Lana Del Rey Finally Explains Viral Footage Of Her Working At Waffle House

“I wish my album had gone as viral,” the Video Games singer said.
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Lana Del Rey performing in Paris over the summer
Kristy Sparow via Getty Images

We finally know why Waffle House was serving up griddled breakfast with a side of Lana Del Rey.

In a Hollywood Reporter piece published Wednesday, the Summertime Sadness singer shared how the viral moment — in which she was filmed working at a Waffle House in Florence, Alabama, back in July — came to be. 

Lana revealed that she was in town hanging out with her siblings, and they had already been to the restaurant location a few times when their latest visit resulted in an unexpected offer.

“We were on our third hour [that day], and the servers asked, ‘Do you guys want shirts?’” she said in the interview. “Hell yeah! We were thrilled.”

In the name of Southern hospitality, the staff gave Lana a name tag of her own and even encouraged her to lend a helping hand with customers’ orders.

“This guy, a regular, comes in every day and orders two things, so they were like, ‘Just go get it for him!’ I brought him a Coke. No ice. And an empty cup,” she said. 

“For dip,” Del Rey added, referring to chewing tobacco.

After social media users began circulating footage of the six-time Grammy nominee behind the restaurant’s counter, many fans were convinced that Lana was moonlighting as a waitress.

People on X, formerly known as Twitter, shared their reactions at the time.

Lana was also spotted posing for photos with fans at a nail salon and a Texas Roadhouse restaurant in the area, garnering further attention online.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the singer-songwriter quipped that she would have rather seen her studio output get the spotlight.

“I wish my album had gone as viral,” she joked. “I woke up to, like, 10,000 texts the next morning — some from folks I had not heard from for 10 years. ‘Saw your picture at the Waffle House!’ ... I was like, ‘Did you hear the new album?’”