Fans of Lana Del Rey wanted so badly to hear more of the Honeymoon singer on “Snow on the Beach” that Taylor Swift released an edition with “more” Lana on the deluxe edition of Midnights earlier this year.
Well, Del Rey is setting the record straight: She was “all over” the track all along — she just “layered” her own vocals so well that we couldn’t tell.
“That was actually the song Taylor wanted me to sing on. If I think somebody’s song is perfect, I will act as a producer in it,” she said in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “I can mimic almost anyone, so I am all over the first version of ‘Snow on the Beach.’”
“I layer and match her vocals perfectly, so you would never even know that I was completely all over that first song,” she added. “She wanted me to sing the whole thing, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The original version, which dropped with Midnights last year, reached Number Four on the Hot 100 chart. The second version was released in May with Swift saying, “You asked for it, we listened. Lana and I went back into the studio specifically to record more Lana on ‘Snow on the Beach.’”
Del Rey previously talked about the original collaboration with Billboard, noting how her focus was less on herself and more about assisting on “Snow on the Beach.”
“Well, first of all, I had no idea I was the only feature [on that song]. Had I known, I would have sung the entire second verse like she wanted,” Del Rey said.
“My job as a feature on a big artist’s album is to make sure I help add to the production of the song, so I was more focused on the production. She was very adamant that she wanted me to be on the album, and I really liked that song. I thought it was nice to be able to bridge that world, since Jack [Antonoff] and I work together and so do Jack and Taylor.”
Ahead of the release of Midnights last year, Swift shared some insight on the single with Del Rey, calling herself a “massive fan” of the Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd musician.
Swift shared that the song was “about falling in love with someone at the same time as they’re falling in love with you, sort of in this sort of cataclysmic, fated moment where you realize someone feels exactly the same way that you feel.” She equated it to wondering, “’Wait, is this real? Is this a dream?’… Kind of like it would be if you were to see snow falling on a beach.”