Latest news with #HaydenSilasAnhedönia

South China Morning Post

Meet Ethel Cain, the trans singer and model dubbed the ‘American gothic Lana Del Rey'

Just months after releasing an experimental album titled Perverts, Ethel Cain is back with new music. Her cult-favourite debut album, Preacher's Daughter, earned her a dedicated fan base and made several best-of-the-year lists in 2022. This week, she's putting out a prequel to the album, titled Willoughby Tucker, I Will Always Love You. Ethel Cain opening for Mitski on September 12, 2024. Photo: @ethelcaindaily/Instagram The lyrics to song Preacher's Daughter touch on intense themes including sexual violence and cannibalism, and the narrative ultimately culminates in Ethel Cain's 'death'. Advertisement Ahead of the release of Willoughby Tucker, the 27-year-old dropped lead single 'Nettles' and wrote on Instagram in June: 'I didn't even realise what story I was writing yet but I think subconsciously, because I knew how Preacher's Daughter was going to end, I wanted to go back in time to a moment of sweetness. I hope you enjoy the greenery; I love this song with all my heart.' Pitchfork has described the singer-songwriter as an 'American gothic Lana Del Rey', and she made the Forbes list of 30 under 30 in music last year. She's also a fashion model and was recently seen on the red carpet at the Dior Summer 2026 show in Paris. Here's what you need to know about the model and musician. Ethel Cain is not her real name Ethel Cain is the stage name of Hayden Silas Anhedönia. Photo: @ethelcaindaily/Instagram Ethel Cain's real name is Hayden Silas Anhedönia. The songwriter first put out music under the alias White Silas before adopting the moniker Ethel Cain around 2019, when she released the EP Golden Age. She told Nylon in 2021 that the story of Cain and Abel was her 'favourite Bible story growing up', and she was drawn to 'Ethel' because she wanted a name that was 'very 50s old lady'. 'I realised my heart was pulled the strongest to my roots, which is the intersection between my experiences in the heavily religious American South and my dreams of the wild and free American West,' she said of her alter ego in a 2020 Underground Underdogs interview. She says it's also influenced her own life in positive ways: 'I see Ethel Cain as a piece of me that I separate from myself and discard, so that I can make good decisions in life,' she told The Guardian recently. There are strong religious themes in her music Ethel Cain was raised Southern Baptist, which influenced her music. Photo: @dauntlesspromo/Instagram Cain grew up in a conservative Southern Baptist community in Florida, where her father was a deacon and her mother sang in the church choir, per Pitchfork. She was home-schooled and began taking piano lessons at the age of eight.