Did Lana Del Rey Shade Taylor Swift With New Song Announcement?

Lana Del Rey recently posted an Instagram video teasing a new song with the caption “Track 13” and tagged record producer Jack Antonoff. Seems innocent, right? Just an artist giving fans a glimpse of what they’re working on. However, Swifties took offense at the “Video Games” singer’s posts. Why? Let’s break it down.  

Swifties went into overdrive with Del Rey teasing the track 13 on the same day that Swift revealed the cover art and release date for her upcoming album, The Life of A Showgirl, also using the number 13, which is Swift’s lucky number. Tagging Antonoff is another shade, according to the “Blank Space” singer’s loyal fans, since the record producer was Swift’s long-time collaborator. However, he’s noticeably absent from her brand-new album, according to Page Six.   

One fan posted her explanation of the drama on X, “Lana teasing track 13 of her album and tagging co-writer jack antonoff is lowkey Taylor shade because obviously Taylor announced her album covers and track list and didn’t work with jack on this album at all, so here Lana goes being all messy.”  

Del Rey shading Swift might still be speculation, but what’s clear is her feuding with Ethel Cain, as evident in the lyrics of her song: “Ethel Cain hated my Instagram post/Think it’s cute reenacting my Chicago pose.”  

A fan speculated this might be the reason why Swift did not work with Antonoff on her latest album, “What if taylor knew lana and jack were working on an ethel cain diss track, and that’s why she decided not to work with him at all on this project?”  

The recent interview of Margaret Qualley, Antonoff’s wife, on Today has gone viral because of her response to host Craig Melvin’s question about Swift’s latest album. The Maid actress awkwardly replied, “I don’t know anything,” and added, “I’ll be excited to listen to the music.” Melvin replied with “OK. Alright,” although pointedly showing he did not believe Qualley doesn’t have any idea why her husband was not included in the pop star’s latest album.  

However, based on previous interviews via the Daily Mail, Swift’s decision to work with Max Martin and Shellback instead of Antonoff appears to be purely for creative reasons. Swift said that her albums Folklore and Midnights, both produced by Antonoff, were more “esoteric” and “specific in their sound,” and The Life Of A Showgirl is the record she has been “wanting to make for a very long time.”