It is performed at approximately 112 beats per minute and runs at a duration of four minutes and twenty-five seconds. Del Rey's vocals cover exactly two octaves, ranging from C♯3 to C♯5. "Summertime Sadness" is a trip hop ballad written in the key of C♯ Minor. In mid-2022, the song went viral on TikTok, with hundreds of thousands of individual videos made using it, amassing millions of views. The original file of the leaked demo is called "Summertime Sadness KM mix 017". At first, it was mistaken as a demo or a different radio mix but the leaker confirmed it to be a different version of the album's track. This version has a more rock and electronic sound, featuring an electronic guitar. The first snippet was leaked in May 2016 and the second one on April 20, 2017. Three snippets of this version leaked between 20, with the last one leaking on Augduring an Instagram livestream.
I felt happy in the warm weather and started writing about how sad and gorgeous the summertime felt to me." Ī second version of the song tagged as "Alternate Final", also known as "Final 2" exists. I wanted to take the electricity and absorb it so it would make me feel alive and electric again. I would sit under the telephone wires and listen to them sizzle in the warm air while he went to work. I was staying in Santa Monica, California with my composer and best friend, Dan Heath.