Hayden Silas Anhedönia (born March 24, 1998), known professionally as Ethel Cain, is an American singer-songwriter and artist born in Tallahassee, Florida and living in Enterprise, Alabama. In mid 2017, Cain began experimenting with writing, recording, and producing her own ethereal style Gregorian chant inspired music. After releasing various mixtapes and EPs to streaming, as well as sites like SoundCloud and Tumblr, she adopted a more alternative sound and began using the Ethel Cain moniker in mid 2019. Cain's music deals in nostalgic and Southern Gothic themes, such as poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, death, and transgenerational trauma. Her music has been associated with the ambient, alternative rock, and dream pop genres. Cain grew up in Taylor County, Florida. Born to a Southern Baptist family, her dad was a deacon and she was involved in choir from a young age. Aside from choir, Hayden also learned piano at a young age and joined musical theather, which sparked her interest for music. She left the church at the age of 16 after coming out as gay to her family at the age of 12. At her 20th birthday she publicly came out as a transgender woman. Cain finds inspiration from gospel music, country music, classic rock and alternative music.
