Snow on the Beach

Lana Del Rey features on the track.

On August 28, 2022, Taylor Swift announced her tenth studio album at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards; she soon after revealed the album's title, Midnights, and its cover on social networks but the track-list was not revealed.[1] Swift's longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, who had worked with her since her sixth studio album 1989 (2014), was confirmed as a producer on the album by a video posted to her Instagram account on September 16, titled "The making of Midnights".[2] On September 21, Swift began unveiling the album's track-list in a randomized order through a short 13-episode video series on TikTok, titled Midnights Mayhem with Me.[3] In each episode, Swift rolls a lottery cage containing 13 ping pong balls numbered from one to thirteen, each representing a track of Midnights, and when a ball drops out, she announces the title of the corresponding track on the album through a telephone.[4][5][6] In the final episode, released on October 7, Swift announced the fourth track, "Snow on the Beach", and that it features American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey, who Swift had previously named as one of her favorite music artists[3][7] and the most influential artist in pop.[8] The collaboration between Swift and Del Rey was highly anticipated in the lead-up to the album's release.[9][10] The song, along with the rest of Midnights, was released on October 21, 2022, under Republic Records.[11]

Swift and Antonoff co-wrote and co-produced 11 out of the 13 songs on the album, including "Snow on the Beach", which is co-written with Del Rey.[12] It has a length of four minutes and 16 seconds.[11] The track was recorded by Antonoff and Laura Sisk at Rough Customer Studio in Brooklyn, Electric Lady Studios in New York City, and Henson Recording Studio in Los Angeles. Antonoff provided background vocals and programming for the song and played multiple instruments including acoustic, bass, and electric guitars, synths, Juno 6, Mellotron, drums, and percussion. Other musicians on the track were Bobby Hawk (violin), Dylan O'Brien (drums), and Evan Smith (synths). Hawk's performance was recorded by Dave Gross at Blue Plate Records in Hayworth, New Jersey, while Smith recorded her performance at Pleasure Hill Recording in Portland, Maine. The track was engineered by Antonoff, Smith, Sisk, and Gross, with assistance from Jacob Spitzer, John Rooney, Jon Sher, and Megan Searl. Serban Ghenea mixed the song at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with assistance from Bryce Bordone, and Randy Merrill mastered it at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.[12][13]

During the release of Midnights, fans and journalists alike questioned the nature of Del Rey's vocal contribution to the track. Del Rey acted as more of a background vocalist for Swift,[14][15] deemed as almost indistinguishable from Swift's own vocals by some publications,[16][17] which surprised fans that expected a duet.[9] In an interview with Billboard in February 2023, Del Rey stated that she "had no idea [she] was the only feature" on the album and "would have sung the entire second verse like [Swift] wanted" if she had known. She went on to say that she was "more focused on the production" of the song than the vocals.[18] In response to the reception to the track,[19] a version of the song featuring "More Lana Del Rey" was released as part of The Til Dawn Edition of Midnights on May 26.[20] At three minutes and fifty seconds long, Del Rey sings the entire second verse and chorus.[20][21] Swift performed "Snow on the Beach" on select stops of her sixth headlining concert tour, the Eras Tour (2023–24), as a "surprise song": first at the first show in Las Vegas on March 24, 2023, and then at the second show in Mexico City on August 25.[22] Before performing the track in Las Vegas, Swift praised Del Rey and promoted her recent album, Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd? (2023).[22]

"Snow on the Beach" is set in the key of A major with a moderately fast tempo of 108 beats per minute. Swift and Del Rey's vocals span from F♯₃ to A₄.[24] The production contains twinkling synths, strummed violin, chimes, and heavily reverberated bass.[25][16][26] Its use of bells and plucked strings have been compared to holiday music.[16][27] Del Rey's vocals on the standard version of the track are minimal and harmonize with Swift's.[26]

Various critics deemed the production of the track as wintery,[note 1] which Melissa Ruggieri from USA Today compared to The Dream Academy's "Life in a Nothern Town" (1985).[16] Hannah Mylrea of NME said the song veers towards the indie folk of Swift's 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore.[31] Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone likened "Snow on the Beach" to Folklore track "Mirrorball", as it had a similar dream pop production.[32] Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic cited the song as an example of Antonoff's musical style that doesn't make Midnights a repetitive album.[33] John Wohlmacher of Beats Per Minute wrote that the track incorporates classical elements and thought it resembles the work of American composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich.[27]

