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Ethel Cain, the goth-folk priestess who has seduced the fashion world
Loved by both Caroline Polachek and Barack Obama, American singer-songwriter Ethel Cain delivers a gospel-infused, pop-folk that lingers in the listener’s mind. Like a gothic Lana Del Rey, the charismatic daughter of a deacon has even become fashion’s new muse. Heaven by Marc Jacobs, Riches Enfants Déprimés, Miu Miu, and Givenchy have all called upon her. Portrait of a rising star with all it takes to become the future Madonna of indie pop.
By Violaine Schütz.
Ethel Cain, a preacher’s daughter on a journey toward pop music
The life of American singer-songwriter Ethel Cain (born Hayden Silas Anhedönia), 26, has been something of a long Way of the Cross. A cross she had to bear daily as a child – quite literally, around her neck – while revering the American flag. Symbols that now reappear, corrupted by profane elements in the singer-songwriter’s “Southern Gothic” aesthetic. For instance, her pair of plexiglass stilettos straight from a stripper’s wardrobe.
Ethel Cain was raised in Florida, in a deeply religious, Baptist, and patriotic family in Florida. Many of her relatives served in the military. She began singing with her mother in the parish choir where her father was a deacon. A background that explains the title of her debut album, Preacher’s Daughter, released in 2022.
A transgender artist who faced rejection in her conservative hometown
At the age of eight, Ethel Cain began learning the piano and soon became fascinated by Karen Carpenter, the singer and drummer of The Carpenters, and the rock band Steve Miller Band. All the while listening to Christian music. At the age of 12, she came out as gay to her family, and at 16, she left the church that ostracized her because of her sexuality. When she came out as a transgender woman at age 20, it was the residents of Perry, her conservative hometown in Florida, who turned their backs on her.
She then turned to songwriting. Holding tight to the fantasy of becoming a music diva to help her heal from an oppressive childhood and adolescence. Her lyrics often deals with the torments of evangelicalism. That liturgical aspect continues to inspire her today. She lives with friends in a deconsecrated 19th-century church in rural Indiana… Further fuelling the myth surrounding her.
A spellbinding singer following in Lana Del Rey’s footsteps
Caroline Polachek shared that she would listen to Ethel Cain’s track Crush every single day last year, while Florence + The Machine, Ethel Cain’s teenage idol, invited her to perform Morning Elvis live. Moreover, former U.S. President Barack Obama featured her song American Teenager on his 2022 playlist, which he shared on social media.
Ethel Cain has a rare ability to bring people together. Her bedroom pop and languid voice, reminiscent of Lana Del Rey, are undeniably captivating. She entirely produces her tracks alone on GarageBand. Her songs surely bear the marks of her religious past and echo Christian music and Gregorian chants. But they also draw from country, folk-pop, shoegaze, ambient, alternative rock, and torch songs – romantic ballads about one-sided love.
A standout performance at Rock en Seine festival
We are also drawn in by the contrast between the apparent softness and the undercurrents of her ethereal tracks, which transport you straight into the middle of an abandoned farmhouse. Listening to her feels like being in a vintage rural horror movie. Ethel Cain, who first made a name for herself under the alias White Silas, tackles raw themes, such as abduction, domestic violence, poverty, addiction (she used hard drugs), prostitution, and death.
Th daughter of a deacon has created her own gospel about a fallen angel of the American dream. To see whether or not the magic happens on stage, you should have seen her at the Trianon in June 2024, or at the Rock en Seine festival in August 2023, where the sermon was most certainly delivered.
A charismatic artist coveted by the fashion world
A good indicator of Ethel Cain’s fashion potential? Her fans turn up to her concerts as dressed up as she is, sporting lace dresses, crosses, and ruffled skirts mixed with jet black or Y2K-inspired pieces. Like a Laura Ingalls attending a rock’n’roll mass. With her face tattoos, slender figure, gothic prairie-girl aura, mournful Madonna hairdo, and androgynous charisma, the artist has quickly become a coveted figure in fashion circles.
She has walked for Miu Miu and Eckhaus Latta, and posed for Givenchy and the Heaven by Marc Jacobs. In that campaign, unveiled in April 2023, she appeared alongside high priestess Michèle Lamy, actress Liv Tyler, singer Yves Tumor, and rapper Ice Spice.
It’s a clear sign of her rising fame and the hype surrounding the muse of Enfants Riches Déprimés and Miu Miu. In January 2025, Ethel Cain released Perverts. The album featured more electronic and industrial elements than her previous work. And on this August 8th, she is back with a brand-new album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You. She will be performing this folk, slowcore, Americana record live in Paris at the Olympia on October 18th and 19th, 2025.
Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You (2025) by Ethel Cain, available now.
