Norman Fucking Rockwell - Potential Storyline

[ArtDecoDelRey 15,263]

Okay so I've been theorizing about this since Friday basically, and the record truly does feel like a complete story, rivaling the compelling stories told by Born To Die and Ultraviolence. Keep in mind this is just my personal opinion, but here goes nothing! (also posted this in the NFR post release but I don't want it to get lost in there). I want to hear your guys' thoughts and different things you felt about the songs <3

 

 

 

Norman Fucking Rockwell: Lana is in this relationship with this man who's she has some frustration with. He's a shitty poet, a know-it-all, a jerk. However, she is still somewhat unaware of the toxicity of this, given the line, "'Cause you're just a man, it's just what you do". She thinks all men are supposed to act like this in a relationship. She ends the song giving into her feelings and staying with the guy.

 

 

Mariners Apartment Complex: Lana becomes aware that her boyfriend isn't just an egotistical douche, but someone who truly needs guiding and support. She realizes she could be the person who gives in the relationship, shining her light and letting him benefit from her emotional support. Ends on an optimistic note.

 

Venice Bitch: the events that just occurred in the last song carry over into this one. Things are at an all-time high with her boyfriend, and she reminisces on the good times they've had. The song is basically a compilation of all the good feelings she's had in this relationship, but tinged with melancholia all the same.

 

Fuck It I Love You: in this song, Lana is reflecting on a lot of the stuff that's happened to her. Revisiting her journey to California, she expresses newfound love for not only herself, but for her boyfriend. Declaring "Fuck it! I love you" is the statement that says that she loves him, regardless of all the crazy shit in their relationship.

 

Doin' Time: this song is not exactly made for the album, but can still be woven into it I suppose. Things start to get a little bit rockier in the relationship, singing from the annoyed male perspective, maybe could be representative of some of the faults she has created in the relationship

 

Love Song: a brief moment of pure joy occurs in the relationship, and it feels like pure heaven for Lana. This is the exact song that Lana sang directly into her lover's ears, and it's a pure moment of intimacy and bliss. Begging her lover to stay like this, wanting the relationship to feel like this, it's their love song.

 

Cinnamon Girl: Unfortunately, things didn't stay the same way in the relationship. Lana becomes more self-aware of the toxic dynamic of this relationship. He's using pills to escape from his troubles, but she just finds her way back in, confessing how hurt she's been in past relationships. The song ends on a fragile note vocally, demonstrating the uncertainty of the relationship to come.

 

How To Disappear: here, Lana is reflecting on aspects of her past, and looking back at a past lover. Potentially someone different from who the first 7 tracks are about. She talks about what she observed during her earlier days in New York and what not, once again re-instating that she will always be right there, whatever happens to her lovers. The song ends with an obvious feeling of being distanced from her boyfriend, through space and time.

 

California: In this song, Lana confesses her true love for a past boyfriend, potentially the one alluded to at the end of How To Disappear. She desperately wants him back in her life, pleading to do whatever he wants to do. She once again redeems herself as a stable figure, saying that he doesn't have to be anything other than who he truly is for her to love him.

 

The Next Best American Record: Potentially Lana and the old boyfriend got together, or perhaps she is just reminiscing on the happy times she had with him. She sings of their past relationship and her present desires to just party and have fun with the potential love of her life.

 

The Greatest: Here, Lana is in a state of limbo. She might be in contact with either of the two men discussed throughout the album, but the general meaning of the song is somewhat of an introspective one, or one reflecting on society at large. The song ends with an apocalyptic view of the universe, and the record shifts in a bare, ghostly mood, as demonstrated by the 3 remaining piano ballads.

 

Bartender: The Bartender that Lana sings about here feels like the original man described in the first half of the album. They have gotten back together, and they are trying to escape the paparazzi that follows her around. Mixed with themes of her sobriety, the song could also be another introspective one, where she seeks privacy and sanity for herself.

 

Happiness Is A Butterfly: This song represents the final breakup of Lana and the Norman Rockwell esque dickhead. Still head over heels in love, Lana is thoroughly upset about the breakup, as evident by the lyrics. Who care's if he's a dangerous man to be around? She doesn't, she just wants to dance with him. Happiness for her is a butterfly: something that is never permanent, something that can't stay forever. And this man certainly has left.

 

hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but i have it: After everything that Lana has been through, the song is stripped back to just her internal thoughts and an underwater sounding piano. She reflects on not only everything she's gone through in this relationship, but everything in life in general. Hope is an extremely dangerous thing to have, given the fact that she's had her heart broken and life ruined countless times in her life. However, she still has it, she is still here. Her ending with her angelic high voice proclaiming her hope for her future endeavors is the perfect conclusion to this record.

[YUNGATA 14,945]

Barrie Fucking O'Neill 

[expandableclitoris 9,087]

i like your theory but i dont think the album is set in a linear way

 

i think it varies across a wide span of topics but mostly how her career was set into reviving this melancholic depressive blues woman always playing with the an idealistic american culture from the past, like she displayed in Born to Die or Honeymoon media, and now she has to face the fact that america is not a dream of liberty and hope (and probably never was) and its going downhill, specially for minorities. 

 

 

and obviously theres a bunch of songs about barrie and how she misses him, but why not 

 

 

also i dont think the title track is specifically about a guy, i think its an amalgam of her LDR persona and sexism