Don't get me wrong: I love haunting, breathless and melancholic Lana but I was hoping for something different from the NYC born songstress on her sixth studio album, Norman Fucking Rockwell. I wish the songs had more peaks and valleys, a drum beat here and there or dare I say a dance track. Nevertheless, while it might not be unexpected, NFR is a superb album with several standout tracks that reference pop culture and Americana and solidifies her reputation as a stellar songwriter. She explained the origin of the title in an interview with Vanity Fair in February: “It was kind of an exclamation mark: so this is the American dream, right now. This is where we’re at—Norman fucking Rockwell. We’re going to go to Mars, and Trump is president, all right.”
Here are my seven favourite tracks on the album:
Norman Fucking Rockwell - The opening track on the album starts with the lyrics "Godamn, man child / You fucked me so good that I almost said, 'I love you'" and goes on to explore their flawed but authentic relationship with a "self-loathing poet". It's a slow, hypnotic piano-based ballad and that sets the tone for the rest of the album.
Mariner's Apartment Complex - This is one of my favourite songs on the album. According to Pitchfork's Jenn Pelly it is a "four-minute drama about fateful potential romantic energy" that radiates "new dimensions of sensitivity and eloquence".
Doin' Time - This is a catchy cover of a Sublime song, originally released in 1996 , that has the aforementioned beat and signature Lana layering I'd been waiting for.
Cinnamon Girl - Another beautiful track about a tragic romance that has already become a fan favourite according to Radio.com, perhaps because lyrics such as these resonate with those who have been burned by love more than once: "There's things I want to say to you, but I'll just let you live / Like if you hold me without hurting me you'll be the first who ever did."
How to Disappear - Beautiful strings, an uptempo beat and a sprinkle of bells, together with the rhyming couplets that punctuate the song, make this a standout track.
California - A nostalgia-filled song with a dreamy and catchy chorus that references the carefree spirit of California: "If you come back to California, you should just hit me up / We'll do whatever you want, travel wherever how far / We'll hit up all the old places / We'll have a party, we'll dance 'til dawn".
The Greatest - Another stunning song about love, loss and longing and references to the Beach Boys ("I miss the bar where the Beach Boys would go / Dennis's last stop before Kokomo").
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