"It Was Rare": "Snow On The Beach" Meaning, Explained

Snow on the Beach is the gorgeous, atmospheric track 4 from Taylor Swift’s Midnights album.

The lyrics describe two people falling in love at the same time as a rare phenomenon, akin to a blizzard in the tropics.

Who is this song about, and what are Taylor and Lana really getting at in the lyrics?

Here’s my complete English teacher analysis of the Snow on the Beach meaning, line by line.

Snow on the Beach by Taylor Swift ft. Lana Del Rey

Title: Snow on the Beach
Written by: Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Jack Antonoff
Track: 4, Midnights
Pen: Quill
Lyrics from Genius

Snow on the Beach Narrative Summary

Setting: Inside a new, miraculously-timed romance.
Characters: Narrators (Taylor, Lana Del Rey), subject (love interest, “you”)
Mood: Disbelief, amazed, hesitant.
Conflict: It feels too good to be true.
Inciting Incident: “I’m unglued, thanks to you” (falling in love, and falling apart).
Quest: Figure out if it’s really happening, or if it’s too good to be true.
Symbols & Metaphors: “snow on the beach,” “flecks of what could’ve been lights,” “you / Passing by unbeknownst to me,” “life is emotionally abusive,” “ time can’t stop me quite like you did,” “my flight was awful,” “I’m unglued”, “Weird, but fuckin’ beautiful,” “Flying in a dream / Stars by the pocketful,” “it’s comin’ down / No sound, it’s all around,” “once saw on a screen,” “aurora borealis green”, “someone lit from within / Blurring out my periphery,” “my smile is like I won a contest,” “fake it ’til you make it ‘til you do / ‘til it’s true”, “your eyes are flying saucers from another planet,” “all for you like Janet,” “Are we falling like snow at the beach?”
Lesson: Sometimes two people can fall in love with each other at the exact same time, and it’s incredibly rare.

What is Snow on the Beach About?

Snow on the Beach describes two people falling in love at the exact same time. It’s rare, it’s beautiful, and it might only happen once in a lifetime.

Taylor said:

“The song is about falling in love with someone at the same time as they’re falling in love with you, in this sort of in this cataclysmic, faded moment where you realize someone feels exactly the same way that you feel, at the same moment, and you’re kind of looking around going, “Wait, is this real? Is this a dream? Is this for real? Is it really happening?

Kinda like it would be if you were to see snow falling on a beach.”
–Taylor Swift via Instagram

Who is Snow on the Beach About?

Taylor has never revealed if any real people in her life inspired Snow on the Beach.

Since it was written with Lana Del Rey, it’s entirely possible that it was inspired by Lana’s love life and not Taylor’s. We may never know, unless Taylor tells us.

Snow on the Beach Meaning: Line by Line

A blurred blue and purple background with portions of lyrics from Taylor Swift & Lana Del Rey's song "Snow on the Beach," annotated to find hidden meanings and analyse their use of literary and narrative devices.
The first verse reads: "One night, a few moons ago

I saw flecks of what could've been lights

But it might just have been you

Passing by unbeknownst to me

Life is emotionally abusive

And time can't stop me quite like you did

And my flight was awful, thanks for asking

I'm unglued, thanks to you"

The first verse describes how the narrator was feeling before this person came into their life.

“One night,” she says, “a few moons ago / I saw flecks of what could’ve been lights.”

“A few moons ago” is similar to the phrase “many moons ago,” but she’s referring to a more recent past by saying “a few.” She’s also setting up the central motif of the song: celestial, planetary imagery and metaphors.

In the not-so-distant past, she saw something pass by her in the sky. “It might have just been you,” she says, “passing by unbeknownst to me.” This is a metaphor for a premonition.

She had a hint or an inkling that this person was coming, like the Invisible String. Were they fated to be together?

She used a similar metaphor in long story short: “And he’s passing by / Rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky.” This person was always there in her orbit; she just had to reach out and grab them.

“Life is emotionally abusive,” she says, meaning that to just be alive is to be in pain. And you can’t hit the pause button: “time can’t stop me quite like you did.”

Until she met this person, she was cruising on auto-pilot, moving through time at a breakneck pace. But then they met, and she stopped in her tracks.

“And my flight was awful,” she says, “thanks for asking.” This refers to her “flight” of life through the sky, or her trajectory: she wasn’t having a good time. But then they entered her life.

And now “I’m unglued, thanks to you.” She’s no longer stuck on her projected path. She’s all over the place, going a bit mad, but also enjoying the ride.

Chorus: “Stars by the Pocketful”

The chorus introduces the central metaphor: “And it’s like snow at the beach / Weird, but fuckin’ beautiful.” Their new love is as rare and unexpected as snow falling on a beach. You’d never dream of seeing it in your lifetime, but it’s here, and it’s incredible.

