Eastside by Benny Blanco (featuring Khalid & Halsey)

Album: Friends Keep Secrets (2018)

Charted: 1 9

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Best known for his production work for the likes of Katy Perry ("I Kissed a Girl"), Ke$ha ("TiK ToK"), Rihanna ("Diamonds") and Justin Bieber ("Love Yourself"), "Eastside" marks Benny Blanco debut song as an artist. Released on Blanco's own label Friends Keep Secrets in partnership with Interscope Records, the track features duet vocals by Halsey and Khalid.
The song finds Halsey and Khalid reminiscing about a teenage relationship.

He used to meet me on the Eastside
In the city where the sun don't set
And every day you know where we ride
Through the backstreets in a blue Corvette

Now that they are older and times are harder, the pair look back on their relationship with happy memories.

So come away, starting today
Start a new life, together in a different place
We know that love is how all thes
e ideas came to be
So baby, run away with me

The pair now have adult responsibilities and are stuck with "dead-end jobs and got bills to pay." If only they could run away together and start over.
Benny Blanco, Khalid and Halsey received writing help from Ed Sheeran for the track.
Benny Blanco started writing the demo of this song with Ed Sheeran when they were on tour in Philadelphia. A month or so later Blanco was with Halsey at his house. He recalled to Billboard: "I pulled up the demo. Before I knew it, it was done."

Later, Blanco was listening back to a demo of "Eastside" with Halsey's vocals, thinking he'd always wanted to do a song with Khalid. It occurred to him the song would work as a duet. Khalid agreed to come on board but was in Denmark at the time so Blanco recorded him from there. Guitarist and songwriter Andrew Watt then came over to Blanco's LA studio and recorded the riff.
Konstantine Lois and Shane Williams of the band American XO brought legal action against Benny Blanco, Halsey, Khalid and Ed Sheeran, claiming "Eastside" copied their 2015 song "Loveless."

In a motion filed on February 28, 2023 in California federal court, attorneys for Lois and Williams disclosed the two had dropped the lawsuit. The plaintiffs explained to Billboard they lacked "the financial resources or insurance to continue the fight."

Comments: 3

Left High Kick from Los Angeles, CaGreat song and great lyrics. it makes me think of an earlier time with someone very special, when we were young and we were madly in love. I had someone like that and I’m lucky to have had her. It’s over with now and I’m still not over her. She used to talk to me different. She would tell me things like “I want to run away with you, I want to put you in my pocket and keep you there.” The lyrics have something similar like : “run away now, run away now.” I think of her a lot with the song especially because I used to meet her on the east side of Santa Barbara early in the morning. I miss her and those times I can’t go back because we wanted different things.
Anonymous from Los Angeles This song was on the radio when my ex girlfriend and I went out for our very last formal date night dinner.
We went to the most expensive steakhouse in town. We treated ourselves over the years to that place. I are member thinking this is a good song, good lyrics. A lot of good memories with her but it wasn’t meant to be. We wanted different things

We broke up shortly after that.

We had a lot of problems in the last couple years, a pretty large disconnect, and broke up several times. I think she’s either borderline, BPD or covert narcissist but that’s beside the point.

She would tell me she would want to run away with me in the early days of our relationship, “anywhere with you” etc.

Now I think of her with this song.
El Pelon from Ventura I think of I woman I was with for six years because I used to meet her in the morning at 5 AM - in her hometown - to work out before she went to work. I ‘d drive 45 minutes north at 4 AM, to meet her at 5 am, and then turn around and either go to work, or come back home after she left. It was something to look forward to.

I think of that when I hear “he used to meet me on the east side“

Sometimes I wonder if she really cared, or if she was just playing puppet master. It’s over now, and those days are history but I guess it doesn’t do any good to think about it too much.

Good song, good lyrics. Good times

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