By Kai McMillian
“American Teenager” is a song by Ethel Cain off her second album, Preachers Daughter, released on May 12, 2022. This song is one of my favorite songs of all time. With its nostalgic melody, the angelic harmonies and singing, and its unique writing style, this song has the ability to make everyone feel the need to scream the lyrics even if it’s their first time listening to it. It evokes feelings of rebellion, playfulness, carelessness and happiness which are common themes in the American youth. Although this song makes you experience all these nice emotions and memories, the meaning of this song is not exactly that.
“American teenager” is a song that expresses how Ethel felt during her teenage years and frankly, what most of the teens who have listened to this song feels or have felt. The main part of this song touches on the expectations put on American teens and what the “American dream” is promising them as they grow up, which is that they can be anything they want to be and how it can fail the American youth. In an interview with Pitchfork, Cain said “Growing up I was surrounded by visions of Nascar, rock’n’roll, and being the one who would change everything. They make you think it’s all achievable and that if nothing else, you should at least die trying … I wrote this song as an expression of my frustration with all the things the ‘American Teenager’ is supposed to be but never had any real chance of becoming.”
Cain highlights that the American youth has become tired of all these ideals of success that are unrealistic and how teens have become defeated with the harsh reality of their goals and ambitions. It speaks on how societal pressures are placed heavy on the youth and can drive them to be at their limit and almost give up. It also touches on how important it is to have a community of people that you can connect with over similar goals and dreams. This song hits home for a lot of American teens, especially for teens that are just a few years or months away from graduating.
This song definitely gets a 10/10 from me as I have fallen in love with the melody, lyrics, meaning, and the feelings this song evokes in me. I also love this song because I personally can relate a lot to what it is talking about. It’s also the song I streamed the most on Spotify! If you are interested in more conceptual/experimental artists with deep meanings and stories behind their persona and/or albums, I definitely would recommend Ethel Cain. Listen to the song here: Youtube, Spotify
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