Lana Del Rey Working at Waffle House

About

Lana Del Rey Working at Waffle House or Waffle House Lana refers to a viral video of musical artist Lana Del Rey working a shift at a Waffle House restaurant in Florence, Alabama. The video, along with several photos of Rey working at Waffle House in full uniform, went viral on July 20th, 2023, with further footage of Rey at the Waffle House going viral over the following days, inspiring reactions, memes and theories about why she might be working at the diner chain.

Origin

On July 20th, 2023, Twitter^[1] user @honeymounz posted a video of Lana Del Rey in full uniform working a shift at a Waffle House in Florence, Alabama, garnering over 10,000 likes in five days (shown below). It is currently unknown why she was working at the Waffle House.

In a comment, she posted two photos of Del Rey also working at the Waffle House, writing, "She’s so unserious 😭," garnering over 1,400 likes in the same span of time. She also posted a close-up photo of Del Rey's name badge (shown below).

Spread

The video quickly spread following @honeymounz's post. Later that day, Twitter^[2][3] pages @PopCrave and @PopBase reposted the video, garnering over 220,000 likes and 132,000 likes in five days. It was also reported that day by the Lanaland Facebook^[4] page, garnering over 14,000 shares and 39,000 reactions and the Pubity Instagram^[5] page two days later, garnering over 1.2 million likes in a similar timeframe.

On July 21st, 2023, Twitter^[6] user @2002scoobydoo posted an image of a bowl of cigarettes in milk, writing, "do NOT order the lana del rey waffle house oatmeal," garnering over 28,000 likes in four days (shown below, left). On the same day, Twitter^[7] user @normanrockwhale posted an employee of the month award with Del Rey's face on it, garnering over 25,700 likes in the same span of time (shown below, right).

That day, TikToker^[8] @nervarc posted a version of the video with an added caption, garnering over 830,000 views in four days. On July 22nd, TikToker^[9] @loliitalana posted a video of Del Rey signing a large poster outside of the Waffle House, still in uniform, garnering over 5.5 million views in three days (shown below).

On July 24th, the official @bratz Instagram^[10] page posted a mock-up of a Bratz doll made to resemble Lana Del Rey working at Waffle House, garnering over 157,000 likes in a day (shown below). Twitter^[11] user @LDRBUZZ reposed the image that day, garnering over 26,000 likes in a similar timeframe.

Later that day, Today^[12] published a story highlighting several photos and theories fans had about why Del Rey was working at the Waffle House.

Lana's Explanation

On September 20th, 2023, Lana Del Ray spoke about the Waffle House incident in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in which she recounted the experience. According to her, Lana was there for several hours with her brother and sister just Chilling when the restaurant staff asked if they wanted to have some Waffle House branded shirts and nametags. After excitedly agreeing, a customer came in and the staff asked Del Rey if she could get him a cup and a coke, which she agreed to, resulting in the viral moment being captured unbeknownst to her. Fans latched onto a quote by Del Rey, about her saying she wishes her album went as viral as the moment did, and began to post that on social media. On September 20th, 2023, the X user @CinamonSluh^[13] uploaded a photo of Del Rey with the quote attached to it, earning over 80,000 views and 2,500 likes in one day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References