Lana Del Rey’s performance at Stagecoach 2025 is sparking a lot of headlines and discourse for a lyric about country music star Morgan Wallen.
The 39-year-old singer performed on night one of the post-Coachella music festival geared towards country music fans, making it a bold venue for the debut of a new song that takes a shot at the “Last Night” singer.
“This is the last time I’m ever gonna say this line,” Del Rey warned the audience during her first-ever performance of “57.5,” a title referencing her monthly Spotify listeners (though that number is now 62.2 million).
“I kissed Morgan Wallen,” Del Rey sings. “I guess kissing me kind of went to his head. If you want my secret to success, I suggest don’t go ATV-ing with him when you’re out west. Look at me.”
(According to Genius, the bridge of “57.5” actually ends with the line, “Tennessee, look at me.” Wallen is a known Tennessee native and bar owner.)
The clip quickly went viral on social media, and while many fans of the “Summertime Sadness” singer were living for the “shade” and are dying for more information, others are disappointed about the supposed confession.
In case you’re not familiar with Wallen’s list of controversies, let me catch you up. Most recently, the singer sparked outrage for abruptly leaving the Saturday Night Live stage in March before posting the meme-able quote, “Get me to God’s country,” on his Instagram story. And that’s probably the most tame example of his “problematic” behavior since his breakout season of The Voice in 2014.
Back in 2020, Wallen was disinvited from SNL for breaking the show’s COVID-19 quarantine protocols the same year he was arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct. In 2021, he was suspended from his record label for using a racial slur. Just last year, he pled guilty to reckless endangerment for throwing a chair off the roof of a six-story building in Nashville. According to Variety, he was sentenced to seven days in a DUI education center and two years supervised probation.
“I love Lana, but this did not eat. It’s not really ‘shade’ when she kissed him & went on an ATV with home AFTER he was already known for being a bad person. She could have kept that to herself 😐😐,” one fan commented on a TikTok video of the performance, though Del Rey has not shared the time frame for her alleged connection to Wallen.
While one comment with over 20,000 likes begged other fans not “come for” Del Rey, describing the lyrics as “shade,” another fan wrote, “People understand she is shading him. The problem is that she was ok being with him even at the time…he has been problematic for years….”
Currently, pop star Tate McRae is facing similar backlash from fans for collaborating with Wallen on his aptly-named upcoming album, I’m the Problem. Meanwhile, Lana Del Rey’s next album, The Right Person Will Stay, is set to be released in May.