Lyrically, "Snow on the Beach" is a love song about the two people falling in love at the same time. On the track's meaning, Swift said that it is a "sort of in this sort of cataclysmic, fated moment where you realize someone feels exactly the same way that you feel" and she compared the rarity of love to a natural phenomenon of snowing on a beach.[7] The first verse begins with Swift discovering that unforeseen love, which Seventeen's Samantha Olson thought it was done in a similar way to "Long Story Short" (2020).[8][34] The chorus sees her in a dream-like state and questions it when everything lines up in her new-found relationship;[34] it is also where she is joined by Del Rey.[8] In the second verse, Swift compares the love to something from a movie or watching the aurora borealis.[8] The bridge sees Swift thinking that the love is too good for her and doesn't want to reveal it to the public.[34] It is also where she references Janet Jackson's "All for You" (2001).[23]

"Snow on the Beach" was often praised for its lyrics and the production. Ruggieri of USA Today praised the song's "aching beauty and inherent melancholy".[16] Mike DeWald of Riff Magazine deemed the track's production "ethereal"[35] and Paul Attard of Slant Magazine lauded the "exquisite" composition.[26] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield called the track a "gorgeous ballad."[36] Chris Willman of Variety and John Murphy of MusicOMH noted the minimal vocals from Del Rey, but nonetheless praised her contributions.[15][17] Under the Radar's Andy Von Pop described "Snow on the Beach" as a "beautiful love song" and opined that the subtlety of the track is more sophisticated than works by her peers.[37] Gigwise's Lucy Harbron directed acclaim towards the "heavenly harmonies" and the lyrics in its "deepest, rawest form".[38] Likewise, Mikael Wood for the Los Angeles Times deemed the song's imagery the album's most affecting.[39] The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick described the song as "sonically adventurous."[40] John Wohlmacher of Beats Per Minute wrote that Del Rey's vocals added a "subtle shade of melancholia" to contrast the happiness of the lyrics.[27]

Del Rey's contribution on "Snow on the Beach" got a mixed reaction from critics, several of whom deemed it underwhelming[note 2]—Spanos of Rolling Stone named the song "the only true disappointment" on Midnights because she thought it was not a "true duet" between Swift and Del Rey.[32] Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis praised the restrained collaboration but thought it was far from a "grandstanding summit" between them.[43] Though acknowledging the song as "poetic" and "pretty", the Associated Press' Elise Ryan wrote that the emotional depth of the song did not live up to Swift and Del Rey's potential.[44] Rick Quinn of PopMatters praised the "quiet beauty and arresting imagery" of the track, but nonetheless opined that it leaves the listener wanting more from the collaboration.[45] Some aspects of the production also received mixed reviews: Jon Caramanica for The New York Times commended Del Rey's vocals on the track, but believed that Swift's vocals were too "cheery" for the track to ascend, and Insider's Callie Ahlgrim and Courteney Larocca thought the production was unnecessarily wintry and regarded the track as "background music".[29] In a less positive review of the song, The A.V. Club's Saloni Gajjar labeled "Snow on the Beach" one of Midnights' "glaring misfits".[30]

Globally, "Snow on the Beach" received over 15.03 million streams on Spotify in its first 24 hours, where it became the third-most streamed song that day, behind fellow Midnights tracks "Anti-Hero" and "Lavender Haze".[46] The song debuted and peaked at number three on the Billboard Global 200 with first-week figures of 84.3 million streams and 4,700 downloads.[47][48]

In the United States, "Snow on the Beach" opened and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, with 37.2 million streams, 2,600 digital downloads, and 615,000 airplay impressions.[49][50] The song and nine other Midnights tracks made Swift the first and only artist to occupy the entire top 10 of the Hot 100.[49] It also marked Del Rey's first top five entry on the chart and her second top 10 entry after "Summertime Sadness" (2012).[51] After the release of The Til Dawn Edition of Midnights, "Snow on the Beach" re-entered the Hot 100 at number 30.[52] "Snow on the Beach" spent eight weeks on the chart.[50] Despite not being officially released as a single, "Snow on the Beach" spent nine weeks on Adult Alternative Airplay and peaked at number 30.[53]

Elsewhere, the song peaked in the top ten of other national charts: it peaked at number two in Malaysia[54] and Singapore;[55] number three in Australia,[56] Canada,[57] Ireland,[58] and the Philippines;[59] number four in New Zealand,[60] the United Kingdom,[61] and Vietnam;[62] number nine in Portugal;[63] and number ten in Croatia.[64] "Snow on the Beach" received certifications from Australia (platnium),[65] Canada (platinum),[66] Mexico (gold),[67] New Zealand (gold),[68] Portugal (gold),[69] and the UK (silver).[70]

Credits are adapted from Pitchfork and the liner notes of Midnights.[12][13]