Bruce Springsteen Reveals His Favorite Contemporary Pop Album, and His Answer Might Surprise You

It can be tempting to assume an artist would most enjoy music similar to what they create, but Bruce Springsteen continues to prove this theory wrong with his love of non-rock music, such as traditional and contemporary pop. During a 2020 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Boss had a surprising pick for a recent album he enjoyed listening to all the way through: Lana Del Rey’s sixth studio album, Norman F***ing Rockwell!

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Del Rey released the retro-tinged album in August 2019 to great critical acclaim, debuting at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200. In the U.K., it performed even better, debuting at the top of the charts. As it turns out, Springsteen was one of those listeners. “I just love her writing,” Springsteen told Colbert. “It’s cinematic, and her narrative is great.”

Comparatively, from a surface-level standpoint, Springsteen and Del Rey are vastly different. The former relies on intense masculine energy, using powerful rock ‘n’ roll instrumentation to write about the American experience, particularly within a working-class context. Del Rey is essentially the opposite, relying on lush string arrangements and breathy vocals to tell stories of old Hollywood glamour, love, and fame (and the likelier narrative that people often fail to achieve true versions of any of the three).

Lana Del Rey Shares Mutual Feelings With Bruce Springsteen

Dive a bit deeper into both of these artists’ discographies, and there are more similarities between Bruce Springsteen and Lana Del Rey than one might think. Both songwriters have developed a unique reputation for sounding like they’re writing about one thing, while they’re really writing about another. Both rely heavily on American imagery, both the good and the bad. Springsteen and Del Rey both like to build an entire world around an album, whether sonically, aesthetically, or a cohesive blend of both.

Long before Springsteen visited the Late Show (via webcam, because such was the way of life in 2020), Del Rey confirmed that this creative respect and admiration was mutual. While discussing her album, Born to Die, in a 2012 interview, Del Rey revealed that Springsteen was a major inspiration for her. “If I was talking to [Emile Haynie, producer, and Larry Gold, string arranger] about the song ‘This is What Makes Us Girls’, I would say to them, you know, ‘Think about the film score for American Beauty by Thomas Newman. That meets Bruce Springsteen in the 80s.’”

And indeed, one of the Bruce Springsteen albums we’d consider the closest to Lana Del Rey came from September 1982: Nebraska. One could easily hear callbacks to the brooding, sparse soundscape Springsteen created for Nebraska in multiple Del Rey albums, including Ultraviolence and, of course, Born to Die. It’s interesting, then, that Springsteen would find such great inspiration from her sixth album. We’ll just be over here waiting for a collaboration.

Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios