Lana Del Rey drops 14-minute cinematic video for 'Norman F***ing Rockwell!', the title track of her latest album
Lana Del Rey doesn't seem to do art by half measures. She recently unveiled a new 14-minute short film that includes three songs from her latest critically-acclaimed album called 'Norman F***ing Rockwell!'.
In addition to the album's title track, you’ll hear the tracks 'Bartender' and 'Happiness is a Butterfly' on the majestic magnum opus, and social media has been buzzing about it all weekend.
Since taking the indie-pop scene by storm with her hugely successful 2012 album, 'Born To Die', Del Rey has earned a massive following from fans thanks to her poetic, poignant songs that deal with themes of glamour, love, and heartbreak, often steeped in homages to vintage 1960's Americana.
And it looks like she will be keeping on that retro trajectory with her new album — 'Norman F***ing Rockwell!', which seems like a direct nod to the celebrated artiste Norman Rockwell and his slice-of-life paintings of vintage American culture.
The old-school treatment for the 'Norman F***ing Rockwell' music video, which stylishly suggests to the viewer that they are viewing it off a mobile phone display in landscape mode, opens with Del Ray sitting at a piano and crooning a slow ballad about her man-child lover and his idiosyncratic way of loving her, warts and all.
We also see various vintage-styled vignettes of a placid Del Rey lounging around her backyard in cinematic Jackie Onassis-style sunglasses, chilling by the pool, meditating with an animated Bambi, and engaging in shenanigans with her rebellious, always-up-for-fun friends.
Although the video has been directed by Chuck Grant, the video editing credit bears Lana Del Rey's name, meaning she has clearly seized back creative control of her music video output, something she used to do when she first made it big on the mainstream scene.
And it seems like the right approach, as the video bears her signature style through and through — there are moments of genuinely thrilling darkness and levity, and a couple of interesting arty juxtapositions like the silhouettes of two lovers locked in a passionate embrace framed against a devastating nuclear explosion.
You can check out the video for 'Norman F***ing Rockwell' here.
And if this wasn't enough, there's more good news for Lana Del Rey fans — her spoken word album, a spin-off from her forthcoming book, 'Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass', will be releasing on January 4, 2020, according to her update on Instagram.
It should only cost a dollar or so, and half of the sales proceeds will be given to Native American organizations. So stay tuned — there's a lot more art coming our way from Lana Del Rey!