"Florida Kilos" (registered as "Florida Kilo")[1] is a song by Lana Del Rey. It was released on Del Rey's second major-label studio album, Ultraviolence.

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Background Edit

"Florida Kilos" was written with Dan Auerbach and Harmony Korine, with production by Auerbach. It serves as the third bonus track from Ultraviolence and is also the closing track for the album from the deluxe edition without the iTunes bonus track. During June 2015, Del Rey stated the track is her father's favorite song of hers.[2]

The song's instrumental leaked on April 14, 2018, after being the only bonus track from the deluxe edition of the album to not have its instrumental leak.[3]

Composition Edit

"Florida Kilos" is a surf pop song in the key of A minor with a running time of 4 minutes and 14 seconds played at approximately 100 beats per minute. The track opens with two guitar tracks oppositely panned playing a riff that reappears throughout the song. Lyrically, it tells the story of Del Rey and a lover living together, taking and selling cocaine in the Florida Keys and Miami, and was inspired by the drug documentary Cocaine Cowboys.[4] The instrumentation of the song comprises of 70s influenced synth bells and keys, electric guitars, a simple drum pattern and vocal harmonies with added reverb.

Critical reception Edit

The song received mixed responses from various music critics. Sal Cinquemani pointed to the tone of Del Rey's vocals and its break of cohesion from the other tracks on Ultraviolence saying "The hook of the bonus track "Florida Kilos," co-written by Harmony Korine, is marred by Del Rey's Britney-grade vocal infantilism, and while that might make it the perfect theme song for the planned Spring Breakers sequel, the song's pop bounce doesn't jibe with the rest of the album's earthier qualities."[5] Justin Charity for Complex also described its more light hearted sound as "incongruous" with its parent album.[6] Mike Wass wrote for Idolator describing the track as "an ambitious (but ultimately unconvincing) tale of love and drug smuggling in Miami".[7] A review from The Fix by John Lavitt criticized the track for displaying "only a glorified nostalgia" of the cocaine scene in Miami in the 1970s and that combined "with the infantilized sexualization of Del Rey’s vocals", the track was "poised to attract controversy".[8]

Live performance(s) Edit

Del Rey performed the song for the first time on the last show of the Endless Summer Tour in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre on June 16, 2015, in honor of her father's birthday and being in Florida. On February 1 and 2, 2018 in Sunrise and Orlando, Florida respectively, the song was performed as part of the LA to the Moon Tour. It was performed again on February 28 in Honolulu, Hawaii and March 23, 2018 in Bogotá, Colombia.

Official versions Edit

Album version — 4:14

Instrumental version — 4:18

Lyrics Edit

White lines, pretty baby, tattoos

Don't know what they mean, they're special just for you

White lines, bakin' powder on the stove

Cookin’ up a dream, turnin' diamonds into snow



I feel you, pretty baby, feel me

Turn it up hot, lovin' you is free

I like it down, like it down way low

But you already know that, you already know



Come on down to Florida, I got something for ya

We could see the kilos or the Keys, baby, oh, yeah

Guns in the summertime, Chic-a-Cherry Cola lime

Prison isn't nothin' to me if you'll be by my side



Yayo, yayo, yayo

And all the dope fiends

Yayo, yayo, yayo



Sun in my mouth and gold hoops

You like your little baby like you like your drinks, cool

White lines, pretty daddy, go skiing

You snort it like a champ, like the winter we're not in



Come on down to Florida, I got something for ya

We could see the kilos or the Keys, baby, oh, yeah

Guns in the summertime, Chic-a-Cherry Cola lime

Prison isn't nothin' to me if you'll be by my side



Yayo, yayo, yayo

And all the dope fiends

Yayo, yayo, yayo



We could get high in Miami, ooh

Dance that night away

People never die in Miami, ooh

That's what they all say-ay



(You believe me, don't you, baby?)



Come on down to Florida, I got something for ya

We could see the kilos or the Keys, baby, oh, yeah

Guns in the summertime, Chic-a-Cherry Cola lime

Prison don't mean nothin' to me if you'll be by my side



Yayo, yayo, yayo

All the Floridians like

Yayo, yayo, yayo

All the Colombians like

Yayo, yayo, yayo

And all my girlfriends

Yayo, yayo, yayo

That's how we do it, babe



Mm-mm, pretty baby

White lines, pretty baby

Gold teeth, pretty baby



Dance the night away

Credits Edit

Personnel

Lana Del Rey — vocals, songwriting

Dan Auerbach — songwriting, production, mixing, electric guitar, synthesizers, background vocals

Harmony Korine — songwriting

Collin Dupuis — engineering, mixing, drum programming

Russ Pahl — electric guitar

Leon Michaels — mellotron, synthesizers

Nick Movshon — drums

Seth Kaufman — background vocals

John Davis — mastering