Norman Fucking Rockwell - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[Sugar Venom 9,658]

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[WaitForLife 5,239]

California is just an Ultraviolence outtake

So is Heroine and The Blackest Day.

[PARADIXO 32,955]

^ Yes, more and more people are questioning if this acclaim could be interchangeable, and it's a pertinent question to ask. Almost 300 pages of this thread and I don't think anyone has adequately explained how and why NFR is so superior and more deserving of acclaim than her previous albums. People have just cited review scores and ranted about Jack Antonoff.

 

How is NFR superior sonically, lyrically, etc? Serious question for those who think it's her best. 

 

Defined, perfected and complete sonic/aesthetic world

Mature and clever lyrics

Consistency

Pure honesty

 

It's just the perfect LDR album.

[Creyk 11,699]

Christmas is almost over and the only pop girl related thing to leak is a Kesha album reject.

I is sad

[Rorman Nockwell 56,802]

Defined, perfected and complete sonic/aesthetic world

Mature and clever lyrics

Consistency

Pure honesty

 

It's just the perfect LDR album.

 

This response is vague as hell. Which lyrics are mature and clever? Which part is honest? Can you describe this "sonic world"?

 

How is it more mature, clever, honest and atmospheric than her other albums? 

 

If you like it better then ofc that's absolutely fine but you should be able to explain why it resonates with you more so than her other albums. 

[Terrence Loves Me 72,796]

My dad is into critic opinions and asked me if he should listen to NFR and i told him to stay away from it cus i dont think he deserves to hear it after ignoring ultraviolence and honeymoon...

 

when you do clownery

[Creyk 11,699]

My dad asked me if he should listen to NFR and i told him to stay away from it cus i dont think he deserves to hear it

Make him listen to Pretty When You Cry instead that song is such a mood.

[Delete NOW 2,326]

.

 

[movebaby 5,379]

ok its time for an experiment. i, an outspoken critic of this album and jackoff ~*hater*~, will now be listening to Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019) on some super high quality speakers and seeing if this experience changes my opinion in any way 

[movebaby 5,379]

updates:

 

title track

- the piano sounds less tinny which is a huge relief!!

- there's one high(er) note (somewhere in the 'youuuuu' part) where her voice like cracks weirdly and i Do Not Like

- my main objection to this song is the lack of structure, it doesn't know where its going, it sounds like a dog chasing its own tail

 

mac

- damn it the super digital piano sound is back. fucking jackoff

- i do really really really love this fuckin song tho 

- i criticize the lyrics on a lot of this album but this song is 100% an exception

- the vocal processing works really well here 

- honestly my only objection to this song is jack's cheap keyboard

- fuck this is a great song

i lowkey never listen to this album so its an interesting experience

[movebaby 5,379]

vb

- yeah i actually do really love this song too

- the fact that this and mac were the first things we got plus the fact that i LOVED melodrama were the reason i was excited about jacks involvement at first, which is why the final product was such a letdown

- the instrumental change at ~2:15 is *chef's kiss*

- damn i reaaaaaaally preferred the lyrics when i still thought it was "life's dream" instead of "livestream" lol

 

fiily

- in the very beginning the guitar melody doesn't fit with the vocal melody and it bugs the shit outta me

- is it me or does her voice do something weird on the first "suite"

- i stan the second verse!! all aspects thereof

- second "sweet" sounds totally fine compared to the first

- lack of enunciation in the chorus still grates on me so hard 

- bridge/outro/whatever the fuck is *chef's kiss*^2

- i feel like this song is so short none of the ideas get to fully develop, it ends just as it gets really good

 

doin time

- i love this song

- everything about it

- vocals? great

- production? great

- lyrics? great 

- mixing? great

- sounds just as good on a car stereo as it does on these speakers

- yes i listened to it 21 times in a row when it came out

- yes it was in my spotify top 5 of 2019

- why do you ask

[movebaby 5,379]

love song

- yes i stan this song ok

- the piano does sound digital af but the fact that its so muffled makes it tolerable, like it doesnt just sound like a failed replication of a real piano

