| "Coney Island" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Taylor Swift featuring the National | ||||
| from the album Evermore | ||||
| Released | January 18, 2021 | |||
| Recorded | 2020 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:35 | |||
| Label | Republic | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| Taylor Swift singles chronology | ||||
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| The National singles chronology | ||||
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| Lyric video | ||||
| "Coney Island" on YouTube | ||||
"Coney Island" is a song by Taylor Swift featuring the National,taken from Swift's ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). Swift,Joe Alwyn (under the pseudonym William Bowery),and the National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner wrote the song,with the latter two producing it. Matt Berninger contributed guest vocals. Republic Records sent "Coney Island" to US adult album alternative radio as a single on January 18,2021.
"Coney Island" is an alternative rock and indie folk song set in a waltz tempo and features Swift duetting with Berninger. Lyrically,it depicts a separated couple's memories in Coney Island,New York City. The song peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Global 200 and entered on the charts in Australia,Canada,and the United States. In April 2023 and August 2024,Swift performed "Coney Island" as a "surprise song" for her sixth headlining concert tour,the Eras Tour. [1]
Taylor Swift had collaborated with The National's Aaron Dessner on her 2020 album Folklore ,an indie folk album that departs from the upbeat pop production of her previous releases. [2] She and Dessner worked again on her follow-up album Evermore ,a "sister record" to Folklore. This time,they also worked with Bryce Dessner,Aaron Dessner's twin brother. [3]
The Dessner brothers sent Swift some of the instrumentals they made for their band,The National. One of those was what would become "Coney Island". Swift and her then-boyfriend,English actor Joe Alwyn,wrote its lyrics,and recorded it with her vocals. After listening to the demo,the Dessner brothers observed that the song feels very related to The National,and envisioned Matt Berninger (lead vocalist of The National) singing it,and Bryan Devendorf (drummer of The National) playing its drums. Aaron Dessner informed Berninger,who was "excited" for the idea. The band assembled,Devendorf played the drums,while his brother Scott Devendorf played the bass and pocket piano;Bryce Dessner helped produce the song. [3]
"Coney Island" is an alternative rock and indie folk song [4] written in the waltz tempo. [5] [6] The song features The National,with frontman Matt Berninger on vocals. Berninger said that work experience with Swift was "like dancing with Gene Kelly. She made [him] look good and didn't drop [him] once". The lyrics are about the hollow feelings of losing oneself in a relationship that has gone. [7]
Spin critic Bobby Olivier described "Coney Island" as a "wonderfully dark duet" that feels like "a lonely waltz down a Brooklyn boardwalk",and praised the fusion of Swift's "wispy" head voice with Berninger's bass. [8] Chris Willman of Variety compared the song to "Exile" (2020),another similar duet on Swift's preceding album,where former lovers take turns in blaming each other,with the opposite happening in "Coney Island". [9] Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph wrote that the song "offers an insight into where their aesthetics meet",counterpointing Swift's "lucid,melodious voice" aside "the mumbled intensity" of Berninger's baritone. [10]
Tom Breihan of Stereogum called "Coney Island" the "dourest" moment of evermore,alike "The Last Time" in Swift's fourth studio album, Red (2012). [11] Craig Jenkins of Vulture complimented Berninger's baritone and Swift's delicate vocals:"you hear [the song] and you start to wonder if the low end notes on these albums are another bout of trying out other singer-songwriters' wares". [12] In less favourable reviews, The Guardian 's Alexis Petridis welcomed the guest appearance of Berninger,but found the lyrics to be "subpar" without "much substance". [13] Pitchfork 's Sam Sodomsky opined that Berninger's vocals felt out of place on the song. [14] It was deemed one of the album's weaker tracks by Slate's Carl Wilson. [15]
All of the tracks on Evermore debuted inside the top-75 of the Billboard Global 200 chart simultaneously;"Coney Island" was at number 45. In the US,the song opened at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 12 on the Hot Rock &Alternative Songs chart. [16] The song reached number 31 on the Canadian Hot 100. [17] It further reached number 15 on the Flemish Ultratop 100,and number 43 in Australia. Upon service to US alternative radio,"Coney Island" reached number 18 on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart.
Credits adapted from Tidal. [18]
| Chart (2020) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) [19] | 42 |
| Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Flanders) [20] | 8 |
| Global 200 ( Billboard ) [21] | 45 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100) [22] | 31 |
| Portugal (AFP) [23] | 150 |
| UK Audio Streaming (OCC) [24] | 75 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 [25] | 63 |
| US Adult Alternative Songs ( Billboard ) [26] | 18 |
| US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs ( Billboard ) [27] | 12 |
| US Rolling Stone Top 100 [28] | 32 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) [29] | Gold | 35,000‡ |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [30] | Gold | 20,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Format | Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | January 18, 2021 | Triple A radio | Republic | [31] |
The National is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1999. The band consists of Matt Berninger (vocals), twin brothers Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner, as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). During live performances, the band is joined by longtime touring members, Ben Lanz and Kyle Resnick. Carin Besser, the wife of Berninger, is not a band member but has written lyrics for the band alongside her husband since its 2007 album Boxer.
Aaron Brooking Dessner is an American musician. He is best known as a founding member of the rock band The National, with whom he has recorded nine studio albums; a co-founder of the indie rock duo Big Red Machine, teaming with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon; and a collaborator on Taylor Swift's critically acclaimed studio albums Folklore and Evermore, both of which contended for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2021 and 2022, respectively, with the former winning the accolade; as well as The Tortured Poets Department (2024).
