An alternative rock and indie folk song, "Coney Island" features lyrics that depict a separated couple reflecting on their past relationship.

After listening to the demo, the four collectively observed that the song was closely connected to the National, envisioning Matt Berninger (the band's lead vocalist) singing it and Bryan Devendorf (the drummer) playing its drums.

[8] At 4 minutes and 35 seconds long,[15] "Coney Island" is an alternative rock and indie folk song written in the waltz tempo.

[b] The narrative revolves around a story set in Coney Island, an entertainment area in New York City, where Swift and Berninger alternately express the viewpoints of two former lovers who contemplate their past relationship and blame each other.

[23] In the refrain, Swift sings, "I'm on a bench on Coney Island, wondering where did my baby go", before rhyming it with "the bright lights, the merry go", in a reference to merry-go-rounds.

[24] Variety's Chris Willman compared "Coney Island" to "Exile" (2020), another similar duet on Folklore, and found the lyric "We were like the mall before the internet/ It was the one place to be" a "rare laugh line".

The Guardian's Alexis Petridis thought "Coney Island" had lackluster songwriting that lacks in depth and believed it would have been a forgettable track without Berninger's performance.

[17] On the contrary, Pitchfork's Sam Sodomsky and Beats Per Minute's Ray Finlayson opined that his vocals felt out of place on the song.

[20][29] The latter felt "Coney Island" sounded like a conversation between a father and his daughter rather than two romantic partners due to the vocal differences between Swift and Berninger.

[47][48] Swift played the track in a mashup with her song "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" (2024) at the sixth show in London on August 17, 2024.