Lana Del Rey finally explains the great Waffle House mystery

July 20, 2023 was a historic, confusing, and beautiful day for music fans, foodies, and the nation at large. As the night wore on, there was only one question on everybody’s lips: what the hell was mega-star Lana Del Rey doing working at a Florence, Alabama Waffle House?

After pictures of the “A&W” singer in full, powder blue uniform (name tag and all) started popping up on Twitter/X, fan speculation began to border on conspiracy. Was she recording new music? No, per AL.com, which contacted multiple studios in the area to check their schedules. Was she recording a new music video, perhaps for the song “Paris, Texas,” which mentions Florence? Was she “going Method” for a switch to acting or recording an orange juice commercial? Were royalties from streaming simply not cutting it anymore? For two months, Del Rey—as she is wont to do—left fans in the dark.

But now, like the concert-goer who didn’t know that there was a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard, we finally have our answer. And it’s essentially that the girl just really loves a good, small-town breakfast spot.

Del Rey had been sitting and chatting in the diner with her siblings for a while when an employee approached them, she told The Hollywood Reporter. “We were on our third hour, and the servers asked, ‘Do you guys want shirts?’” she recalled. “Hell yeah! We were thrilled.”

But Del Rey knows better than most that money is the anthem of success and even six Grammy nominations won’t stop you from being put to work. “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, clarifying that the cup was “for dip” (chewing tobacco).

So… that’s it. Del Rey’s brief stint as a Waffle House employee wasn’t a sign of her exodus from music or any sort of elaborate easter egg. We’re talking about a woman who wore an $18 Shein dress to a red carpet event and a $35 Target dress to a photo shoot with Rolling Stone, after all. She means it.

“The secret to Lana is that she’s exactly who she is,” said producer Jack Antonoff in the same THR piece. “She’s really one of the greatest songwriters and vocalists who also likes to roll around in her truck and drink gas-station coffee. That can disarm people, but there’s no bit.”