FEATURE:
From a House in Nebraska…
IN THIS PHOTO: Ethel Cain
Why Ethel Cain’s Social Media Experiences Should Give Pause to Music Fans Around the World
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IT can be risky…
PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Gouw/Pexels
for any artist being on social media. Whether it is Twitter, Threads, Instagram or any other platform, they are followed by a huge and anonymous number of people that have this very direct and unfiltered access to an artist’s accounts. Many of the accounts from bigger artists are run by a team. You do have artists who look after their own accounts. Whilst most of the feedback and comments are kind, there is a lot of toxicity and dangerous remarks - as pretty much anyone can follow any artist. Many have quit social media or pulled back because their fans’ comments have taken a toll. Either that or it is too much having to maintain the accounts and keep the career going. One wonderful artist everyone should know is Ethel Cain. Florida-born Hayden Anhedönia is a hugely inspiring and incredible transgender artist whose 2022 album, Preacher's Daughter, was one of the best of that year. She is someone who has been on social media for a while. Someone who interacted with fans and reacted to memes, videos and posts. That has changed slightly. Feeling that she is more a performing monkey, The Guardian highlighted her relationship and changing interaction with social media platforms during a recent interview (as Ethel Cain is touring the U.K. next month):
“Part of Anhedönia’s popularity – she has nearly 300,000 Instagram followers, and was the face of recent Givenchy, Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs campaigns – can be attributed to the fact that she is extremely internet literate, and became known online for a sharp Twitter feed on which she participated in jokes and memes about her public image. It soon began to feel as if she was “a dancing monkey in a circus. It’s very like, ‘Oh, she’s so funny on Twitter, she’s so relatable’ and then it becomes this big weird joke cycle,” she says. Although she stresses that she loves the support and adoration of her fans, she says it can become demoralising to not have her art met on the level she’d like it to be: “Don’t get me wrong, laughter and memes and jokes are always really fun. But when you want to post something to be consumed seriously, people are still joking – and then you get like, thousands of comments that are like, ‘silly goose’. All of a sudden, you start to feel like you can’t turn off the memeable internet personality thing.”
IN THIS PHOTO: Ethel Cain on stage at Coachella 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Enoch Chuang
Live, Anhedönia is a captivating, remarkable performer: during a show at the London club Omeara last year, you could hear a pin drop as she shepherded an audience of thrilled young fans through her largely hushed setlist. But at concerts, Anhedönia will sometimes be trying to perform her quietest, most intimate songs, only to have people yell jokes at her, breaking the spell. “I had a show recently where I was singing the really quiet intro to Sun Bleached Flies,” she recalls. “I went to hold [a fan’s] hand and they began sort of screaming, ‘I didn’t even know who you were two weeks ago, I found you through a meme on TikTok.’ It’s almost like heckling. I don’t think any of them are mean spirited, but it’s a little jarring.”
Earlier this month, she deleted her Twitter, leaving fans aghast. “I always kind of conflated openness with honesty and I thought that if I was completely transparent and bared every aspect of my soul that people would think I was relatable and kinda cool,” she says. “Then I was like, I don’t want to know you. I don’t want to be friends with you. I don’t want to have all of my personal business and every innermost thought just out there on the internet for the world to see.”
Another part of the reason Anhedönia pulled back from social media was the way that her fans began to demand access not just to her, but to her friends and family. “I really had no idea the full nature of [my success] until I had those closest to me kind of half-joking, half actually kind of complaining, being like: ‘People are DMing me and asking me questions about you and trying to become my friend only to find out months later that they’re really just trying to get to you through me,’” she says. “I always thought that success would exist in a vacuum for me but it did start to affect my family. And my closest friends and even just acquaintances of mine. I’m not Britney Spears, but it was noticeable for them and it created a really weird dynamic between us for a while.”
Part of the problem, Anhedönia thinks, is the fact that she is often classed as a pop artist, and therefore becomes part of the stan economy, wherein teens treat female artists “like fantasy football teams”, arguing “about streams and stats and followers and almost using them as like Pokémon to fight each other”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor)/PHOTO CREDIT: Suzie Howell for The New York Times
It made me think about other artists who have deleted Twitter or spend less time there. From Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor) to Nadine Shah, there are great artists who, for various reasons, spend less time on there or have let their team run their accounts. Maybe Instagram seems like a slightly safer space, it is that vulnerability and enormous weight that means it is overwhelming. Negative comments can have a devastating impact on mental health. From sexism to sexual harassment to insults and hateful remarks, too many artists have to detach from their fans this way because you cannot filter and block out that negativity – unless you read the comments and then block that user. Fans wanting more access and invading the private lives of artists’ families is scary! You do wonder how many other artists have to face this sort of thing. It is sad that Ethel Cain has had to take the step of deleting her Twitter account – though you feel like it might be the best move. It is such a shame too. If you get rid of accounts, it potentially deprives people of news and updates about an artist you love or may not yet know. But, at the end of the day, the health and wellbeing of the artist is paramount. There are Ethel Cain update and news sites, so the fans have that resource. I think it is important that everyone in the music industry should be able to post on social media without having to process a lot of bullying, negativity or unrealistic demands. Being allowed limits and not having to show too much of themselves and give too much away.
IN THIS PHOTO: Nadine Shah/PHOTO CREDIT: Fraser Taylor
Stories like the one Cain has shared should give pause to music fans around the world. Think about that dialogue and interaction you have with artists. There is that hard balancing act. Do artists need to post all of the time and give too much away? By sharing personal details and updates, it strips away mystery and can feel far too open and revealing. If they just stick to updates and sharing news, many will accuse them of not interacting with fans or being boring. If they delete social media accounts, that can also have a big impact. It is an impossible situation! Even smaller artists have that conflict between creating this almost friend-like and warm nature with fans, but they are also susceptible to people they have never met stomping their privacy, asking too much of them, or even asking about their families. Whether they are posting from a house in Nebraska, and office in London, or somewhere in Australia, you feel like it is impossible to balance, navigate and create a healthy relationship with fans that has boundaries. It is a shame that Ethel Cain has deleted her Twitter account. I know other artists will be in a similar position. I can appreciate fans have this direct contact and might want to know more about an artist, but they have to realise what effect that has. It can be really shocking, pressurising and uncomfortable when there are so many people wanting so much. Let’s hope that Ethel Cain’s words and testimony opens music fans’ eyes across the world. The privacy, wellbeing and mental health of artists should be…
THE main priority!