I feel like you unintentionally broke up this album reaction in the best way! To me, Thoroughfare always felt like the beginning of “act 2” of the album. Also your reaction to Gibson Girl was everything 💀💀💀

here’s the lore i mentioned last video in case you need it :) The singer’s real name is Hayden Anhedönia. 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 in a house fire. Family Tree (Intro) sets up the themes of the album and American Teenager is a fake pop song that’s about her frustration with the ideal American teenager and the American dream that are both impossible to achieve. The guitar at the end is also sampled from Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey. The man she’s singing about in House in Nebraska is named Willoughby Tucker, who was her highschool sweetheart (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. 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. Ptolemaea is a region of the ninth circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. Named after Ptolemy who killed his father in law and sons after inviting them over for a banquet, which connects the betrayal of them to the Isaiah betraying Ethel. 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! Sun Bleached Flies 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 Strangers, Isaiah has some kind of mental break and 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 :). 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, called Diary of a Preacher’s Daughter) and make 3 movies red

The first song I heard from this artist was Ptolamea on a KZfaq black hole. I was hooked instantly. That song is definitely Doom Metal at its finest. So I listened to the rest of the album and was blown away as she ripped through multiple genres like they were playthings. I'm a 44 year old death metal guy, can't stand modern pop and I loved this album. Inbred was also good, but her mastery of her craft was on full display in this album. It's a bit early and it sounds cliche, but she may turn out to be this generation's Pink Floyd.

my favorite interpretation of ptolomaea for the voice she hears while hallucinating is that she believes that she is either speaking to death personified or god, “i was there in the dark when you spilled your first blood,” “each and every one come to known their god through some senseless act of violence,” and “i am no good nor evil, simply i am, and i have come to take what is mine” specifically indicate some figure of this sort, and talking about her running away and hiding from this voice as she attempts to escape isaiah when he ends up being the one to kill her paired with the line, “promised to me by a man who can only feel hatred and contempt towards you,” being promised to death by isaiah, who had kidnapped and drugged ethel, being killed by him, this could implicate that she believes that she is speaking to death personified, but also it could be god, maybe to fit the theme of the album, and the way its said in a prayer, and the biblical references throughout the song, but eitherway its my absolute favorite song, truly a chilling experience

Loved this reaction💙 Ptolemaea is a horror movie in a song, it always makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

the gibson girl reaction is so real. it’s such a tonal shift from thoroughfare and it’s such a TEXTURED song it always makes me feel like my skull is rattling.

Strangers always makes me cry , thank you for this reaction to a beautiful and painful album🖤🖤

The outro of Strangers tears my heart apart every sinlge time I listen to it. Thank you for this reaction 🧡

The last few lines of strangers allways break me 😭

putting on your makeup while listening to this album is so brave of you omfg, especially when looking up the meanings 😭😭 girl you are stronger than me, this album makes me ugly sob

If you want a less scary dive into Dante’s Inferno than Ptolomea, I HIGHLY recommend Hozier’s newest album Unreal Unearth! It’s so beautiful and would definitely be up your alley. That man can do absolutely no wrong in my eyes

I love this reaction so much this album truly changed my life I have never EVER had reactions this strong from a album until I listened to preachers daughter Ethel is literally a genius in so many ways

you should listen to golden age and inbred by her, those two albums by her are so good too!

We wanted it good, downright iconic, and Mother Cain delivered - a masterclass in story-telling and musicianship. A superb reaction, thank you 😊

“Free” 😭

love love love your reactions to this album, one of my favorite albums ever❤

Hey! First, I loved your reaction to this album. Second, I love that lip color.

“oh yeah cause she ran away” yes…but-

Ela coringando ouvindo o álbummmm kkkkkk mt eu

This album is like a horror movie 😭

omgg if you rlly liked this album id suggest reacting to nicole dollanganger, shes actually good friends with ethel and has a similar vibe, i hate how unrecognised she is given that ethel was inspired by her!! if you do id suggest natural born losers as the album to start with, its her best one imo!!

Out of context but are you italian American? I just read the surname. Hi from Italy❤