The Cancellation of Ethel Cain

On rising conservativism in Gen Z girls, Ethel Cain's new single: 'Fuck Me Eyes' and finally deciding on Song of the Summer '25!

We’re already a few weeks into summer and the vibe has not been set. Are we having a hot girl summer? Or a brat summer? A medieval-wench summer? Or a ‘trip to the seaside for her health’ kind of summer? Princess Nokia and I pose this question in a note I posted yesterday as the start of this “Song of the Summer Contest” series I decided to start. I got the idea to do a series of posts debating which recently released single has the chicest summer vibe since one wasn’t exactly emerging on its own via zeitgeist. Charli dictated the vibes the last few summers, but she’s on vacay from setting global fashion trends this year, I guess. Honestly, she’s probably bit pre-occupied with other things. A lot of us are: with global fascism on the rise, a literal genocide taking place, and the complete erosion of progressive culture-norms and protections. Unfortunately, the vibe has been assigned from our evil overlords: it’s tariffs summer, girlies!! It’s avoid ICE summer!! It’s Israeli lap-dog summer!! It’s trad-wife/JoJo Siwa pre-transition last-ditch-hyper-femme-phase summer!!! We truly hate to see it!!!

So, in a way, I really think the song that is encapsulating this vibe best is Ethel Cain’s latest single: Fuck Me Eyes. Or more so, I guess, I mean the sudden and swift attempted ‘cancellation’ and backlash against Cain that has occurred since its release. Let me back that up if you’re not quite as terminally online as I am: a few days ago a thread on Twitter blew up (by a supposed “fan” no less) detailing a series of problematic accusations against Hayden Anhedönia aka Ethel Cain: ranging from racist comments and jokes, bestiality, misogyny, incest-fetishization to her boyfriend getting allegations of distributing revenge porn. Anhedönia has since released a statement detailing her admissions and refusals of the claims.

If you don’t feel like reading the entirety of the statement from Anhedönia I would boil it down to a few key points: she admits to the screenshots of racist jokes from her past. She apologizes for them, expresses her growth from when they were made, as well as a desire to learn more still. She also expresses understanding for anyone who no longer wishes to support her as an artist because of them. She also expresses that her boyfriend will address the claims levied against him and extends her support to him in the meantime (implying that they are potentially not true). The majority of the rest of the post is Anhedönia having to divulge her personal history to explain and decontextualize claims.

Maybe better written and more thoughtful than the average celeb apology, but ultimately par for the course and to my read a pretty fair account. Anhedönia is far from the first or last musician to have made some off-color jokes in the past. Hers were not any more egregious than some but I also understand if it’s simply a non-starter for some fans. We can’t erase our pasts, only grow from them, but if ultimately your ability to enjoy Cain’s music is hindered by this than do yourself the peace and remove her from your library.

It’s hard to realize the musician you think is super cool might actually suck in some ways. No one is purely good or bad, black or white, but sometimes someone’s shade of gray can trigger your personal sensitives and boundaries. And that’s the only level of understanding I have for the “cancellation” of Ethel Cain. If her content, aesthetic and overall ‘vibe’ does not speak to you- I can understand that (Southern Gothic religious trauma meets backwoods-horrorcore isn’t for everyone). I don’t think Anhedönia’s current words and actions, when it comes to race, showcase any need to completely deplatform her in a meaningful way. But I also think anyone who plays with too much southern and Americana imagery and doesn’t answer to it thoughtfully should be called out. I’m glad she said something in the statement, honestly. Many have had similar critiques of artists like Lana Del Rey, who Ethel Cain also gets compared to a lot, and I always wish Lana would say more on that critique too.

I get both sides: I still mourn the loss of Roisin Murphy in my personal music catalog, but I couldn’t stomach the dissonance of her transphobic comments with how often she showcased and placated to the queer community. This was a personal decision, not made as an attempt to hurt Murphy’s career. Recently Japanese Breakfast made me feel conflicted by doing an ad with a Generative-AI product. I’m debating how to proceed with that one still, but I already bought her vinyl and it’s not an issue that clouds my personal psyche as badly as Murphy’s comments. Shades of gray.

And isn’t that what it all should boil down to? Coz honestly: and I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I think it’s stupid to care too much about celebrities (no matter how cool they seem) and their political opinions. Like, yeah- maybe don’t give your money to outright Nazis and bigots? But ultimately all of these celebrities are born from, created for, and work within the same problematic frameworks of patriarchy and capitalism as all of the terrible politics that come from them. You can tell a lot of artists are simply trying to get their bag doing something cool in a system that forces us to monetize ourselves. Cool. They still shouldn’t be a role model for more than personal style or aesthetic and poetic vibes.

With all that said, my honest read of the situation is that this is mostly just a smear campaign against Anhedönia. The timing is not subtle: literally a few days after she releases her latest synth-pop odyssey of a single Fuck Me Eyes. It’s a gorgeous, 6 minute piece of dreamy synth-pop ode to the hyperfeminine women of the deep south, where Anhedönia is from. The track list for her soon to be forthcoming album, Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You, was finally released to much fan excitement. The general vibe on Cain was that she was cool, she was based, and many people were already eyeing her has the voice for the summer based on the forthcoming’s lead single Nettles and her rather funny and chill internet persona.