- do not like the vocal processing on the last line of the chorus, i like what i think they were going for but i don't think it succeeded

- echo on the first "is it safe to just be who we are" is perfect ahh i love

- the shortness/lack of structure and development works for me with this particular song but the fact that so many songs on the record are like that kinda sours it

 

cinnamon girl

- right off the bat we have jack's cheap tinny digital keyboard, i hate it, get it away from me

- vocal track sounds like a COMPLETELY different recording from ~0:30, idk if its just the effects they were using or what but its hella jarring

- beat in the chorus just sounds cheap and amateur, i've made shit that sounded better and i barely know how to use garageband

- the cut from the chorus to the second verse is so abrupt and weird 

- weird string thing in the "violet blue green red" of verse 2 could've been good theoretically but i do not like the execution

- vocals from ~3:00 actually hurt my ears

- the lyrics aren't good enough to save the production and vice versa

- i like the first bit of the outro, before the beat comes in, but after that it makes no sense

- this song just pisses me off bc of how messy and amateurish it is in every way 

[movebaby 5,379]

how to disappear

- so we meet again

- throwback to when i listened to the cd l*ak and thought the intro was literally a joke

- i feel like the intro should've been longer (NOT that i want to hear more bottle factory circus music, it just feels abrupt...the song deserves a better instrumental and a less rushed opening)

- for the record, i think the apple event version is a strong contender for lana's best song ever, period...i love love love the lyrics and melody but this instrumental is a disgrace

- the FUCKING BELLS...makin me suicidal here

- i feel like the cutesiness of the bells lowkey undermines the emotional gravity of the song

- dislike the vocal processing but its tolerable

- beat sounds like it came straight outta an *d sh**ran wedding dance song

- it doesnt make SENSE for the instrumentals to crescendo when the vocals don't jfc

- in conclusion, how to disappear solo piano fundamentalists unite

 

california

- here we go again with the cheap keyboard

- the verse melody makes no sense, i really don't like it, i'm sorry

- however the prechorus melody is gorgeous ("i shouldn't have done it..." etc)

- the instrumental is nice enough i guess but it feels lazy, literally nothing special about it, it sounds like a karaoke track, by-the-numbers af

- in the second verse it sounds like her voice is maxing out the mic

- again, the vocal processing is so erratic and weird and inconsistent

- personal preference entirely ofc but i do not like the chorus melody at all ("OOH ill pick you UP...") idk it just sounds so belabored...it feels like the melodic equivalent of slogging through mud in heavy boots

- ending is SO abrupt holy fuck

 

tnbar

- i LOVE the verse melody and the guitar in the beginning...so sultry

- transition into prechorus ("we were so obsessed") feels really abrupt, both the change in instrumental and in vocal processing

- the chorus makes me so mad omg...how to kill an intriguing storyline 101

- transition back to verse 2 is even more abrupt...ideas never get a chance to develop 

- verse and prechorus instrumentals are really gorgeous and interesting but idk what the heck the chorus is doing. i like the concept with the percussion but it doesn't exactly work for me idk

- the bridge is so pretty, "405 i drive through" feels shoehorned in syllabically tho. her voice sounds gorgeous, pizzicato strings sound gorgeous, glass breaking is probably my favorite moment on the album

- its a shame the glass break leads to this stupid fucking chorus again though

- this all just feels unfinished and patchworked together. the verses and prechorus build this gorgeous sense of drama and then the chorus is such a wild letdown vocally and lyrically. at least the instrumentals deliver on the drama they promise! take notes, jackoff

- in conclusion, we deserved the original version

[movebaby 5,379]

the greatest

- love the intro, imagine if jackoff kept up this level of instrumentation

- i can hear the horns SO much better on these speakers

- her voice sounds fuckin orgasmic in verse one

- beach boys line is genuinely clever

- prechorus vocal processing works great

- chorus deserves more drama in the instrumental, the prechorus was such a buildup and it didnt really go anywhere