It feels like “flying in a dream,” which is much better than “my flight was awful.” She’s enjoying the ride all of a sudden, but it doesn’t feel real or tangible.

“Stars by the pocketful” refers to the old Perry Como song, “Catch a Falling Star.” Those lyrics read: “Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket / Never let it fade away.” It means to capture something rare while it’s in front of you, and don’t let it go.

This love is so rare and bountiful that catching it is not just one star in her pocket, but fills her pockets to the brim.

“You wanting me,” she says, “tonight feels impossible.” She can’t believe that this person wants her at the same moment she wants them. Either their timing has been off before, or neither of them saw this coming at all.

“But it’s comin’ down,” she says. The snow is falling on the beach: they are falling in love simultaneously.

“No sound, it’s all around” means that the world has gone quiet around them. The only thing they can focus on is each other, and the rest of the universe fades away into the background.

🌌 Are you a Mastermind? Try my Midnights Lyrics Quiz! 🌌

Verse 2: “It’s Fine to Fake it ‘Til You Make It”

“This scene feels like what I once saw on a screen,” she says. It’s so cinematic that it can’t be real; it has to be fiction.

Taylor has alluded to love stories as films before in the 1, exile, and this is me trying. She’s only seen this phenomenon before in fiction, and she can’t believe it’s happening in real life.

“I searched ‘aurora borealis green’”, she says, trying to comprehend the rare phenomenon she’s experiencing. Does it look the same on the screen as it does in real life?

“I’ve never seen someone lit from within,” she says. This person’s charisma glows from within them, and she wants a part of that light. Like a star in her pocket, she wants to capture it and never let go.

This glow is “blurring out my periphery.” Like “no sound, it’s all around”, the rest of the world fades away and she can only see this person’s magical glow.

“My smile is like I won a contest,” she says, grinning from ear to ear. “And to hide that would be so dishonest.” She doesn’t want to hide this happiness she’s found, but something holds her back from grinning proudly to the world.

This references love as a prize to be won, like in willow: “like you were a trophy or a champion ring / and there was one prize I’d cheat to win.” The glow here is also akin to the will-o-the-wisp in willow: elusive and magical.

“And it’s fine to fake it ’til you make it,” she says, “’Til you do, ’til it’s true.” Previously, her smiles were fake, like she describes in Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince (and will also describe in the future I Can Do It With A Broken Heart).

But here, she’s won the prize, and wants to smile for real. She doesn’t want to fake it anymore, and she doesn’t have to: it’s the real thing, or so she thinks.

Bridge: “Now I’m All For You Like Janet”

The bridge describes her disbelief about this whole situation. “I can’t speak, afraid to jinx it,” she says. “I don’t even dare to wish it.”

If she voices this love aloud or dares to dream that it will work, she’s afraid it will crumble before her eyes.

“Your eyes are flying saucers from another planet,” she says. Their “eyes” (heart, soul, body) have flown into her orbit, and it’s so rare and magical that she’s in disbelief. She’s enraptured, as she’ll describe in the future Down Bad.

“Now I’m all for you like Janet,” she says, referencing Janet Jackson’s hit “All for You”. That song has many sexual innuendos, which is what Taylor is referring to. She wants this person physically, now and forever.

“Can this be a real thing? Can it?” she asks. This is kind of a rhetorical question, but kind of serious.

It’s so rare and unbelievable that it must be fake. Are they feeling the same way? Is it really happening?

Final Chorus & Outro: “It’s Comin’ Down, No Sound”

The final chorus and outro finally explain the metaphor directly: “Are we falling like snow at the beach?” Are they falling in love at the same time, in an ultra-rare phenomenon? Is their timing finally working out?

But the most interesting thing about this metaphor is that a snowstorm on a beach is tenuous. Snow might fall, and the falling is beautiful, but will it stick? Or will it quickly melt away once it hits the sand?

“It’s coming down” is repeated over and over in the outro, which emphasizes falling. They might be falling like snow, but they’re also falling down: down a rabbit hole, down a cliff, or down into madness.

“Snow on the beach” is gorgeous and atmospheric, but it’s also fleeting. What happens when the sun comes back out, or the tide comes in, or the clouds pass? It blows away as quickly as it came.

🌌 Are you a Mastermind? Try my Midnights Lyrics Quiz! 🌌

Snow on the Beach Meaning: Final Thoughts

This song has some beautiful and atmospheric metaphors and imagery, but it’s also tinged with sadness and hesitation. Is this love a real, heavy snowstorm? Or is it a light dusting that will be gone by morning?

Taylor and Lana have captured those tenuous feelings of early love so perfectly. You never know if the weather will change, and if a magical moment will quickly turn ordinary.

Coming unglued might be a good thing in some circumstances, but when you disconnect from reality, you always have to reconnect again. And “life is emotionally abusive.”

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