I had a phase of being obsessed with it that never really ended. 

13: Happiness is a Butterfly: A hard listen. It reminds me of what could be in in love but always slips through the fingers. 

14: hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but i have it: Lyrical masterpiece. Top 10 Lana song. The most beautiful album ender I've ever heard. 

 

Also, as someone who grew up next to the sea and lived in SoCal for awhile, NFR! just feels like home. It feels like I've lived in those songs (and not in a super painful way like OB) 

 

I'm just so thankful to live in the same time as Lana, an artist who captures my soul in her music in a way I'd never be able to express in my own art. 

[ivory almond 13,823]

GAZING AT HORIZONS BUT NEVER QUITE REACHIN THEM

AND STILL I TELL YOU EVERY TIME
OHHHHH, I'LL PICK YOU UP

IF YOU COME BACK TO AMERICA, YOU SHOULD JUST HIT ME UP

CAUSE THIS IS CRAZY LOVE, I'LL CATCH YOU ON THE FLIPSIDE

IF YOU COME BACK TO CALIFORNIA

YOU SHOULD JUST HIT ME UP

WE'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, TRAVEL WHEREVER HOW FAR

WE'LL HIT UP ALL THE OLD PLACES

WE'LL HAVE A PARTYYYYY, WE'LL DANCE TILL DAWN

I'LL PICK UP ALL OF YOUR VOGUES AND ALL YOUR ROLLING STONES

YOUR FAVORITE LIQUOR OF THE TOP SHELF

I'LL THROW A PARTY ALL NIGHTTT LONG

 

ohhh, i'll pick you up, if u come back to america, just hit me up

cause this is crazy love, ill catch on you on the flipside

if you come back to california

you should just hit me up...

 

[dexter 1,248]

California (demo) we need you 

[meIanchoIia 751]

1 hour ago, Embach said:

We need Ex-Glory and Jack's bombastic outtakes

 

Spoiler

when bombastic outtake is for free solo version then what  

 

[Embach 35,749]

9 minutes ago, meIanchoIia said:

 

  Hide contents

when bombastic outtake is for free solo version then what  

 

I have high hopes because Jimmy from A&W was originally an outtake from these

[meIanchoIia 751]

1 minute ago, Embach said:

I have high hopes because Jimmy from A&W was originally an outtake from these

I wonder if Ex-Glory/All Hollywood Now/ Dance Nobody's Watching are these "bombastic outtakes"

[pin up galore 18,771]

just listened front to back on vinyl for the first time in a whileeeeee and damn its crazy to think its already been 5 years and MAC/VB turn 6 in a few weeks  I was OBSESSED with this record when it came out and all the positive reception and press around her at the time definitely fueled that, it felt like she was ontop of the world and then in the coming years during her #canceled era it became a lil jaded to me as it kinda showed how quickly the public perception of her was able to fall  but now 5 years later the pendulums swung back and with the dust having properly settled on this album/era and the ones that came since this record is just really incredible  like that 1-2-3-4-5 punch of NFR! - Doin Time is one for the history books, FIILY physical version is still the superior and canon version in my mind, and I loveeee Jacks weird ass outro to Hope, I wish we got more context about that its something I still think about all the time  the lead up to this album was crazyyyyy the think pieces and meltdowns about where tf she was cause we had so many snippets of this album and yet no release in sight and she'd disappear for weeks just to come back with MORE snippets it was hell. someone on here made a YT video about wondering where tf she was that I really liked but they since took it down and I wish they didnt cause it'd be a great time capsule of the vibe at the time. I still firmly believe the Cinnamon Girl snippets are indeed a different mix of the song aint no way in hell it was the bass in her car making it sound like that and they sounded so incredible the final version is just a lil tame and flat in comparison so I still have a gripe about that lowkey  and TNBAR being completely botched here it actually made me mad listening 5 years ago and I still feel the same its just so bad  but wow what an incredible record something that stood out to me most then and now is her vocal layering on this - the pre chorus to FIILY and the "dont be a jerk dont call me a taxi" part of HIAB for example have such a distinct sound to her vocals in the vulnerability and differences between takes that I really associate with this album cause I dont remember her really doing that since. its impossible for Lana albums to not be the defining albums of whatever period of my life they were happening in but this album rollout was from my sophomore-junior year of high school and all the summers ive spent smoking weed in my childhood bedroom during early mornings listening to Venice Bitch and this record really just send me back now when I listen and remember the "fresh out of fucks forever" life I was truly living then. wow. 

[DemonMic2003 8,726]

Ex-glory where are you

[dietpussycola 850]

Happy 5th Anniversary, Norman Fucking Rockwell!!!!

 

I can’t believe it’s been 5yrs since the release. What a special album. I feel like it was the beginning of where we are now with Lana’s current artistry. Here’s to an album that brought so much peace when the world was on the verge of disaster and when I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do with my life. Still don’t.. but at least this album is forever there to provide some comfort. 

 

I feel like this was also the last album where being a Lana fan was so much simpler. I miss it a bit, but I’m also glad Lana has continued giving just as beautiful songs/albums after NFR’s conception. Also, glad she is able to share works like this album at an even larger scale.