Something I love about music is growing with it and appreciating the little details you didn’t notice before. No matter how much time has passed, the messages still resonate with you today.

Lana Del Rey’s sixth studio album, “Norman Fucking Rockwell!” is full of ethereal synth and hard-hitting lyrics. Some of which I’m only now appreciating, five years later.

In 2019, I was a first-year in high school. I was hopeful and just beginning to learn who I was. While the first Del Rey song I ever heard was “Summertime Sadness” on the radio in 2012, “NFR” was the first of her albums that I listened to.

The tracklist for this album was truly genius. It felt like each song was carefully picked in this certain order to tell a story. The title track as the opener was a no-brainer. “Norman Fucking Rockwell” is so painfully beautiful and it encapsulates settling for someone who hurts you over and over because you love them.

Her vocals while singing “’Cause you’re just a man/ It’s just what you do/ Your head in your hands/ As you color me blue” are heavenly. Del Rey is so full of emotion and it’s as though you’re going through what she is at the same time.

She continues, “Why wait for the best when I could have you?” This singular line sells her point of the song, and possibly the message of the entire album. No matter how often someone will do you wrong, you just can’t leave them.

This theme stays true throughout most of the songs that follow this opener. However, the vibe switches once you hear “Doin’ Time.” This song is a cover of Sublime’s 1996 “Doin’ Time” from their album “Sublime.” From the slow guitar strums of “Fuck it I love you,” to the atmospheric fast-paced melody of “Doin’ Time,” it feels like whiplash.

“Doin’ Time” makes this album seasonally universal. To me, this track screams summertime. Maybe because she opens the song by saying “Summertime, and the livin’s easy,” but that’s beside the point. There’s something about driving with your windows down blasting this song, it never gets old.

But my top three tracks from this album have to be “Cinnamon Girl,” “How to disappear” and “California.” This three-track run made me fall in love with “NFR.”

“Cinnamon Girl” portrays Del Rey begging her partner to love her instead of hurting her as her past relationships have done. Her partner tries to shut her out, but she refuses to give up. She sings “There’s things I wanna say to you/ But I’ll just let you live/ Like if you hold me without hurting me/ You’ll be the first who ever did.” 

Her feelings travel to “How to disappear,” as she shares her feelings on men being unable to express their own. This track is my absolute favorite, especially at the end of the song. The guitar solo after she sings the chorus for a second time feels so nostalgic.

In the third verse, she recounts her memories of this failed relationship. She sings “Now it’s been years since I left New York/ I’ve got a kid and two cats in the yard/ The California sun and the movie stars/ I watch the skies getting light as I write as I/ Think about those years.”

Despite this, sometimes you can’t help but wish for a traditional American love story. In “California,” Del Rey sings about the regret she feels from losing a special bond she once had.

Her soft, high-pitched voice as she sings the chorus fills you with melancholy and puts you in a somber state. She sings “If you come back to California, you should just hit me up/ We’ll do whatever you want, travel wherever how far/ We’ll hit up all the old places/ We’ll have a party, we’ll dance ’til dawn/ I’ll pick up all of your Vogues and all of your Rolling Stones/ Your favorite liquor off the top shelf/ I’ll throw a party all night long.” She desperately yearns to rekindle this lost connection.

As the album comes to a close, “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have — but i have it” is an amazing ending. It ties the album together and shares a similar message of feminism, hope, yearning and regret. The public expects Del Rey to act like a well-behaved pop star, but that isn’t who she is.

At any point in your life, you can relate to these themes. This album perfectly summarizes what it’s like to be a woman; being let down, cast aside and expected to put on a show. It’s evident that Del Rey is one of “The greatest,” and this album will forever hold a special place in my heart.