- drums after 1st chorus still just feel like a knockoff of cruel world

- verse 2 is kind of a lyrical letdown after verse 1

- yeah the "culture is lit" line is kinda tacky but i don't mind it that much

- my main beef with this song is that it doesn't go anywhere...it promises so much drama but falls way the fuck off. this is like the biggest offender in terms of jack's tendency toward what i like to call "sonic edging"

- outro leaves a bad taste in my mouth

- we almost made it a whole song without jack's STUPID DIGITAL KEYBOARD and then he had to shove it in at the end

- the whole thing feels so abridged. imagine if this song had a bridge, and then another chorus or 2, and then a less tacky outro. like imagine the epic cinematic masterpiece this could've been

- literally the intro/first verse/first chorus are stunning, and then after jack tries unsuccessfully to bite the iconic drum moment from cruel world, it all meanders and goes nowhere

 

bartender

- i love this song

- a...real piano? dare i believe my ears?

- yeah the warm like a gun line does suck lol 

- i love the piano part so so much, it reminds me so much of bel air

- her voice sounds so strong and warm and confident and consistent through the whole thing

- there was this one review a certain user posted that referred to the "glissando piano" in this song and my pedantic ass feels the need to point out that glissando is a specific musical term that does not describe anything the piano in this song does. thats all, thank you for coming to my ted talk

- i LOVE the stutter thing. its so cute and intriguing and can be read in so many ways

- love the "ha ha ha ha" thing too, it feels like a lil callback to dark paradise

- her low range goddamn. her voice just sounds so GOOD esp on these speakers omg

[movebaby 5,379]

hiab

- this actually sounds like a real piano omg jack?? im so proud??

- yeah these lyrics are kinda a mess lol, they do have individual moments tho. i confess i stan the serial killer part

- the way the "baby i just wanna dance" part comes in is so awkward

- these lyrics just kinda feel like a weird pastiche of all the prior songs on the album w/out adding much new

- the strings sound weird and staticky on these speakers

- i do like the individual melodies but the way they flow into each other doesn't make much sense to me, it feels kinda randomized

 

hope is a dangerous thing for a 2000s emo band like me to have - but i have it

- the fact that this comes right after hiab makes the cheap gross tinny digital keyboard sound even worse

- her voice does sound amazing tho

- my thoughts on these lyrics are maybe a lil too complex and controversial to get into here but i will say that i think it has some good lyrics and some extreme lyrical lows

- damn she sounds gooood

- i fuckin love her voice in this 

- the ipad line really just does not do it for me im sorry 

- the way she sings the black narcissist line gives me physical shivers 

- im sorry i slandered this song so much ok

- my beef w it is mostly symbolic and political, not about the actual song

- imagine if it had a real piano instead of jackoff's stupid keyboard

- THIS is how to do high notes/voice breaks

that is all thank u for ur time

[UltraHeroin 8,803]

movebaby popping the FUCK  off with the best analysis I've seen of this album sound-wise. Well done        (I waited to let you finish lol)

[movebaby 5,379]

movebaby popping the FUCK  off with the best analysis I've seen of this album sound-wise. Well done        (I waited to let you finish lol)

 

ah thank you!! i wanted to try and be as neutral about it as i could, and honestly i did enjoy it more than i remembered/expected

[expandableclitoris 9,093]

California is just an Ultraviolence outtake

 

if "ultraviolence" here stands for degenerate stupid bubbling under 200 heroin addict type of singer that only sings songs in C major yass

[Pico Ocean Boulevard 41,164]

Can we all agree that Venice Bitch is the best sonically song and MAC the best lyrically song on the album?

 

And for all the Hope is a keyboardsmash lovers- This song is one of her best lyrically songs on the album too.period.

[UltraHeroin 8,803]

Can we all agree that Venice Bitch is the best sonically song and MAC the best lyrically song on the album?

 

And for all the Hope is a keyboardsmash lovers- This song is one of her best lyrically songs on the album too.period.

!!!!!!