Musician Ethel Cain is set to release new project, "Punish" on November 1 according to Pop Base via X

Question

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on October 12, 2024, internet-based pop culture news source Pop Base announced that musician Ethel Cain is set to release her upcoming project, "Punish" on November 1. To my knowledge, no sources were listed as to where Pop Base located this information. I also am unable to locate any official communication from Ethel Cain (real name Hayden Anhedonia) or an affiliated marketing entity that her upcoming project will be titled "Punish" or that it has been given a public release date.

Answer 1

As an Ethel Cain fan myself, I am pretty interested in this, and taking a look at the History of Pop-Base they are a fairly well respected news distrubuter, as reported by Vox "It slowly became a trusted name for pop culture fanatics, breaking exclusive reports about the dissolution of the pop girl group Fifth Harmony" (https://www.vox.com/politics/23827432/pop-crave-pop-base-politics-election-2024-trump-biden-indictment) and is now in contact with record labels and musicans, leading me to beleive that it would not be surpising if she reached out to gain hype for her new album. She has also been more active on her social platforms then normal, such as youtube in which she has been fairly active. (https://www.youtube.com/@mothercain/videos) These could also be seen as trying to get more viewers and hype for an upcoming album. However, ethel cain is also known for creating lore for her character, even having articles report her as missing (A footnote in this article https://www.teethmag.net/thoughts-and-prayers-for-ethel-cain/), these type of stunts pertaining to her character are fairly common, saying Ethel Cain (Referring to the character) is dead, (https://ucsdguardian.org/2022/10/03/the-death-of-ethel-cain/ and (https://www.thefader.com/2022/05/26/the-life-and-death-of-ethel-cain) which makes me think why Hayden would continue the moniker/character of Ethel Cain, however she could be keeping it due to fan recognition and consolidation of streaming. Therefore, I think this claim is most likely true.

Comments

Also, Ethel Cain is typically very secretive and enjoys surprising fans, which is what led me to think the claim is true.

Answer 2

While I can't confirm the date, it seems that her releasing new music soon is correct. Similarly to many other artists in the past 10 or so years, Ethel has wiped her instagram clean of posts and has started posting new content all of similar style and aesthetic starting Oct 1, 2024 (https://www.instagram.com/mothercain/). Artists like Taylor Swift or Radiohead have done this before to signify the beginning of a new era, followed closely by the release of a new album (https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/musicians-deleting-instagram-photos). Also, Coup de Main magazine, a publication that focuses on zines, interviews, and news about pop culture, wrote a short article suggesting that Ethel has been teasing new music since April (https://www.coupdemainmagazine.com/ethel-cain/19673). Again, not sure of the validity of Pop Base's proposed release date, but it does seem like new music is coming.

Comments

Your factcheck is very thourough and you found good sources to back up your claim. You included history about Ethel Cain's past and compared to other artists as well.