Ethel Cain, one of the breakout artists of 2022 thanks to her debut, ‘Preacher’s Daughter’ (2022), has gone to Tumblr to denounce the way in which her fans take everything she does “as a joke”, a problem that, According to her, it affects other artists from different disciplines. In his words, the world is experiencing an “epidemic of irony” that is allowing no one to take anything seriously anymore, much less a work of music.
In a now-deleted post, Ethel – whose real name is Hayden – argues that “nobody takes anything fucking seriously anymore” and laments that her fans “constantly” bombard her with “jokes” about her work. He gives an example: “I’ve lost count of the number of times people have said things to me like ‘you ate that like Isaiah ate Ethel'” (Cain is referring to the protagonist of his debut album and the cannibal love story she tells. the album; in English the expression “you ate that” could be translated as “you have had a snack”).
The author of ‘Crush’ indicates: «I like to laugh and I like funny things, but I think we are in an epidemic of irony. Sincerity has been lost and everything has to be a joke all the time. Not everyone does it, but so many people who interact with me online and in real life do it that it has become an impossible thing to escape. I feel like no matter what I say or do, someone will always take it as a joke. I feel like I complain all the time but the way many people interact with my work really causes me a lot of rejection. “It’s very frustrating.”
Hayden then alludes to the release of her upcoming album, ‘Perverts’: “I’m already stressed out imagining the stupid things I’m going to have to read about ‘Perverts.’ “It literally makes me want to never post anything again.”
In the last part of her post, Ethel says she misses the time when “I had like 20 fans and they all really had something interesting to say about what I was doing.” There are already many more fans who will hear the first single from ‘Perverts’, ‘Punish’, on November 1st.
And I completely agree with her pic.twitter.com/XmoxN0zfHd
— N. (@Bjork4president) October 19, 2024
