In contemporary pop music, admiration between superstars is often polite, strategic, or fleeting. What makes Taylor Swift’s praise for Lana Del Rey so striking is its consistency—and its depth. Across her record-breaking Eras Tour and during one of the most watched moments of the Grammy Awards in 2024, Swift made something unmistakably clear: Lana Del Rey is not just influential. She is foundational.
Swift has gone so far as to say, “I believe that her entire catalog is the most influential in pop.” But when pressed to name the song that embodies this influence—the one she believes no one could ever truly dislike—Swift repeatedly points to Video Games.
The Song That Rewired Pop
When “Video Games” emerged in 2011, it felt radically out of place—and that was precisely its power. At a time when pop music was dominated by EDM drops, maximalist production, and high-energy hooks, Lana Del Rey introduced something quieter, slower, and emotionally devastating. Built on minimal piano and breathy vulnerability, the song felt less like a single and more like a confession.
Swift has described this moment as a turning point for the entire industry. “Video Games” didn’t follow trends—it dismantled them. Its cinematic sadness, vintage aesthetic, and emotional restraint opened the door for a new kind of pop: atmospheric, introspective, and world-building. In Swift’s view, this was the blueprint that countless artists would later follow.
A Cinematic Language No One Else Had
What Swift admires most about Del Rey is her ability to create an entire emotional universe within a single song. She has often said Lana’s music feels like stepping into a film—complete with character, setting, and unspoken history. That quality, Swift believes, is why Del Rey’s music feels almost universally resonant. You don’t need to “get” it intellectually. You feel it.
This influence is visible not only in the rise of artists like Billie Eilish and Lorde, but also in Swift’s own evolution. Her pivot toward mood-driven storytelling on albums like folklore and evermore echoes the atmospheric courage Del Rey normalized a decade earlier.
Mutual Respect, Made Concrete
That reverence eventually became collaboration with Snow on the Beach, from Swift’s album Midnights, produced by Jack Antonoff. When fans asked for more of Lana’s presence, Swift responded by releasing a version featuring more of Del Rey’s vocals—an unusually direct act of artistic deference.
At the 2024 Grammys, Swift took that respect even further by bringing Lana onstage during her Album of the Year acceptance speech. Rather than centering herself, Swift used the moment to declare that Lana Del Rey is “a legacy artist” who is still “in her prime.”
The World Others Live In
When Swift says no one could ever dislike Lana Del Rey’s music, she isn’t talking about taste—she’s talking about inevitability. “Video Games” didn’t just change pop music; it changed how emotion was allowed to sound within it. In Swift’s eyes, while many artists chase trends, Lana Del Rey creates the emotional climate the rest of pop eventually learns to survive in.