The timing also isn’t subtle when it comes to LGBT people and in particular trans women in relation to the public domain. Trans people are under huge threat particularly in the U.S. with day 1 Trump EO’s taking away many basic rights of recognition. Bans for transition for minors is federally upheld, so are the dissolving of protections for trans kids in sports. The ripple effects of this are far and wide with trans citizens unable to get accurate identification papers that legitimately threaten the ability to live freely and safely. Let alone the general air of transphobia everywhere, folks are afraid to leave their houses. You can’t post anything about a trans woman these days without at least some person belligerently calling her a man in the comments.

What’s funny is that because Cain’s fanbase was on the smaller side and somewhat insular, a lot of this escaped Cain throughout her debut album’s rollout. And despite the fact that she often played with taboo imagery and subject matter, the people who were drawn to her work were able to understand the purpose of such darkness. It’s disappointing but not surprising after this cancellation I have started seeing people openly misgender her in comments. Many of the direct claims call Anhedönia a ‘misogynist’ which seemingly purposefully mislabels her as an external perpetrator of- rather than a victim of. A lot of the accusations thrown against her are very clearly trumped-up charges that undeniably showcase the accuser’s transphobia.

for clarity: I do not believe Silas’ boyfriend was accused of problematic tweets but Silas herself was.

Despite the undeniably edgy language Anhedönia’s post is both 100% correct and ironically a very feminist statement.

I’m noticing a lack of willingness to engage with the art that Cain makes with good faith. And in risk of this becoming yet another Sabrina Carpenter Think Piece: in a way that actually reminds me a lot of the Sabrina Carpenter controversy. It even reminded me of some of Chappell Roan’s recent controversies too, particularly in reaction to her choice for recent guest-judge look on Drag Race. When it comes to art about taboo subject a lot of it is about how much the audience trusts the artist, and I think we’re seeing very low levels of trust from young music consumers these days. Particularly in the demographic of terminally online Gen Z women: aka the largest demographic consumers of pop music. In a sense I can understand why too, as I am the millionth to note that it’s all an indicator of conservativism on the rise in mainstream American culture. But I think there’s something more specific about this recent flavor of feminism than just ‘conservativism’.

The teens seem to very clearly be reacting to the backlash against the millennial, girl-bossing, ‘adulting’ womanhood they saw boomers hating on growing up. I am very much of said millennial woman ilk and participated heavy in the reclamation and reframing of teen girl media, sex positivity, classic SJW politics etc. And look, we had wins and losses and despite most of the core tenants of sex-positivity and pro-sex work feminism being undeniably correct and net-positives; some of the talking points also got co-opted by patriarchy in the worst ways. In ways that undeniably ended up really hurting young women, specifically. It’s been a bizarre blender of influences: blaming sex-positivity, anti-LBGT groomer libel, backlash against feminism in all forms besides an insidious sect of anti-Trans extremism (that newsflash- isn’t really feminism at all!) Media has gone for being visually diverse to publicly rolling these changes back.

It’s created a particularly confusing generation of young women who are simultaneously unforgiving and antagonistic to trans women, while feeling ‘betrayed’ by Clairo and Billie Eilish for dating men. Like what’s with all these close-minded and prudish young gays? They literally utilize the most lazy and stereotypical transphobia and misogyny to attack the queer women celebrities that upset them. It’s this bizarre dissonance that is so obvious to the rest of us with fully formed frontal cortexes that it actually becomes comical the way they levy prejudice in the name of social justice. It’s a really insidious mind-fuck conservatives have played: young women mistaking their own internalized misogyny for activism. Instead of correctly identifying men in power as the targets of their fear, anger and immobility, they punch down on often queer (or otherwise marginalized) women in publicly facing positions. It’s easier to attack a trans woman, after all, everyone else already is.

And honestly, thinking about it like that makes it make sense why Hayden took the time to write out her explanations to some of these confused young women, and earnestly share about her history with abuse, misogyny and sexual assault- perhaps in hopes some of them will really read it, and understand her experience as a victim of patriarchy and her art a reaction to it. It’s particularly graceful when you consider Anhedönia also details the death threats, doxxing and routine harassment she and her loved ones have experienced because of this.

The TLDR of this can be summed up by this tweet actually. And tbh, if her bf ends up legitimately sucking and she still stands by him then I find that questionable too, but cancelling Ethel Cain for having an edgy aesthetic is like cancelling a frog for being green. Unfortunately, I think Cain’s latest song is undeniably song of the summer. It’s about a certain brand of hyper-femininity and the nexus of power and powerlessness it inhabits.

“She goes to church straight from the clubs/
Thеy say she looks just like her momma bеfore the drugs/
She just laughs and says, ‘I know, she really taught me well/
she's no good at raising children, but she's good at raising Hell’"

It’s a portrait of a stereotypical woman who imperfectly performs her expectations, of women who flaunt their femininity to distract from that fact that she might not even fulfill the most basic tenant of conservative womanhood like childrearing or being chaste. Cain both identifies with and envies the women of Fuck Me Eyes:

“I'll never blame her, I kinda hate her/
I'll never be that kind of angel/
I'll never be kind enough to me/
I'll never blame her for trying to make it,”

And instead of focusing on this thoughtful portraiture of womanhood; one that doesn’t shame or deny the hardships and ugly parts- the internet is attacking Cain for having those same ugly parts and hardships in her past. I guess my song of the summer contest ended kind of quickly coz I’m not sure what else fits the vibe for Summer ‘25 better than that: hypocrisy and misogyny.

*I edited the piece after some people pointed out that Hayden’s last name is actually Anhedönia and have written a follow-up after considering some comments I received:

More Ethel-cal Cain-sumption