If there’s one thing Nicki Minaj is going to do, it’s insert herself into a pop culture catfight she had no business in and make it camp. The rap queen has officially weighed in on the ongoing Lana Del Rey vs. Ethel Cain feud, and the way she did it was so extra, Shakespeare could never.
Nicki’s Twitter Serenade to a Feud She Wasn’t Even In
Nicki started the morning apparently possessed by Lana’s unreleased Track 13, which contains the now-infamous line: “Ethel Cain hated my Instagram post.” She tweeted,
“I’ve been singing ‘Ethel cain hated my instagram post’ all morning. Help!!!!! And something about the Waffle House & a picture w/some boy? But how can a melody & instruments & background vocals & the mixing be so good that I’m walking around all day talking about a person named Ethel who I do not know hating an instagram post I never even posted? HELP MEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! I’m sure Ethel is a nice person. hums the melody again & drifts off into this somber state whilst looking off into the horizon”
Nicki then plunged into a bittersweet memory lane moment, recalling when Lana allegedly dissed “all the girlies” and no one was brave enough to clap back. As she described:
“Not we let Lana walk in the lunchroom & run EVERYBODY pockets wit no weapon & no gang & said not one thing about it. Lmfaooooo. AYO🤣 I fkng love this shit yo.”
It was giving drama club and detention vibes all at once.
The Song That Inspired 1,000 Think Pieces
For the blissfully uninformed, said feud began when Lana teased Track 13 on August 13 (Swifties, you can probably infer why that date caused chaos).
Fans assumed the “Ethel Cain hated my Instagram post” line and the “famous girl at the Waffle House” one were catty nods to a 2022 New York Times obit about Cain and maybe some chilly history with Lana’s ex, Salem musician Jack Donoghue.
The so-called drama? Both Lana and Cain posted a picture with Donoghue in 2022, with Lana’s now-infamous prison-in-Chicago selfie later copied by Cain, hence the “reenacting my Chicago pose” claim.
Swifties briefly hijacked the discourse, thinking Lana was sneak-dissing Taylor Swift because of the “Track 13” logo. That theory went down the drain when Lana herself visited Pop Base’s Instagram comments to spill that she had a problem with Cain, and then dropped the tea.
Lana’s Receipts, Cain’s Block
Lana reported that she had heard of Cain only a couple of years ago, when she was shown “disturbing” side-by-side images Cain allegedly posted of her next to “unflattering creatures and cartoon characters” with comments on her weight. The fans quickly unearthed questionable memes, some of Peter Griffin, but no one that can be demonstrated to be that of Cain. Cain’s apparent comeback? Posting on Instagram that Lana had blocked her.
Meanwhile, Nicki was getting a revelation about discovering new artists in their latter years, equating her sudden Lana fascination with fans streaming her own discography with no idea of all the nods. She even snapped at a photo of Cain waving her own banner at a performance, tweeting:
“Wtf? Is this real? Thank you, Ethel.”
The Moral of the Story
So where are we at? Lana and Cain still won’t directly speak to one another. Swifties have stage-lefted. And Nicki? She’s still somewhere humming “Ethel Cain hated my Instagram post” and conjuring up a Waffle House cameo in the inevitable music video.
It’s pop culture’s worst group chat, and Nicki just made herself an admin.
