Norman Fucking Rockwell - Post-Release Discussion Thread + Poll

[GeminiLanaFan 49,408]

Looking back on last year and the critiques we had with her (“what is she doing? She is so lazy! Why isn’t she at that gala?”), after hearing NFR, I kinda get her absence from the spotlight: she seemed to be really channeling beauty from simple things, almost finding it in ugly ones as well. I don’t forget that it’s been a hell of a never ending waiting game for this damn record, but I kinda get better in what headspace she was in (“miss doing nothing the most of all”).

Anyways, her motto seems to be “total absence from everything”, then “everything all at once”, like silence before a storm.

[godsmonster 14,266]

I actually miss pre-release NFR!, but from the point Doin' Time was announced up to now. That's when the era picked up speed and became iconic (in it's own right)

when the tracklist was announced, I was in the bathroom at work and screamed when I saw Cinnamon Girl AND The Next Best American Record

ugh I miss summer 2019

[LanaBoi 1,810]

I actually miss pre-release NFR!, but from the point Doin' Time was announced up to now. That's when the era picked up speed and became iconic (in it's own right)

when the tracklist was announced, I was in the bathroom at work and screamed when I saw Cinnamon Girl AND The Next Best American Record

ugh I miss summer 2019

 

I was so excited when we found out that ALL the snippets were in the album <3 and finally getting TNBAR was like an extra added treat  

[Off To The Races 2010 demo pls 19,336]

Doin' Time MV is still one of her best ugh

[Shades 1,700]

Has anyone here heard the new Zella Day song released Friday? I bring her up because she's working with Neil Krug and Dan Auerbach. Dan produced her new song "People Are Strangers" and the song and video is very beautiful. I wish Lana would work with Neil again. Her work with her sister is boring and unimaginative. What Neil could have come up with for the NFR photo shoots and album cover would have been amazing.

 

i dont know why but this is the vibe of ur post:

 

[NectarOfTheGods 4]

https://dbree.org/v/05eb46

 

what is this???? 

[American Whore 51,685]

https://dbree.org/v/05eb46

 

what is this????

 

it sounds like william eyelash or lorde, kind of similar to Lana in parts. i’ve not heard the actual ITTJ so idk what the fuck that is lol

[baddisease 17,954]

it sounds like william eyelash or lorde, kind of similar to Lana in parts. i’ve not heard the actual ITTJ so idk what the fuck that is lol

 

[Platinum Greenwich 13,879]

i’ve not heard the actual ITTJ

 

as opposed to someone who has?

[Make me your Dream Life 88,903]

I know we waited literally over a year for this record to've been released, but it's timing was pretty great. especially w everything going on.. 

a lot gets intensified. 

California burns a lot steadier. 
There's a lot more anguish in TG, Fuck it, I love you's tempo sort of mentally speeds up 
Doin Time sounds like a Twilight zone episode 
TNBAR sounds a lot more mythic 
Cinnamon gets headier 
Love song, Venice, even HtD, a lot more poignant 
Hope, more anthemic 
Bartender, a lot more playful

and then as counterpoints, u've got MAC and HiaB that feel more centering 
 

Strangely enough, how the title track's all calm at the start, roller coasts n loops thru that to end w hope, it's almost as if it's betraying the salvaging quality of the album cover. nd, at least for me, gets you wondering if getting stuck at sea and finding an island's a refuge, and if so, for how long? 

sometimes it gets me thinking about how important memories are and like, how to make better ones

[BlueJeans 2,608]

This is gonna sounds so stupid but with NFR being released on freaking August 30, I was ready to start listening to Christmas music already (don’t judge).

No but really, Lana’s songs have a spring-summer vibe imo and having the album once summer was basically over was a bit meh. So I’m slowly re-discovering it...

 

As I said... it’s stupid !

[Marius 12,856]

This is gonna sounds so stupid but with NFR being released on freaking August 30, I was ready to start listening to Christmas music already (don’t judge).

