It’s not every week that the pop world finds itself transfixed by a feud that’s equal parts cryptic lyrics, social media drama, and a tangle of personal history. But that’s exactly what’s unfolded between Lana Del Rey and Ethel Cain, two artists whose names have recently dominated timelines for reasons far from a friendly collaboration. Instead, fans are parsing song snippets, Instagram stories, and old interviews, trying to piece together the roots—and repercussions—of a public rift that’s as layered as it is unexpected.
The saga began in earnest on August 13, 2025, when Lana Del Rey, the enigmatic queen of melancholic Americana, posted a tantalizing snippet of an unreleased track to her Instagram. Dubbed “Track 13” and tagged with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, the song immediately set off alarms among listeners. Not only does Lana name-check Ethel Cain, a 27-year-old singer-songwriter known for her brooding, atmospheric sound, but the lyrics themselves seemed to be pointed references to real-life events and relationships.
“Ethel Cain hated my Instagram post / Think it’s cute reenacting my Chicago pose,” Lana sings, her words echoing through the fandom. According to PRISA MEDIA USA, INC., this “Chicago pose” lyric appears to allude to a 2022 photograph of Lana with musician Jack Donoghue in front of Cook County Jail—a photo that itself mirrored an earlier snap of Ethel with Donoghue from 2021. While Ethel has denied any romantic involvement with Donoghue, fans and commentators alike have speculated that the overlap is no coincidence, and that the lyric is a subtle jab at the younger artist.
But the references don’t stop there. Another line from the song—“the most famous girl at the Waffle House”—is a direct nod to a 2022 New York Times profile of Ethel Cain, which chronicled her rise from small-town Alabama to indie stardom. The connection is made all the more ironic by the fact that Lana herself was spotted working incognito at a Waffle House in 2023, fueling further speculation about the meaning behind the lyric and the nature of the relationship between the two singers.
As the snippet made the rounds online, the drama quickly spilled over into social media. Ethel Cain took to her Instagram Story to reveal, “Update: Lana Del Rey has blocked Ethel Cain on Instagram.” The timing was unmistakable, coming just hours after Lana’s track preview went live. Ethel’s sister, Delilah Dolly, couldn’t resist weighing in either, posting with more than a hint of irony: “I can’t wait to watch your hologram perform this ‘diss track’ while you hit your vape backstage, diva. What inspired you to suddenly make a country album??” According to reporting from PRISA MEDIA USA, INC., this post only added fuel to the fire, with fans debating whether the song is a playful tease or a full-blown diss track.
Things escalated further when Lana herself entered the chat—or rather, the comment section. On Pop Base’s Instagram account, she left a comment (since deleted) attempting to clarify her perspective: “I didn’t know who Ethel was until a few years ago. When someone brought to my attention the disturbing and graphic side-by-side images she would often put up of me next to unflattering creatures and cartoon characters making constant comments about my weight, I was confused at what she was getting at. Then when I heard what she was saying behind closed doors from mutual friends and started inserting herself into my personal life I was definitely disturbed.”
This statement, as reported by PRISA MEDIA USA, INC., seemed to reference meme-style posts where Ethel allegedly compared Lana to cartoon characters like Peter Griffin from Family Guy. Screenshots of these posts have been circulating, though their authenticity remains unverified, as many of Ethel’s older social media profiles have since been deleted. The comment also hinted at deeper, behind-the-scenes tensions, with Lana mentioning things she’d heard “from mutual friends.”
Ethel Cain’s relationship with Lana Del Rey is, in some ways, a story of admiration turned sour. In her early days, Ethel openly cited Lana as a major influence, even naming Born to Die as the first CD she ever bought. She covered Lana’s songs and spoke glowingly of her artistry. But as Ethel’s own star rose, her perspective shifted. In a 2021 interview with Our Culture, she reflected, “As I got older, especially with the social justice movement and the unraveling of the American Dream, the unraveling of Hollywood, the unraveling of celebrity culture, it was kind of like, it’s all a sham. All that glamour and old opulence is built on the backs of hard-working people who will never get the recognition, and it’s just a facade that you start to see through.” She echoed this sentiment in Hero Magazine, saying, “I love Lana, I love her older music. Her newer stuff doesn’t really resonate with me… But here’s the line between Lana and me. Lana is all façade; she is glamour, she is old Hollywood… And for me, I’m like, that’s just not what America is to me. I think America is the bottom line — it’s the poor people… People who are constantly spat on.”
As the feud simmered, other artists found themselves caught in the crossfire. When Clairo, another indie darling, liked Lana’s video on Instagram, Ethel reportedly responded by blocking every artist who had interacted with the post. The drama even roped in Nicki Minaj, who expressed her excitement about Lana’s new song on August 15, 2025. “And there ya have it. Lana has me singing about a person named Ethel Cain due to this DOPE melody, vocal & instrumentation. It just made me think how many times ppl were probably PROUDLY rapping someone’s name in one of my songs & had no clue who or what I was talking about,” Nicki tweeted. The situation took an even more surreal turn when a viral photo resurfaced of Ethel Cain at one of her shows, waving an American flag emblazoned with Nicki Minaj’s face. Nicki’s reaction? “What the hell? Is this real? Thank you, Ethel.”
For fans, the back-and-forth has become a spectacle, with every lyric, comment, and meme dissected for hidden meaning. Some see it as a generational clash, with Lana representing the old guard of pop mystique and Ethel the new wave of raw, unfiltered emotion. Others chalk it up to the pressures of fame and the ever-blurring lines between personal and public life in the age of social media.
With the full album yet to drop and both artists remaining tight-lipped about what comes next, the only certainty is that this feud has captured the attention of the music world. Whether it’s a passing storm or the beginning of a new chapter in pop’s long history of rivalries, one thing’s for sure: nobody’s looking away just yet.
