As Lana Del Rey was signing Savana Vinson’s left arm Tuesday night on North Court Street in downtown Florence, Alabama, the subject of getting the autograph turned into a tattoo came up. Del Rey, one of the world’s biggest contemporary popstars (and certainly the coolest), said sweetly, “Don’t ever do that,” and Vinson laughed the kind of laugh people do when they meet a hero.

The moment was, of course, captured on smartphone video. Vinson, a makeup artist from Florence, shared the video and other cool images from her brief encounter with Del Rey, who appeared poised and smiling in images Vinson and other fans have shared.

If you’re above 50 you might have little to no idea who Lana Del Rey is. But your college-age kids probably want to be her, have a crush on her or both. A gifted singer and songwriter, Del Rey’s known for moody, immersive songs like “Summertime Sadness” (closing in on a billion Spotify streams), “Video Games” (more than 700,000,000 streams), “West Coast” (around 500,000,000 streams) and many others.

Del Rey music’s Los Angeles noir for the social media age. She has more than 14 million YouTube subscribers, over 11 million Facebook followers and more than 5 million Instagram followers. More importantly. she also has what so many current popstars and rockstars lack, genuine mystique and presence.

Her whispery vocals and auteur production, a clear influence on Gen Z superstar Billie Eilish. (In 2018, the first time I heard an Eilish track, I thought it was the new LDR single.) Adding to her mythology, back in 2012 Del Rey was spotted leaving the iconic Sunset Boulevard hotel Chateau Marmont with Guns N’ Roses bad-boy Axl Rose.

Del Rey is the kind of star who inspires fan message boards and socials accounts that have their own significant following. According to Lanaboards.com, the singer was spotted out in Florence while “dining out for pizza.” Wearing a blue mini-dress, denim jacket, sneakers and cool eye makeup, Del Rey posed for selfies with several fans.

As well as being part of the Muscle Shoals are, Florence is home to the University of North Alabama. AL.com checked in with the Shoals’ iconic recording studios, FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound, to see if Del Rey has been recording with them and were told she has not. (Too bad. Her music and voice are perfectly suited for those vintage vibes at FAME or Muscle Shoals Sound.)

While in Florence, Del Rey reportedly stayed at the Marriott Shoals hotel. And Florence isn’t the only Alabama city Del Rey’s been spotted in this week. Earlier, she was in Birmingham and seen by fans at a nail salon and, reportedly, a Starbucks. Fan Jordan Settles, who found himself seated by Del Rey at a “random Birmingham nail salon” posted on social media, “THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. I felt like I had known her my whole life. She was so sweet.”

What’s Del Rey, a quintessential L.A.-via-New York artiste, doing in the land of Roll Tides and pickup trucks? Although she has a handful of festival gigs, she’s not currently touring.

In March, she released her ninth studio album, “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” which topped the charts in several countries and debuted number three in the U.S. The second verse to the song “Paris, Texas” from her new LP goes, “I took a train to Spain, just a notebook in my hand Then I went to see some friends of mine, down in Florence, Alabama.”

In a 2014 interview with Fader promoting her album “Ultraviolence,” which included guitar and production from the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Del Rel was quoted as saying, “I’ve lived a lot of different lives. I lived down in Alabama with my boyfriend, I lived here in Brooklyn and in Jersey. I’ve been a lot of different people, I guess.”

Some of her fans have speculated online about how truthful that statement about formerly residing in Alabama is. Whatever her reason for being here this week, the fans who got to meet her won’t forget “Lana Del Bama” anytime soon.

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