Cola (Lana Del Rey song) facts for kids

"Cola" is a song by American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey, taken from her third extended play, Paradise (2012), and the reissue of her second studio album, Born to Die: The Paradise Edition (2012). "Cola" first appeared in a teaser trailer posted to her official YouTube account as a snippet. The lyrics were considered controversial, causing major media outlets to respond.

Track

"Cola" was written by Elizabeth Grant and Rick Nowels, with Grant writing lyrics for the song. When Del Rey was asked about the origin of the lyrics, she explained: "My [then]-boyfriend is Scottish; he deems American girls very exotic. He once told me, 'You American girls walk around as if you'd wrap yourself into an American flag to sleep.' He deems us all very patriotic." It was produced by Nowels, with co-production handled by the production group DK. The arrangement consists of drum machines programmed by Kieron Menzies, who was also recording engineer, real drums performed by Devrim Karaoglu and Nowels, keyboards, Juno bass and acoustic guitar also played by Nowels, slide guitar performed by Tim Pierce, and strings, glockenspiel, brass, organ, electric guitar, piano and synthesizers played by Patrick Warren. The song was recorded at The Green Building in Santa Monica, with Chris Garcia and Jordan Stilwell doing additional recording. John Davis finally mastering the track at Metropolis Mastering in London.

Following the release of "Ride" on September 25, 2012, Del Rey uploaded a trailer containing snippets of the songs from the new Paradise EP and Paradise Edition of Born to Die. On November 14, 2012, Digital Spy announced that Del Rey would be releasing the song as the EP's second single. Defending the track, she said that her record label had reservations about releasing it.

After Harvey Weinstein's assault allegations gained widespread public notoriety in 2017, there was some speculation that the lyric "Harvey's in the sky with diamonds" was a reference to Weinstein's alleged illicit activities involving female stars. In response, Del Rey cut the song from her setlist on her LA to the Moon Tour, stating she did have "a Harvey Weinstein/Harry Winston-type of character in mind" when she wrote the song. The lyric also references the 1967 song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles.

Commercial performance

The song first charted in Ireland, landing at number 99 before the single's official release date was even announced. The song debuted on the United Kingdom singles chart at number 120 in the week ending on 18 November 2012. With the debut of Paradise, various tracks on the EP charted on Billboard's Hot Rock Songs chart, among them was "Cola", ranking at 22—her highest performance on that chart at the time. Just below "Cola" was "American" at 29 and "Ride" at 30.

Weekly charts

Certifications