in honor of Lana Del Rey’s best album turning five years old which is crazy to believe let’s go through the top five songs on “Norman F**king Rockwell” No.5 goes to “Hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have…” “…but I have it” this song is incredibly introspective and personal for Lana the visual imagery running rampant here of the line like “I’ve been tearing around in my f**king nightgown” you can literally imagine a ghost version of Lana like roaming around the halls of a haunted mansion very on brand being the closing track to “NFR!” with the combination of Lana’s incredibly vulnerable songwriting with the very minimalist production ushers in this sound of just pure resilience by the time you get to the end of it No. 4 I’m throwing to “Mariners Apartment Complex” the acoustic instrumentation here really ushers in this atmospheric yet very grounded feeling the two normally wouldn’t work together but that’s part of what makes “Norman F**king Rockwell” so special and unique not only within Lana’s discography but within music of the last you know century so far I’m your man No. 3 goes to the title track and album opener “Norman F**king Rockwell” said best this is a very brutal character portrait of a man in her life who is pretty much um the opposite of what you would want in a man from the classic American Dream the lyric “you’re just a man, it’s just what you do” pretty much embodies that perfectly it’s Lana delivering it in such a like carefully restrained way when the lyric itself is so brutally scathing and again similar to “Hope is a dangerous thing” the production here really allows Lana’s vocals and these lyrics to take center stage No. 2 goes to “The greatest” which is ironically not number one “The greatest” is all about nostalgia and reflection while eerily kind of predicting the future that was just around the corner in 2020 she’s talking environmental disaster she’s talking political turmoil she’s talking the demise of society what makes “The greatest” a top two song for me above “Norman F**king Rockwell” “Mariners Apartment Complex” and “Hope is a dangerous thing” is the production I love the way that Jack and Lana were able to fuse in such classic rock elements into this one “The greatest” is one of those songs that in any other world would make a perfect album closer but for whatever reason it isn’t the best song on “Norman F**king Rockwell” is “Venice B!tch” and if you disagree you can argue with the wall “Venice B!tch” is everything that makes Lana Del Rey Lana Del Rey wrapped up in this 10 minute sprawling epic epic the psychedelic rock influence on “Venice B!tch” is what makes this song so special and Lana sounds so at home within this type of music I don’t know why she hasn’t ventured deeper down this lane yet it’s the fact that an almost 10 minute long song keeps you completely enthralled from beginning to end it is truly an immersive experience and that is why it is the best song on “Norman F**king Rockwell” alright well those are my top 5 songs on “NFR!” make sure you drop a comment let me know what your favorites are and follow for more music content