This comment helps explain the lore: Ethel Cain is from Shady Grove Alabama and is the daughter of Joseph (the preacher) and Vera. The album takes place in 1991 when Ethel is 20, and her dad died 10 years before the events of the album. The man she's singing about in House in Nebraska is named Willoughby Tucker, who was her highschool love (as she says in the song), but they broke up because of Ethel's actions/behavior. The house isn't actually in Nebraska, but an abandoned house that they would imagine was there. Hayden said that the song was inspired by an abandoned house she used to drive past off the highway south of Quitman, Georgia which she’d daydream about constantly. Western Nights is about another man named Logan Phelps, who is a criminal and in the lore later dies in a police shootout. Her father was also abusive to her, as shown in Family Tree and Hard Times. She then runs away to Texas where, in Thoroughfare, she meets Isaiah Abram. While it seems like a happy song, there's a missing poster Hayden made that says Ethel was last seen being forced into a black truck, so Ethel could be an unreliable narrator. Then in Gibson Girl, they've reached California and Isaiah has began pimping her out and giving her drugs. Ptolemaea is her hallucinating. August Underground and Televangelism is her dying (from being killed by Isaiah) and her soul going to heaven, respectively. Hayden has said they're kind of two parts of the same song, with AU being Ethel's physical death and TV being more of her spiritual death. Televangelism is also improvised! SBF is her reflecting on her life after she's died and thinking about how she still finds comfort in the church even though she hasn't had the best experience with it. And finally, in Stranger's, Isaiah eats a piece of her body which then poisons him. Then the slower part at the end is her talking to her mom :) Her next project is an EP of the b-sides of this album that will focus on Ethel's teenage years and her relationship with Willoughby:) one of the songs will be 20 mins. then her next two albums after that will focus on Ethel's mom, and then her paternal grandmother making it a trilogy. she also plans to write 3 books (of which she's currently writing the first) and make 3 movies. (This was a copy of a comment i saw somewhere else but cant remember the og so sorry creds to them!!)
Glad to return. I was overwhelmed by the length so I decided it would be easier to break into two parts. Part 2 will be here this week. I want to say tomorrow but I know myself. Miss you all!
The mattress is dirty in ‘House in Nebraska’ because the house isn’t actually in Nebraska, it’s an abandoned house, they just fantasized about the house being in another state
crying during the back half of house in nebraska is so real. the stripped down repetition of “i feel so alone out here….” is so heartbreaking lmao i get misty eyed just thinking about it.
When I first heard and read the line "Please don't love how I need you" I thought it was a misheard lyric cause I didn't think it made sense initially, but my interpretation now is that she means "Please don't take advantage of how much I need you", like she's worried that he knows the effect he has on her and would therefore ab*se his power over her, due to how dependent she is of him. At least that's one way you can interpret that line
Just finished the video and can't wait for part 2, ending on Hard Times hurts so bad 😭. I'm glad you've decided to look into the meanings of the songs, though! While I love hearing your interpretations, this album is just overflowing with so much storytelling that a lot of people don't pick up on first listen
The “The neighbor’s brother came home in a box, but he wanted to go so maybe it was his fault” line isn’t referring to unaliving yourself, but to him choosing to join the army and dying overseas. That’s what she meant by “Another red heart taken by the American dream.” It criticizes the blind faith many young Americans put in their country. edit: My bad, I saw you already caught it immediately after commenting 😅
i am SO happy to see you check out this album. everything about this project is so raw and real and even painful, but cathartic at the same time. it's alot! i don't know much about music but i know that ethel cain is someone very special. very excited to see part 2, i love your reactions and interpretations! thank you for the compassion and respect you give to the projects you check out.
SO excited to see ur reaction to this masterpiece of an album. So much story telling and hidden meaning its literally endless and beautiful and open to interpretation but also so well thought out and personal and detailed and clever. Amazing writing. She is a one of a kind talent for sure.
hey! love this video this is honestly one of my favorite albums of all time and love to hear ppl talking about it bc it’s super complex and dark but also so beautiful and well done
i’m really touched by this first half reaction! i feel like watching your videos i almost never feel the need to skip through because your analyses are so concise, compelling, and charismatic. excited for the next one and hoping your ring light feels less feisty next time.
Love your videos so much! I have some requests for you :) 1.) Shiver by Jónsi. Jónsi is the lead singer of an Icelandic post-rock band formed in ‘94 called Sigur Rós. They are known for their ethereal sounds and angelic vocals. On “Shiver” Jónsi partners with A.G. Cook (PC Music Founder , Charli XCX + SOPHIE collaborator) and creates one of the most immersive, personal, simultaneously freezing and blistering listening experiences I have ever had! 2.) Desire, I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek. I love your review of her album “Pang”. Where Pang feels like a fairy tale wrapped in winds and waters, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You feels like ancient myth encased in earth and fire. I recommend listening to the deluxe version as the additional tracks contain a lot of poetry / spoken word, and just generally expand the universe of this album. 3.) Fountain Baby by Amaarae. Amaarae is a Ghanaian-American singer-songwriter. She makes futuristic Afropop and is a sonic sorceress in her own right. This album is a lush, kaleidoscopic waterfall. The album is swirling with themes of passion, the dark and light sides of abundance, and the consequences of pining for glory. I love your videos and hope you have time to listen to these albums even if you’re not able to review them!
While I love this album, it is extremely heavy and hard to listen to, so I completely understand you taking breaks or splitting this up into two parts.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what Ethel means. As far as I'm aware 'to come home in a box' always means to die and be shipped back home. Soldiers dying in war seems the most obvious example. I thought it fits into the religious theme of the song because lots of Christian families and communities are all about 'Christian values' (pro life, etc.) but are simultaneously supportive of the military and are proud to "serve their country". Lots of young men get fed a glorified image of joining the military and then end up traumatised or come home in a box. And when I continued the video I realised Sher clearly thought the same. 😄
So happy to have you back!! I love your reactions to Lana Del Ray, please go back and react to Paradise and Born to Die; I think you’d really enjoy those! Thank you for all your content!
i’m not a complete expert on the albums lore but i’ve come to find out that house in Nebraska is a song portraying ethel cains first love, with it being pure and innocent. They found each other in their small, tight-nit, religious town and only could find understanding and solace within one another. on the edge of their town they found an abandoned building that they would turn into their escape. (hence the dirty mattress) they pretended that it was a house far away from their hometown in the middle of nebraska. they dreamt that once they grew older they’d turn this dream into a reality but it never happened. it hurts more knowing that the “house in nebraska” was only ever a concept that two lovers used to cope and it hurts even more to know that ethel cain still considers it home even though it was never real.
I personally think the line about the soldier in AT could go either way tbh, in the sense of it being a callous dismissal of a veteran’s suicide due to ptsd, reflecting how mental health issues like depression is stigmatized as a product of laziness or weakness, that those who do struggle with trauma like Ethel or the veteran are expected to just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and simply work harder to overcome their hardships.
Yay!! Please check out Stick Season by Noah Kahan, it’s an amazing body of work!!! It’s discussion around mental health and post-pandemic world is unreal.
This whole album should be played as one long music video. I know Beyoncé and Lana did this with Lemonade and Tropico but…. There truly is nothing like this. There’s something about early 90’s satanic panic in the gothic deep south tying religion and reality and intertwining good vs evil. This whole album is a story. A very dark, story.
