I feel there are two pretty distinct phases in her music. First half, she sounds to me a lot like Lorde. Second half, she gets less beat-heavy and more slow and dramatic and overtly lyrical.
That first half wasn’t super surprising. The first time I ever heard of Del Rey, it was when she was recommended to me by my cousin whose favorite artist is Lorde. The issue is, I don’t much love Lorde, I don’t love the style. I think that, in general, this first-half-Lana does a lot of the same things Lorde does, but better. There’s some more polish, some more refinement. But it’s also missing what Lorde does have for me: a couple of individual songs that I really like. Even the first half is slow and dramatic in a way that I don’t much care for. I thought that might go away or change as I kept listening to more of her music, but it didn’t really. By the very end I was still not enjoying it really at all. Part of me wants to say it feels… not “holier than thou”, but “more fancy than thou”. The other part of me thinks I’m making that up so I have a reason not to like it. The moral of the story is I don’t really like it. It’s slow and long and I get tired of it real easy.
Norman F****** Rockwell begins the second phase, it feels pretty different. It’s more intimate and toned down than phase one. Lots of songs that are mostly just piano chords and singing, everything in it is kind of bare, raw. I still don’t love it, but I probably like it more than anything in phase one. Even if I didn’t enjoy it, it felt the most like it was quote-unquote “good”. That said, I still don’t much like the second phase. I dunno, it still doesn’t quite hold my attention. The more of it, of Del Rey in general, I listened to the less I found myself caring about it.
That’s true for both phases, I think. There are, infrequently, parts that I think are good, that grab me, and then there’s so much that feels like a cry for a attention. The music isn’t often very interesting at all, it’s very very simple, so it’s presumably being cared by lyricism and performance, and I don’t much care for her lyricism or performance most of the time (with infrequent exceptions). I give it a D-. I don’t really enjoy it, and there’s nothing that would redeem it to a C, there’s nothing that really makes me want to like it. It’s not bad, there are moments I like and there are lots of things I can recognize as being something other people would like, but it’s got nothing for me
tunafruitsandwitch 
Lana Del Rey – in one word – moody. She creates these nostalgic, longing, lonely rooms of sound. It feels like movie music – like there is a scene that should be accompanying every song. And indeed, I just kept hoping to hear Young and Beautiful – that song made The Great Gatsby for me – but it wasn’t on any album. Boo. And maybe if I find myself in a dramatically somber, beautiful, tormented mood, maybe one day I will play her to provide the soundtrack to my movie life. But probably not. I do like her though. I like some of her orchestral and brass stuff. It’s interesting and full and beautiful. I like how she plays around with the richness and wispiness of her voice. I kept hearing all of the young ladies of today – Billie Eilish, Phoebe Bridgers especially – and wondered how influenced they were by Del Rey. The answer – A LOT! So I give her a much credit for that – she kind of lead the way into the whispy, dark female dreamland that we all inhabit today. Good on her! I give her a strong C+.
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