High By The Beach

Album: Honeymoon (2015)
Charted: 60 51
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Songfacts®:

  • This sun-drenched torch song with a trap beat finds Del Rey dissing her bad boy lover and determining to dump him. The only way she can get away from her disastrous beau is to get high by the beach.
  • Del Rey told Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe the story of the song. "It started with the chorus," she said. "I was driving by the beach a lot. This was probably one of the last ones on the record. Even with the harmonies, it almost sounded monotone. But with the beat, it has this trap influence."
  • We hear Del Rey lashing out in anger, telling her lover:

    Don't need your money, money to get me what I want
    Lights, camera, action
    I'll do it on my own


    The "lights, camera, action" line was previously used by the singer on "Put Me in a Movie," a track from her 2010 album, Lana Del Ray.
  • The song's music video gives us an alternative interpretation of the lyrics as we see Del Rey being stalked by a helicopter carrying a photographer at a beachside house. The singer pulls out a guitar case from beneath a pile of rocks, opens the case and removes a large firearm from it, which she uses to shoot down the helicopter. Based on the clip, it seems the target of Del Ray's ire is the way the media portrays her rather than the singer's bad boy lover.

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