Ethel Cain and Lana Del Rey need to ‘work it out on the remix’

By Clara Ding and Shriyaa Madan Gopal

Two ‘southern-gothic’ divas possessing an Americana aesthetic and excellent spread of music; Ethel Cain and Lana Del Rey. I feel we are enabled to speak for many that this ‘beef’ was incredibly unexpected and distasteful to react to as close friends and as an Ethel Cain superfan and a Lana Del Rey supporter. What was supposedly a harmless tweet and a multitude of unproven rumours that spiralled into a diss track - Ethel Cain hated my instagram post/Think it’s cute reenacting my Chicago pose - fanbases at each other's throats, and the normalisation of transphobia, body shaming, and pitting women against each other, enforced during this current social climate. 

Pov of an Ethel Cain fan - Clara

Ethel Cain holds such great significance to me I often cannot describe this fixation in words, I cannot even fathom to understand the extent to which I admire her so (this 4 year obsession IS that bad). So, the recent cancellation of Ethel Cain bewildered me -  especially as a young, radically woke and poc (person of colour) Ethel Cain fan/Daughter of Cain, and her statement truly broke my heart. But, just after her cancellation, Lana Del Rey’s diss track came adrift upon my social media algorithm and I was genuinely fed up. I don’t believe I even engaged in this new ‘beef’ until I noticed Lana’s fanbase making unwarranted attacks on Hayden’s (Ethel’s) identity - as a transgender woman - that disparaged her name and illuminated the backtrack on progression we as women have fought for throughout countless decades. One illuminating factor I drew from this sequence of events (and the least opinionated/biased way I can formulate a conclusion on this) and its intense ramifications was primarily one-sided attacking of Hayden and her fanbase. And this was a result of publicising ‘beef’ that should be handled privately. I hope it is not problematic that I express my distaste towards a portion of Lana’s fanbase - those that glorify that whole ‘coquette’ aesthetic, eating disorders, underage smoking and abusive relationships that resemble the film ‘Lolita’. Not to mention, how contradictory and disrespectfully the fanbase treated Lana in 2020, I find this to be the root of the issue. To conclude, I believe both Hayden and Lana are extremely talented women that must fight against an industry that is permeated by sexism. Ethel Cain has truly made an impact on my life and the way I perceive the world and irrational beef like this will not change that. Every second of the ‘Willoughby Tucker I’ll Always Love You’ tour will stick with me for life. 

Concert photo - from Ethel Cain’s ‘Willoughby Tucker I’ll Always Love You’ tour - to lighten up the mood 

Pov of Lana Del Rey fan - Shriyaa 

As someone who was a devout Lana fan for a long period of time, I will say that I am slowly floating away and disassociating myself from her fandom for the toxicity and hatefulness they produce in the name of partaking in Lana Del Rey’s ‘Coquette Americana aesthetic’. In fact, I hadn’t even heard about this so-called ‘beef’ between these two artists until people in school mentioned it to me. I didn’t believe it to be a relevant issue in pop culture until I saw hateful comments from both parties' fandom's directed towards the artists. From my knowledge, the dispute between the two started from Instagram stories and comments believed to be ‘disses’ posted by each artist towards the other. Each of the fandoms blew the whole thing entirely out of proportion by getting too involved and sending transphobic comments regarding Ethel Cain and bodyshaming Lana Del Rey, which I think added fuel to the fire. For the sake of ‘defending their fave’, I am truly shocked at the levels people would stoop to and I think people need to step away from social media and realise the damage that these comments can cause. 

In my opinion, and also according to online discourse I have seen; due to their backgrounds and type of music both artists produce, Ethel Cain has been constantly compared to Lana Del Rey throughout her music career and she has been very open about her distaste towards these comments. This may have fueled the alleged body shaming caricatures that Ethel Cain posted side by side comparing them to Lana Del Rey. Both artists are known to be very problematic and also in the same genre of music, so it was only a matter of time before some sort of dispute would happen. And yet, I think the main takeaway of this whole argument is that some people are prioritising being a fan first over being a decent human being, and should stop pitting the two against each other. Once again, Lana and Ethel, everyone's two favourite southern girls, are extremely talented women and they should definitely have a ‘Girl, so confusing’ moment and work it out on the remix. Perchance at the waffle house?

                                                  Credits: mothercain instagram story 

Conclusion

I hope we can all agree this ‘beef’ is more comical than ever until unnecessary transphobic and body-shaming comments came into play. Ultimately, Lana Del Rey and Ethel Cain just need to work it out on the remix (expect another article if this does somehow happen).