I’ve always understood how Lana Del Rey could be beloved by so many but never understood why she was so beloved if that makes sense. The cinematic qualities of her music, classic Americana nostalgic undertones, and romantic sentimentality of her music felt incredibly compelling at face value. But there was always something that felt sort of fake about her– like she was trying too hard to play a character without actually feeling anything about the things she was singing about, romanticizing depression in a way that felt sort of like a marketing tool.
That was until I heard Norman Fucking Rockwell however. To be candid this album is damn near perfection. I don’t use the word “enrapturing” too often when describing albums on here but holy shit does this record truly deserve it. Every single song and every single moment feels incredibly human, like a page from a diary being read aloud while the scenes from that day play out on a big screen in front of you.
Del Rey’s music has always been deeply shaped by her tumultous upbringing. As a teenager she struggled with feelings of alienation and subsequently battled with alcohol dependence, which led her parents to send her to a boarding school to help her get sober. These turbulent experiences of loneliness, addiction, and searching for identity later became central themes in her music. And boy do they ever play out on this album. These life influences created the foundation for her signature sound that hits you like a hammer over the head on Norman Fucking Rockwell—lush, melancholic, and drenched in a dreamlike sense of longing for a sense of self that’s forever just a bit out of reach.
Songs like “Mariners Apartment Complex” and the nearly ten-minute “Venice Bitch” showcase her gift for turning intimacy into grandeur, while the title track reflects her biting wit and cultural commentary. The album not only solidified her as one of the defining songwriters of her generation but also proved her ability to transcend the early “sad-core” label. It cemented her place as a master of turning vulnerability and irony into timeless art.
I’m forever a fan from this point forward.
Standout Songs: “Venice Bitch”, “Happiness is a Butterfly”, “Cinnamon Girl”, “California”, “Mariners Apartment Complex”
