2019 was a great year for music. You named it, Billie Eilish and Sigrid released their impressive debut album, FKA twigs came back with her second album, James Blake's love album, and even Ariana Grande paved her way as the 2019 pop culture with her groundbreaking Thank U, Next.
Then, came Lana Del Rey with her newest album, Norman Fucking Rockwell! dropped on the last day of August. She actually teased us with a couple of songs before the album release, including the cover of Sublime's Doin Time and we knew the album would be her best yet and turned out, it was her best work so far and one of the best albums that released on 2019. The question would be, why is it so good? Wait, good is an understatement. Let's change that into what makes it so great? The album consists of 14 songs clocked at one hour and 7 minutes. It's not her longest album (Lust For Life has 16 songs, can't you believe that?!) yet it has this distinctive sound that differs from her other albums. NFR! more like an alternative pop-rock album. It reminds me of 70s rock music and then blend with a little bit of Lana's distinctive sound. It's more stripped-down instrumentally than her previous albums. Most songs on this album were also produced by Jack Antonoff. He is the mastermind behind Fun., Lorde's Melodrama, and Taylor Swift's Reputation.
The title itself is a reference to Norman Rockwell, who was the famous painter. His works mainly focused on charmingly simple images of American life and its history. A narration of simplicity and comfort, the painted idea of American dream. This album is influenced by those themes even there's a bit twist toward the end of the album.
Starts with the titular track, Norman fucking Rockwell, a tale of loving a person who is acting out and there is nothing she can do to change this person. Well, all she can do is to becoming a captain, a candle, a guide to this person like she said in Mariners Apartment Complex and living their best life as time slowly fades away in her hypnotizing 10-minute song Venice Bitch and make a statement like Fuck it, I love you. There is a sense of continuity and references to each song which made the album feels so cohesive. Like, most songs have these lyrics to build up that sense of continuity, a narration, a pin-point which leads to another and that is a top notch of the lyric writing here. Then it proceeds to Sublime's Doin Time cover which at first I don't know if it fits to the album, but it actually fits. Adding one slot for more upbeat, mall-reggae song to groove to. Then, she pledges to her lover in Love song, The Next Best American Record, and California even though she was hurt, saw the warning signs, and she knew how it ended as described in How to disappear and Happiness is a butterfly. The climax of the album for me is in The greatest, where everything around her like the culture, the conceptual land of California and the America inside her mind, is falling apart -- It is on the brink of the apocalypse which she cannot do a thing to prevent that. The album ends with a somber but positive which reminds us about hope -- the most dangerous thing to have, but we have it.
Jack Antonoff's productions are really strong here. They are not like too-polite-to-be-listened-with-your-ear kind of sounds. The sounds of this album are so minimalistic at first, yet they are showing more personalities and souls to every song. They are not as grandeur as her previous albums but that makes them great. Somehow, the piano, the strings, and the drums, the influence of 70s pop-rock/indie, they are taking you into a journey of a fade memory. A journey you've probably had or you've never had before. The sounds are delivered with delicacy and grace, full with complexity of a real person rather than a persona.
Above all, Norman Fucking Rockwell! is the sound of a shattered heart which rebuild again only to be shattered. A sound of a troubled lover, navigating their way in and out. A sound of a journey of mind, a memory - distant ones. A sound of a warning, and it is also a sound of hope. Lana Del Rey once again proves that she can write the next, best American records.
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