"American Teenager" is a song by American singer-songwriter Ethel Cain, released on April 21, 2022, as the third and final single from her debut studio album, Preacher's Daughter (2022). She produced the song and wrote it with Steven Mark Colyer. A heartland rock and indie folk track with beaming guitars, it illuminates both nostalgia for teenage life in the South and disillusionment with the American Dream. A self-directed music video for the song was published on July 21, 2022, three months after its release.
| "American Teenager" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Ethel Cain | ||||
| from the album Preacher's Daughter | ||||
| Released | April 21, 2022 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:18 | |||
| Label | Daughters of Cain | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Ethel Cain | |||
| Ethel Cain singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "American Teenager" on YouTube | ||||
Upon release, "American Teenager" received widespread praise from music critics, several of whom identified it as a standout on the album, and multiple publications included it in their list of the best songs of the year. The track also featured on Rolling Stone and Billboard's 2023 lists of the best LGBTQ songs of all time. Cain performed "American Teenager" at several festivals and included it in the set lists of the Freezer Bride Tour (2022) and the Blood Stained Blonde Tour (2023).
Composition
"American Teenager" is a heartland rock[1][2] and indie folk song[3] with elements of country rock[4] and ambient pop.[5] Its sound has been compared by The Guardian to the works of Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.[2] The song's lyrics contains references to American military interventions ("the neighbor’s brother came home in a box / but he wanted to go so maybe it was his fault"),[6] alcoholism, ("head full of whiskey but I always deliver"),[7] NASCAR, ("I do it for my daddy and I do it for Dale")[8] and inter-generational trauma.[9][10]
On making a song with a more mainstream sound than the rest of her discography, Cain described herself as "scared that if I made pop music, I wouldn’t be taken seriously for the non-pop songs," but later felt as if she was "getting to the point where I don’t care."[11] She explained the song as being critical of expectations placed on American youth, writing that "what they don’t tell you is that you need your neighbour more than your country needs you."[12]
Music video
The self-directed and self-edited music video for "American Teenager" was shot in Cain's hometown of Perry, Florida.[13][14] Cain wore her mother's cheerleading uniform to the town's high school football field, shooting the video on the same camera used for the "God's Country" music video.[15] She stated that she felt correct to play in her mother's "footsteps" on the video clip, after looking at old pictures of her inspired the writing of the song.[16] The video pays homage to the midwest emo band American Football, and contains footage of the September 11 attacks.[17]
Critical reception
"American Teenager" received universal acclaim from music critics. While naming it one of the best songs of 2022, Pitchfork's writer Nadine Smith praised the song's "marginal vibrations and layered sensations", and called it a "pop anthem".[18] Mitch Mosk of Atwood Magazine described the song as "inspiring, hopeful, and unavoidably sad, an irresistible anthem of inner fracture and all-American angst".[19] In July 2022, Paste named "American Teenager" the best song of the year so far, with contributor Jacqueline Codiga describing it as "a deeply felt portrait of a doomed, yet hopeful character" and writing that it "has the stadium-sized scale, relatability and ambition to become the biggest song in the entire country".[20]
The song also has been listed by Insider and Rolling Stone as one of the best songs of 2022, with the former calling it "the crown jewel of [Preacher's Daughter]",[21] and the latter writing that it "captures the disillusionment of growing up fooled by the specters of Christianity and patriotism".[22] Rolling Stone included it on its list of the most inspirational LGBTQ songs of all time.[23] While reviewing Preacher's Daughter, Oshen Douglas McCormick of Clash highlighted "American Teenager" as a "clear" standout on the album.[24]
It was listed as one of former President of the United States Barack Obama's favorite songs of 2022, which prompted surprise from Cain and the media due to the song's anti-war message.[25] The song was included on the pre-show playlist for Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour. [26] In 2023, the staff of Billboard named it as one of the best LGBTQ anthems of all time, while describing it as "earnest yet jaded, familiar yet fresh", and drawing comparisons to Irish rock band the Cranberries.[27]
Live performances and cover versions
Cain performed live "American Teenager" at several festivals, including the Pitchfork Music Festival, Coachella,[28] and Primavera Sound.[29] She also included it in the set list of her first two concerts tours, the Freezer Bride Tour in 2022,[30] and the Blood Stained Blonde Tour in 2023.[31]
On January 19, 2024, American singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams covered "American Teenager" at the Sydney concert of her Good Riddance Tour.[32] In the following month, the artist recorded a cover version of the song for Australian radio station Triple J. Following its release, she showed admiration for Cain, described the song as amazing and stated that she is a "fan of her writing" and "listen to her music all the time — in the shower, driving, crying — and so any excuse to do it in a more proper setting".[33]
Credits
- Ethel Cain – production, songwriter
- Steven Mark Colyer – songwriter