Taylor Swift’s “Snow on the Beach”: A Record-Breaking Collaboration with Lana Del Rey

One of my favorite parts about living in Maine has always been the beach. In the summers, I spend most of my days jumping off Cape Neddick, laying on the hot sand, and swimming in the sixty-degree water. At night, my friends and I sit around a fire on Seapoint Beach, laughing and watching the moon rise over the ocean. The winters are different. It’s too cold for fires and tanning, and the water drops to a chilling forty degrees. All the tourists have gone home, and the only people left on the beach are the locals who like to walk their dogs. The beach is still beautiful in the winter, but it’s especially beautiful when it’s snowing. 

The song “Snow on the Beach” by Taylor Swift ft. Lana Del Rey talks about this rare sight, but it’s more of a metaphor for falling in love. According to Swift, the song is about falling in love with someone as they are simultaneously falling in love with you. She relates it to snow falling on the beach because they are both dream-like feeling things. She supposedly wrote the song about Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of six years. 

The collaboration between Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey was much anticipated by fans of both stars, which shows in the song’s record-breaking streams. “Snow on the Beach” broke the record for the most streams in a day for an all-female collaboration on Spotify. The fans weren’t the only ones excited about this collaboration, though- Swift had been a long-time fan of Del Rey years before the song was released. She stated that Lana Del Rey was “the most influential artist in pop” in 2019 and said that she was a massive fan on an Instagram reel about the song. 

After anticipating the collaboration for months, fans were disappointed when Del Rey only showed up in the background vocals. She barely says fifteen words in the song, most of which are in harmony with Swift. Though Del Rey’s voice sounds beautiful and is an excellent addition to the song, fans were expecting more than just a few harmonies from the alternative pop star. 

“Snow on the Beach” was released on my Midnight album on October 21, 2022. The album amassed over 180 million streams on Spotify, breaking the record of the most streams for an album in one day. In addition, the album continued to break record after record, making Taylor Swift the first artist to occupy all ten spots on the Billboard top ten. 

Though “Snow on the Beach” was already star-studded, fans were presently surprised when they saw Dylan O’Brien was shown in the credits as the drummer. Swift has also worked with O’Brien on the short film “All Too Well,” where he played Swift’s ex-boyfriend, who the song is about. Swift was awarded Video of the Year at the VMA’s for the short film. 

“Snow on the Beach” is one of the many great songs written and sung by Taylor Swift, which are one-hundred percent worth the listen. All of her songs can be streamed on any music streaming service.