ethel cain - strangers

an analysis on strangers, no one asked, but i'm here to do it. i think it's an absolutely incredible song that is SO well written and captures the feeling of being in love with someone, but them not you. i'm not a poet but i did love english literature in school, so i'll try my best to analyse it in my own way and draw on references and feelings i associate with it. of course this isn't definitive or compared, but i just love the song so much. (the whole album follows a story of cannibalism which is a lot to summarise but i'm gonna analyse it without that in mind LOL.)

"in your basement, i grow cold, 

thinking back to what i was always told ,

"don't talk to strangers or you might fall in love"

in my eyes, ethel is at her lowest in the basement. usually a place for unwanted things and to keep things out of sight, her lover is treating her in that way and discarding her and she is left to just reflect on her relationship. the advice not to talk to strangers is given like a warning, like she knew this person would do this but now all she can do is sit in the dark, alone, processing what has become of her. also the fact she refers to the person still as a stranger, it's as if she grows cold she realises the person she lives is still a stranger to her. 

"freezer bride, your sweet divine
you devour like smoked bovine hide
how funny, I never considered myself tough"

freezer bride is a key lyric for me. it was the title of ethels' first tour and the art really images emily in the corpse bride for me. on the tour poster, she is rotted, lifeless and blue. much like emily, it's as if she died in love ready to marry, but resurrects trying to find the love they're entitled to, but the lover is not theirs. it's like their frozen in time and cannot move on from the love they once had. the link to divinity in the same line, is usually used to describe someone godlike, holy and pure. the divine is also non-tangible, so if you link back to the cannibal theme it's kind of like she's not living but her love is. it's like she has saved herself for her lover and presents herself like emily, beautiful, but dead. lol. the divine also relates to a devotion of sort, she wants to be adored and idolised by her lover. it's like being at the altar, frozen and awaiting someone to commit to their love. 

the smoked bovine hide is a bit i wanted to analyse alone. i know it's meant to relate to cannibalism, but my google search on it sent me down a rabbit hole of the benefits of bovine hide collagen. bovine hide itself comes from cows, bulls and other cattle of this type. i read a whole medical blog on the good effects of collagen and the fact bovine is rich in amino acids. these amino acid's promote wound healing, better cardiovascular functions and joint repair. if she really is dead, if we imagine the bovine hide was a collagen hide (lol), it is like he is repairing her but the devour verb suggests he is literally taking over her. all the benefits of the bovine hide literally repair her broken heart, her uncovered wounds, like i don't know if its a reach to suggest it's collagen but even if she didn't intend it i really like stretching so LMAO. 

sources

sorry there is no order to this, i'm unsure how to add annotations to blogger.

https://www.leatherneo.com/blogs/news-and-stories/everything-to-know-about-bovine-leather#:~:text=Bovine%20leather%20meaning,to%20the%20leather%20goods%20industry.

https://www.skinglocollagen.com/blog/marine-collagen-vs-bovine-collagen-everything-you-need-to-know/ 

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-horror-of-strangers-by-ethel-cain/