Ethel Cain, I'll Always Love You — Spambler '26

Ethel Cain is an artist near and dear to my heart, and thus I’ve decided to spread the word. I stumbled upon her hit song “American Teenager” last year and never looked back. She truly has a song for every mood, and every song has such a unique atmosphere. I could listen to an upbeat pop song one minute, and the next, I’m listening to someone's distorted voice whispering “I love you” over the sound of AC for eight minutes. Listening to Ethel Cain is truly transformational. Before, I listened to basic music for the feeble-hearted and foolish, and now I look back at my old playlists and think, “What was I even doing with my life?” 

My favorite thing to do as a newfound fan is to say my favorite song is “Housofpychoticwomn” when really it’s her most popular song, “Crush.” Or screaming along to “Ptolemeae” on the ride home from school. Sometimes I practice my guttural screams at stop signs just in case I ever end up in a corn field! I spend hours of my life finding her unreleased songs, just to play them in the car and ask, “Why aren’t you singing along?” and “You’ve never heard ‘Verona’ or ‘The God?’” 

There's no better feeling than “Head In The Wall” playing in the car because I swear, the last three minutes are hype, you just have to give it time, and yes, 2010s house music and Ethel Cain do fit the same vibe, you just don’t get it.

Did I mention the lore between Preacher's Daughter and Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You? Each lyric is so deeply personal to the character, effortlessly thrusting the character arc onwards. Sure, the end is sad, but what story doesn’t have a delightfully bittersweet ending? Such as “Strangers,” where in the end Ethel is heard comforting her mother from heaven after her death, or in “Tempest,” where Willoughby may or may not be killed by the storm. 

Either way, Ethel Cain has changed my life in a way no other cain. Some call me crazy, but I was crazy before. If anything, I’m crazy in an Ethical cain vinyl way, not an “I look so cute” way. If I had to say anything before my unlawful departure, maybe crack open the wishing well that is Preacher’s Daughter or dip your toes into the lake of Willoughby Tucker I’ll Always Love You. Relish in “Mondays” and sing along to the evangelical sounds of “Sun Bleached Flies.” Well, I’ve kept you long enough, and thus a potato in a wig and a cowboy hat bids thee a farewell!