“California” by Lana Del Rey, Friday, December 3, 2021
Lana Del Rey's magnum opus, Norman Fucking Rockwell! was released in September of 2018 and earned the singer-songwriters the acclaim she had been laying the foundation for since 2012's Born to Die. A year after her lackluster album/collection of good songs Lust for Life, she released the first single from NFR, "The Mariner's Apartment Complex" and quickly followed it with another single, the 9:38 song "Venice Bitch." She began building hype for the record, a cohesive record using the Americana formula Del Rey uses best, a year before its release. The singer awkwardly promoted the album in October of 2018, 11 months before its release, at an Apple Keynote event. The singer wasn't allowed to say the name of the her upcoming album or its single, which she played censored, "Venice Bitch," as Jack Antonoff played the piano. YOU DON'T EVER HAVE TO GO FASTER THAN YOUR FASTEST PACE. I remember a coffee table book we had, a warn spiral-bound c