Matthew Donald Berninger is an American singer, primarily known as the frontman and lyricist of indie rock band The National. In 2014, he also formed the EL VY project with Brent Knopf of Ramona Falls and Menomena. They released the album Return to the Moon in November 2015. In May 2020, Berninger issued the title track from his solo debut album, Serpentine Prison, released in October 2020.
"Don't Swallow the Cap" is a song by American indie rock band The National. Written by band members Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner, and Bryce Dessner, it appears as the third track on the band's sixth studio album Trouble Will Find Me. "Don't Swallow the Cap" was released to United States modern rock radio as the album's second overall single on April 22, 2013.
Big Red Machine is an American indie folk band that began as a collaboration between musicians Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon. The band is named after the nickname for the dominant 1970s Cincinnati Reds baseball team, which won the 1976 World Series in Dessner's birth year.
Folklore is the eighth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was surprise-released on July 24, 2020, via Republic Records. Swift recorded her vocals in her Los Angeles home studio and worked virtually with the producers Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, who operated from their studios in the Hudson Valley and New York City.
"Seven" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her eighth studio album, Folklore (2020). Swift co-wrote the song with its producer, Aaron Dessner. "Seven" is a folk song with nostalgic lyricism. It blends present and past perspectives: a 30-year-old narrator introspecting on her childhood in Pennsylvania while recalling the purity of her relationship with an old friend and the then 7-year-old narrator incapable of understanding the domestic violence her friend had experienced but realizing it years later. The song is led by Swift's upper register over a swirling piano line, complemented by acoustic guitars, drums, and strings.
Evermore is the ninth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was a surprise album released on December 11, 2020, via Republic Records, less than five months after her previous studio album Folklore. Evermore was a spontaneous product of Swift's extended collaboration with her Folklore collaborator Aaron Dessner, mainly recorded at his Long Pond Studio in the Hudson Valley.
"Willow" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). It was released on December 11, 2020, by Republic Records as the lead single from the album. "Willow" is a chamber folk love song making use of several metaphors to convey the singer's romantic state of mind, such as portraying her life as a willow tree, over picked guitars, glockenspiel, flute, strings, and percussion.
"No Body, No Crime" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, featuring the American band Haim, from her ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). She wrote the track as a result of her fixation with crime documentaries and podcasts, and co-produced it with Aaron Dessner. A tune featuring styles of country, country rock, and Americana, "No Body, No Crime" is a murder ballad about the murder of a woman named Este, narrated by her friend who avenges her. Republic Records in partnership with MCA Nashville sent the song to US country radio on January 11, 2021, as a single from Evermore.
"Champagne Problems" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). She wrote the song with Joe Alwyn, who is credited under the pseudonym William Bowery, and produced it with Aaron Dessner. "Champagne Problems" is a lo-fi tune driven by a rhythmic composition of piano and guitar riff.
"Dorothea" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). Swift wrote the song with its producer, Aaron Dessner. The lyrics are from the perspective of an unnamed character reminiscing an old friendship with the titular fictional character, when they were in their adolescence. It tells the story of how the two reconcile when Dorothea returns from Hollywood to their hometown Tupelo for the holiday season. The narrator confesses to Dorothea that they still love her despite the change and hope to reconcile the long lost friendship. The narrator later convinces her to abandon an acting career for a simplistic life in their hometown.
"Long Story Short" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). She wrote the song with its producer, Aaron Dessner. "Long Story Short" is an upbeat song that consists of dynamic programmed and live drums, synths, strings, and guitars; music critics characterize the genre as synth-pop, electropop, folk-pop, and indie rock. The lyrics see Swift reminiscing about a dark part of her past and her contentment with a current state of mind.
"Marjorie" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). A tribute to Swift's late maternal grandmother, the opera singer Marjorie Finlay, the song features bits of advice that Finlay offered to Swift and touches on her guilt over not knowing Finlay to the fullest. It incorporates slow-burning synthesizers, strings, and samples of Finlay's operatic vocals.
"'Tis the Damn Season" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). She wrote the song with Aaron Dessner, who produced it using an instrumental track he had written prior. "'Tis the Damn Season" is a folk song instrumented by a finger-picked electric guitar and programmed drums. Narrated from the perspective of a female character named Dorothea, the lyrics detail her returning to her hometown during the holiday season and engaging in a quickly-faded rekindled relationship.
How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? is the second studio album by American indie duo Big Red Machine, which consists of musicians Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon. It was released on August 27, 2021, via 37d03d and Jagjaguwar record labels. Dessner stated the album is built around themes of childhood, familial dynamics, and mental health. He cited The Last Waltz, the 1978 live album by the Band, as an inspiration for the record.
"Renegade" is a song recorded by American indie band Big Red Machine featuring American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on July 2, 2021, by 37d03d and Jagjaguwar. It was serviced to US triple-A radio on the same day as the third single from the band's second studio album, How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? (2021).
"Would've, Could've, Should've" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It is a bonus track originally released as part of the 3am Edition of her tenth studio album, Midnights (2022). Written and produced by Swift and Aaron Dessner, it is a new wave-leaning soft rock song about a narrator's rumination of a flawed, age-inappropriate romantic relationship in the past.
"Happiness" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). She wrote the song with Aaron Dessner, who produced it using an instrumental track he had written in 2019. A midtempo ambient ballad, "Happiness" has piano, guitar and synthesizer instrumentation generated by a slow drone that build up. Its lyrics are about a narrator finding happiness after a divorce.
"Tolerate It" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her ninth studio album, Evermore (2020). She wrote the track with its producer, Aaron Dessner. A slow building piano ballad, "Tolerate It" features a midtempo production and an odd time signature. Inspired by the Daphne du Maurier novel Rebecca (1938), its lyrics are narrated by a young woman who addresses her unstable relationship with an older man who does not seem to like her.
