Taylor Swift played her Lana Del Rey co-write, ‘Snow on the Beach,’ at a Las Vegas show after ‘doing promo’ effusively praising Del Rey’s new record.
When it comes to the surprise-songs portion of each night’s show on the Eras Tour, Taylor Swift fans probably should have seen one of Friday night’s two picks coming. Of course she was going to honor the opening day of release for her friend Lana Del Rey’s new album by performing the song that the two of them wrote together for Swift’s most recent album.
But before she did that, Swift gave Del Rey’s Friday release, “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” all the “promo” that a fellow artist could ask for, calling it “brilliant” and urging the approximately 60,000 fans gathered at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium to stream or buy the new album.
In her preface to a preface to a solo performance of “Snow on the Beach,” the song she co-wrote with Del Rey for the “Midnights” album, Swift was careful to warn the audience that the artist she was about to refer to was not “not here, OK?… You’re stuck with me.” That didn’t mute the crowd too much from exploding at the mention of Del Rey’s name.
“I do want to talk about something,” Swift said, after taking her place at the piano at the end of a long ramp, “because Lana Del Rey put out a new album, and it’s called ‘Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.’ And, guys, it’s so good. You probably already know that. But it’s just extraordinary. I just think she’s the best that we have. And so I think we need to make it a priority as a group to stream, buy, support this album and this artist.
“And she knows I’m obsessed with her,” Swift continued, “and she was kind enough to make a song with me on ‘Midnights’ called ‘Snow on the Beach,’ because she’s a generous king.
