Album Review: Norman F***ing Rockwell by Lana Del Rey

As part of my research into the 2019 Grammy's Album of the Year category, I listened to each nominated album 5 times in order to evaluate my own ranking.

Here are some quick stats about Norman F***ing Rockwell by Lana Del Rey:

• Album #6

• Released August 30, 2019 (previous album release in 2017)

• Album length: 67:38, 14 tracks

• Peaked at #3 on US Billboard 200 (20 weeks on chart)

• Genre: Soft rock

• Metacritic Score: 87/100

I have a little bit of prior knowledge of Lana Del Rey's work. I know her album Born to Die very well. Any other songs, I have mostly just dabbled with. I've seen various music videos over the years. A few songs have caught my attention here and there, but it hasn't been enough to get me to listen to the full albums.

I wasn't a huge fan of this album. I think my biggest problem with this album is it sounds like everything else she's made. I liked Born to Die, but I feel like I lost interest following her after that album because there was no progression. Everything sounds the same to me. I was very hopeful that I would start getting into this album after more listens, but I just would dread having to listen to it.

This album is doing pretty well. I didn't realize that Lana Del Rey was as popular and mainstream as she apparently is. I didn't even know why this album was nominated. It sounds the same as everything she's been putting out since 2012. But I can see why it was nominated after seeing it's critic scores and chart placement. I just really don't understand the hype at all.

The songs are all boring and generic. There is no energy or passion from Lana as a performer. I think what made this the worst for me to listen to was the extremely long run time.

Some songs that I noted that I liked include: "Mariners Apartment Complex," "Doin' Time" and "Hope is a Dangerous Thing...". I liked the dream-like, oldies style that these songs had. While the whole album had the same kind of sound, the other sounds were just completely unmemorable to me. One song I particularly disliked was "Bartender." That song started getting pretty annoying to me.

Lana is credited as a writer on every song except "Doin' Time." For a lot of the songs she is one of two writers. She is also listed as a producer on all songs except for two. It doesn't seem like she played any instruments for this recording. I do respect any artist who is very involved in the behind the scenes process, so it's impressive that she is the main writer of this album. I don't like it when some mindless pretty pop star sings other peoples' songs and takes all the credit for all the behind the scenes work. I definitely do give her kudos for being so instrumental in her album. I think it just wasn't for me.

Overall, this has had overwhelming critical and audience reception. And while I respect the work that Lana put into this, I personally just didn't like it. I probably won't ever go back and listen to this. I wouldn't even expect to listen to a few songs from it.