I actually don't think this song is about gold-digging as much as selling out to money, as a way to justify staying with her cheating lover/Kennedy because "money is the reason we exist." Obviously this is a twisted version of "love is the reason we exist", which I think would be the general consensus. But because she is somewhat starved of it, she's resigned herself to staying in an extremely unhealthy relationship because of the money. I don't think she ever intended to be a gold-digger at all initially, which is emphasised in her monologue in the extended video for the song. That isn't included here, but at the end of it she repeatedly states "I loved him. I love him." This is more evidence to suggest she was never in it for the money. I think this song has a very similar tone to Video Games actually, she's trying to convince herself he loves her like he should but isn't fooling anyone. There are very brief glimpses of her insecurity and desperation to be loved more than anything else, for example this is hinted at in the line "I need somebody to hold me." But on the exterior, and for most of the song, she tries to stay "cool" and pretend that she only cares about the money. I definitely think there's more to it than her simply staying in a relationship for the riches.
I actually don't think this song is about gold-digging as much as selling out to money, as a way to justify staying with her cheating lover/Kennedy because "money is the reason we exist." Obviously this is a twisted version of "love is the reason we exist", which I think would be the general consensus. But because she is somewhat starved of it, she's resigned herself to staying in an extremely unhealthy relationship because of the money. I don't think she ever intended to be a gold-digger at all initially, which is emphasised in her monologue in the extended video for the song. That isn't included here, but at the end of it she repeatedly states "I loved him. I love him." This is more evidence to suggest she was never in it for the money. I think this song has a very similar tone to Video Games actually, she's trying to convince herself he loves her like he should but isn't fooling anyone. There are very brief glimpses of her insecurity and desperation to be loved more than anything else, for example this is hinted at in the line "I need somebody to hold me." But on the exterior, and for most of the song, she tries to stay "cool" and pretend that she only cares about the money. I definitely think there's more to it than her simply staying in a relationship for the riches.