{"id":712238,"date":"2025-08-08T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/numero.com\/?p=712238"},"modified":"2026-04-01T11:06:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T09:06:31","slug":"ethel-cain-the-goth-folk-priestess-who-has-seduced-the-fashion-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/numero.com\/en\/culture-en\/music\/ethel-cain-the-goth-folk-priestess-who-has-seduced-the-fashion-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethel Cain, the goth-folk priestess who has seduced the fashion world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ethel Cain in the YouTube Shorts Content Studio at the Empire Polo Club. Coachella Festival, Indio, California, April 15th, 2023. Photo by Irvin Rivera\/Getty Images for YouTube.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ethel Cain, a preacher\u2019s daughter on a journey toward pop music<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The life of American singer-songwriter Ethel Cain<\/strong> (born Hayden Silas Anhed\u00f6nia), 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\u2019s \u201cSouthern Gothic\u201d aesthetic. For instance, her pair of plexiglass stilettos straight from a stripper\u2019s wardrobe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s Daughter<\/em><\/strong>, released in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9Ed_WWmFy9I<\/a><\/div>\r\n
Ethel Cain – American Teenager<\/em> (2022).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A transgender artist who faced rejection in her conservative hometown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the age of eight, Ethel Cain<\/a><\/strong> began learning the piano and soon became fascinated by Karen Carpenter<\/strong>, the singer and drummer of The Carpenters, and the rock band Steve Miller Band<\/strong>. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026 Further fuelling the myth surrounding her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ethel Cain performing live during the Freezer Bride Tour in London, on December 7th, 2022. Photo by Gus Stewart\/Redferns via Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A spellbinding singer following in Lana Del Rey’s footsteps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Caroline Polachek<\/strong><\/a> shared that she would listen to Ethel Cain\u2019s track Crush<\/em> every single day last year, while Florence + The Machine, <\/strong>Ethel Cain\u2019s teenage idol, invited her to perform Morning Elvis<\/em> live. Moreover, former U.S. President Barack Obama<\/strong><\/a> featured her song American Teenager<\/em> on his 2022 playlist, which he shared on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ethel Cain<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jPKxA4ZUe0A<\/a><\/div>\r\n
Ethel Cain – For Sure<\/em> (2024).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A standout performance at Rock en Seine festival<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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<\/strong>, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/strong> in June 2024, or at the Rock en Seine<\/strong> festival in August 2023, where the sermon was most certainly delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n

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