Lana Del Rey on Taylor Swift’s Success: ‘She’s Told Me So Many Times That She Wants It More Than Anyone’

Taylor Swift’s dominating musical success has placed her in an elite league of her own — even her peers see it.

Ahead of the 34-year-old pop superstar’s Edinburgh, Scotland, trio performances — which kick off on Friday, June 7 — several of her fellow artists weighed in on the Swift effect that’s captivated hundreds of thousands of fans on her ongoing sold-out Eras Tour and millions throughout her career.
“She is just one of those rare timeless artists who gets it right every time,” U.K. pop singer-songwriter RAYE told BBC News. “She’s an absolute powerhouse.”
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Lana Del Rey, a dear friend of Swift and collaborator, also shared her theory on the icon’s success with the outlet, saying, “She wants it.”
“She’s told me so many times that she wants it more than anyone,” the “Summertime Sadness” singer, 38, added. “And how amazing – she’s getting exactly what she wants. She’s driven, and I think it’s really paid off.”
Del Rey — who’s been friends with Swift since they met at the 2012 MTV EMAs — has been a direct witness to Swift’s massive pop culture reign, as the pair collaborated on their track “Snow on the Beach” off the latter’s 2022 album Midnights.
After fans complained that the “Young and Beautiful” artist could barely be heard on the collaboration, Swift included an upgraded version on her deluxe album, Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition), in May 2023 featuring “More Lana Del Rey.”
In a 2023 video interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Del Rey clarified that she was actually “all over” the original version of her and Swift’s song. “That was actually the song Taylor wanted me to sing on,” she shared. “If I think somebody’s song is perfect, I will act as a producer in it… I layer and match her vocals perfectly, so you would never even know that I was completely all over that first song.”
The Grammy-nominated artist added that Swift apparently wanted her to “sing the whole” song, “but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The original “Snow on the Beach” track that Swift and Del Rey sang together became the latter’s highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 4 and spending a total of eight weeks on the chart.
Speaking to Billboard in 2023, the Born to Die singer shared that she “had no idea” she was the only feature on the song. Had she known, she said she should’ve contributed more to the second verse.
“I would have sung the entire second verse like she wanted,” Del Rey noted. “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.”