A discontinued necklace has gone viral

A discontinued necklace once sold as Lana Del Rey merchandise has grown popular on TikTok.

People have compared it to one famously worn by Sarah Michelle Gellar in "Cruel Intentions."

Fans and experts say a number of factors have contributed to the necklace's virality.

At least five years ago, singer Lana Del Rey released a necklace as a part of her merchandise collection. Despite the fact that it's been discontinued for years, it's recently grown popular online — especially on TikTok.

The necklace is a rosary chain with a golden heart attached to it which unscrews into a little spoon. To some, it's reminiscent of the cross-shaped necklace worn by Sarah Michelle Gellar's character Kathryn in the 1999 movie "Cruel Intentions," in which it's used to store cocaine. Del Rey has never alluded to this reference, and her representatives did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

The exact origins of the necklace are hard to pin down. In 2017, when Lana was promoting her album "Lust for Life," the item ended up on Del Rey's official online merch store, as reported by Refinery29. But according to a conversation on a Lana Del Rey fan forum, some people remember the necklace being available to purchase at merchandise stands as far back as 2015, during Del Rey's "Endless Summer" tour.

It is no longer listed on her official sites, but some of the supposedly original necklaces are available to purchase for up to £1,000 (around $1,200) on platforms such as Depop or eBay, with unofficial replicas costing up to £150 ($187).

Over the past year, TikTok videos featuring the necklace have view counts ranging from a few thousand up to several million, with many colloquially referring to it as the "coke necklace." Users include various different hashtags in their videos; #lanadelreynecklace alone has over 20 million views.

Experts and fans told Insider the necklace's popularity on TikTok is complex, linked to the inferences fans make about its intended use, and current aesthetic trends dominating the app.

Anna Zhang told Insider she bought the necklace for $133 in November 2021, from a website called outoftheboxxx.com which no longer appears to be active. She often posts about the necklace and noticed Del Rey songs frequently go viral on TikTok, which she thinks has added to the necklace's popularity.

"Queen of Disaster," an unreleased Del Rey song recorded in 2011 and leaked in 2013, for example, blew up on TikTok in 2020, with the associated hashtag receiving over 30 million views. The song is also often used in videos about the necklace.

Kate Turner, who said she bought her necklace on Depop for £250 ($313) in 2021, agrees a passionate fandom for Del Rey on TikTok could be playing a role in the item's popularity. She has a simple reason for posting about hers, telling Insider it's because "a lot" of her followers are huge Del Rey fans.

But Zhang believes there's more to it than that, saying the necklace matches an aesthetic that's currently "huge on TikTok," which she described as "hyper-feminine," "coquette," and "full of heart and floral patterns."

Journalist and former LA Weekly columnist Art Tavana, who is currently writing a book about Del Rey, thinks there is a connection between the necklace's virality and another TikTok obsession — the HBO teen drama "Euphoria."

The show, which is a source of inspiration for many TikTokers, follows the lives of modern-day high-school students, who often use alcohol and drugs, which are also themes in a lot of Del Rey's music. Recently, the singer contributed an original song to the series.

"'Euphoria' captures the same elements that made Del Rey so alluring to her fans," Tavana told Insider. "The 'coke necklace' symbolizes that. TikTok just makes that message glitter."

Dr Kate Ngai is a lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, specializing in fan culture. She told Insider that the necklace is seen as "edgy and provocative."

"The reason behind the necklace going viral is the same reason it appealed to Del Rey's fans first — the nostalgic vibe, vintage aesthetic, a little bit of darkness to it," she said.

Dr Bethan Jones, whose academic research focuses on pop-culture fandom, told Insider that the unusual nature of a necklace as merch may be partly what's driving its popularity.

"Fans will be familiar with items of clothing, rare edition CDs or vinyl, and the badges or stickers that are common pieces of merchandise, especially at concerts. Jewelry, on the other hand, is something that stands out," she said.

Ngai agreed that part of the appeal of the necklace is that it allows people to "be a part of the fandom without being obvious about it."

She told Insider she also thinks part of the necklace's breakthrough popularity is down to it looking similar to the necklace in "Cruel Intentions," and causing some controversy on social media as a result, with some Twitter users calling the item "irresponsible."

"Stories talking about that in the media meant that the necklace circulated beyond the fandom so more people were aware of the necklace," Ngai said. "While they might not be Lana Del Rey fans, they might be attracted to the necklace for aesthetic reasons."