No but really, Lana’s songs have a spring-summer vibe imo and having the album once summer was basically over was a bit meh. So I’m slowly re-discovering it...

 

As I said... it’s stupid !

Yeah! This album is so good for a summery day!

[love deluxe 8,862]

how's everyone enjoying NFR now that it's been 8 months (wow, time flies.)? personally, i think Norman Fucking Rockwell! managed to surpass each and every one of her other records in just about every way, but especially from a lyrical standpoint. it's just so good and it even got me writing and playing some music of my own. i think this is in a lot of ways our generation's BIG album. there are many BIG albums of this generation, obviously, but i feel like this is up in that hall of fame, y'know? idk if that makes sense, but that's how I personally feel about it. My favorite songs are venice bitch, the greatest, mariners, happiness, norm, hope, fuck it i love you, cinnamon girl, love song, bartender... basically every song. even the next best american record grew on me despite still not surpassing the demo in my eyes. how to disappear is a beautiful track that just ages better with time, as well. what an album and what an amazing woman. can't wait to see what she does next.

[99centlips 8,526]

venice bitch is still transcendental 

[Off To The Races 2010 demo pls 19,336]

Okay so... Now that I think about it (don't know if this has been talked before) but I really wonder why she put TNBAR on the album at the last time, like, it does fit the album's lyricism and aesthetic but I thought it was dead and buried forever until the tracklist was published. I guess she just likes this song a lot and decided to do something with her

[Make me your Dream Life 88,903]

I think TNBAR sorta serves as like a second chance type of song .. 

real quick, analysis incoming. 

the song's set in the past tense. follows the desperate cries of California n plays off it well. so it seems like she's glazing over problems she wishes she hadn't seen in the relationship and tries bargaining w Topanga nights and how they were so good together. but it seems she was more invested in it than he was, and she got let down. 

song promotes growth, from the demo that we had before.. but it's also duplicitous bc she clearly knows that she can't go back no matter how much she tries to. Even if she wanted to, it'd be a step back, and the past isn't even there anymore as it usually isn't, and she knows that. her dreams were swallowed in a stale void. 

and as smooth as the chorus is, u can feel the reluctance in the verses.. the slow guitar. the descending notes. how everything was. 

to me, what it feels like is that she's 13beaching and going back in her head, but at least she found a gem of self-assurance in what she wants for herself in the future. or at least that's what she can walk away w for herself after the dizzying ordeal.. 

it connects real well to California bc it almost seems like a "feels like we only go backwards.mp3" moment by tame impala. 
venice, bc it gives her better clarity towards the vision of what she wants in the future. that hasn't changed.
norman, in the theme of him being into himself.

tl,dr. 
it's a great take on what it feels like to sort of be in denial. swimming in the past in varying grades of reality, and back to the album trailer. was that island of refuge as blossoming as it was? 

difficult to ascertain, but she ends the record w hope, and I can't help but feel an overall sense of relief for her in that sense. 

[Thunder Revenant 20,977]

TNBA totally fits with both the lyricism and the sound of the second half of NFR, if y'all wouldn't know that it was a scrapped LFL outtake you would never be so annoying about it

[GeminiLanaFan 49,408]

TNBA totally fits with both the lyricism and the sound of the second half of NFR, if y'all wouldn't know that it was a scrapped LFL outtake you would never be so annoying about it

Exactly. We would be head over heels for this song if we hadn’t overplayed the demo so much.

Besides, we kinda know that both TNBAR and California are about Barrie: if she had kept the « impotence » part of the demo, it would have outdone the message of California, the « all is forgiven, come back to see me because we created good music together »

[mrborntolose 9,992]

i just hate the tnbar was released and didn’t get the video it deserved

[domandapiano 12,117]

I was listening to this album stoned af last night I gotta shout props to Love Song. She is THAT SONG.