The song was written by Del Rey and Rick Nowels, who also produced the song with Dan Heath. The song was recorded in 2012. Lyrically, the song speaks of a lost love, with Del Rey recounting her memories of him while directly referencing the Walt Whitman poem, "I Sing the Body Electric".
Usage in media
Alongside Paradise, Del Rey launched a short film titled Tropico that features the songs "Body Electric", "Gods and Monsters", and "Bel Air". "Tropico" was filmed in late June 2013; it was directed by Anthony Mandler, who also directed Del Rey's previous music videos for "National Anthem" and "Ride". Via social media platforms, Del Rey released several promotional images for the film, one depicting Del Rey in a wimple reminiscent of Mary, Mother of Jesus and another with Del Rey holding a snake and posing as Eve, the biblical wife of Adam from Genesis. In August 2013, Del announced on Twitter that the film would have two premieres: One at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles and one in an unspecified location in New York; she referred to the short film as a "farewell". Critics noted that this contradicted other claims by Del Rey that she would release a third studio album, with a demo of the song "Black Beauty" leaking online. It was later cleared that Del Rey meant a farewell to the Born to Die era before moving on to the follow-up, "Ultraviolence". On November 22, 2013, an official trailer for "Tropico" was released; at the end of the trailer, it was announced that the film will be uploaded to Del Rey's official VEVO account on December 5, 2013. On December 3, 2013, Del Rey announced on Facebook that "Tropico" will be screened at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California on December 4, 2013 prior to its VEVO release.
Critical reception
Since its release, the song has received generally positive reviews from critics. Robert Copsey of Digital Spy said the songs was one of the standouts from Paradise, further adding that " sees revisiting her Marilyn Monroe persona with more believable results than previous attempts." John Bush of AllMusic was critical of the Ep as a whole, panning the songwriting. He singled out the lyrics of "Body Electric" as being "cliche" and "babyish", a trend pervading the entire album.
