Content warning: This review contains mentions of sexual abuse.
American singer-songwriter and record producer, Ethel Cain, released “Perverts” on Jan. 8, 2025. The album doesn’t ask for permission and is built on discomfort and patience. The echoing, ritualistic-sounding tracks create a haunting, disorienting feeling, and listening with headphones is a truly immersive experience. It’s a journey through fictional and personal experiences of sexual immorality, self-pleasure, and shame. Cain is unapologetic in her nonconformity, and will undoubtedly be one of the most influential artists of her generation. Although moving away from conventionality could isolate some of her fans — who may not understand the point or abstractness of her work — in the end, “Perverts” is her art, and therefore, her decision.
Cain’s 2022 album “Preacher’s Daughter” had similar themes of blame and past trauma. While much of “Preacher’s Daughter” is still chilling, including a track in which she screams the word “stop” repeatedly, at least two songs have more components of pop and indie music. The album’s shorter, faster, more melodic, and lyrical-based songs made it accessible to a wider audience and heavily popularized it on social media, especially TikTok.
Cain’s decision to leave this genre with “Perverts” was brave, and one that many artists would never consider due to the boundaries and limitations of the consumer-based music industry. Often, artists simply create what the widest possible audience wants to hear. Cain has let go of the pressure to create art for other people’s enjoyment by rejecting the box of capitalism. She has made something spine-chilling and ambient, and far less mainstream than her other releases.
High school junior Isa Halle, who attended Cain’s recent concert, reflects on this shift, saying, “The album is more left-field in terms of the general music industry.” Yet, she adds that she doesn’t enjoy it as much as some of her other releases. While many fans are glad she made this switch, others miss the familiarity of her more popular releases. This clear split in her fanbase highlights the riskiness of her decisions.
Cain’s music fits directly into the Southern Gothic aesthetic. The phrase “Southern Gothic” is most often used concerning literature, and according to Penguin Random House it is “something darker,” where “the deep south is a deeply weird and haunted place … [and] the grotesque imagery serves a higher purpose: challenging the reader to acknowledge the centuries of violence and oppression that underpin the bucolic landscape of the Southern romantic ideal.”
Cain grew up in the South as a trans woman and struggled greatly because of the way trans people are often denied their identity. Her music reflects this and critiques the romanticization of southern culture.
The opening track, “Perverts,” starts with Cain singing a hymn. This is ironic considering the profane contents of the rest of the song and album. There is then a long pause with continuous white noise. Cain repeats the word “masturbator” several times throughout the song, and the white noise continues. Because there is often a sense of shame surrounding self-pleasure in Christian culture, the religious hymns are juxtaposed against the mentions of masturbation, highlighting their contrast and setting the dark mood of the album.
“Punish” is one of two tracks that come from her original idea for the album, as she had planned for it to be a study on different perverts. In a Genius interview on Tumblr, Cain says, “‘Punish’ is about a pedophile who was shot by his victim’s father, and now lives in exile where he physically maims himself, to simulate the bullet wound to punish himself.” In the very first lyric, Cain sings, “Whatever’s wrong with me, I will take to bed.” This displays the idea that pedophilia is one of the most taboo topics, and it is met with abhorrence when spoken of. Cain explores how people who do horrific things are often exiled and ruled out as horrible people. The problems and harm they cause will never be prevented because they are forced to live in silence, feeling disgusted with themselves, and confused. In this song, the pedophile “takes these things to bed,” and then feels a constant shame for his actions that he will live with for the rest of his life. Cain encourages the listener to think about whether these cycles and punishment really address the root of the problem, or only create more issues.
“Vacillator” is a track that allows the listener to come up for air. It is a clearing within the dense forest of previous tracks. The track opens with a slow drum beat, emphasized by a long downbeat, creating anticipation. Cain’s angelic vocals then flow in, layering on top of each other. Layering is something she utilizes frequently because it creates a chorus effect, and paired with high amounts of reverb, it sounds like a church song, aligning with the Christian character of Ethel Cain. At the end of the song, Cain can be heard repeatedly singing, “If you love me, keep it to yourself.” This lyric relates to the title of the song “Vacillator,” meaning an indecisive person. Cain, or the character she is portraying in this song, is asking her partner to keep the love they have for her to themselves because she isn’t sure if she can accept it and return the same amount. Halle points out that the lyric also creates a stark contrast between “Vacillator” and most mainstream love songs because often they don’t explore these kinds of blunt themes.
Overall, “Perverts” is an experimental, angelic, rich, and desolate album, and a necessary change for the mainstream industry. Fans’ discontentment isn’t something she should concern herself with. Even if it does make some listeners uncomfortable, in the end, as the saying goes, “art should disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.” Ultimately, the work is hers, and she is making the deliberate decision to stay true to herself and her creativity.
