Willoughby Tucker I will Always Love you
By:Ethel Cain / Released: 8/8/25
My Opinion
this album is so good i cried hard listen to it, I have such a strong connection to this.. as my willoughby tucker is also gone. sobs, Me and ethel cain ( the character not the artist) have so much in common. This album is so so so so beautiful, every song is amazing. it's slow, loving, sad, depressing. It's like after an argument with your lover, staring out of the window as the rain pours, thinking about nothing but how it would be better if you could understand them better. You're too lethargic to pick up the bottle or lighter, so you're just standing there watching the trees move, alone. Although I do understand Willoughby's side of everything, unfortunantly I will always be Ethel. I am way too involved with this story line so after this will contain spoilers of the story, my interpretation, and my (horrible) experience with love.
The song janie is about ethel's best (and only) friend, who gets a boyfriend. Ethel is a very inseure girl that can't let go. she's scared that her friend's going to leave her, and at the end she tells Janie that if she doesn't want her anymore to just leave. At the same time, ethel is longing for her still, that the least Janie could do is to come visit her sometimes. Then ending the song telling Janie's boyfriend "I know she's your girl now / but she was my girl first / She was my girl first " I understand that ethel is supposed to act more mature for her age but for me I cant help but sympathise with her. I was never friends with anybody, I only had one friend. Her moving away from me was devastating to me, Mariah please move back i miss you (╥﹏╥)
Next song is an Instrumental, Willoughby's Theme. I think this is the beginning of their relationship, at first its a piano then a guitar enters, which I interpret it as Willoughby entering Ethels life. Like a strong masculine presence that comforts her.
Fuck me eyes is a song about Holly Reddick, a girl in Ethel and Willougby's highschool. half of the lyrics are rumors Ethel heard. Ethel is jealous of her, she thinks that Holly has a crush on willoughby, making her jealous and insecure even more. But instead of doing anything she just sits and dwells on her jealousy. Holly fucks randoms in Holiday Inn, her moms a druggie and her father tries to contain her..to no avail. One thing that stood out to me is when it says "Nowhere to go, she's just along for the ride / She's Scared of nothing but the passenger's side/ of some old man's truck in the dark parking lot / She's just tryna feel good ight now / They wanna take her out / but no one ever wants to take her home" In a way I can relate to this, I feel like shes looking for attention through sex, trying to feel loved through selling herself. She doesnt necessarily hates sex but she wants to feel loved without having to fuck. "
She's got the radio blasting with her big white smile /
Pretty baby with the miles /
And when she leaves, they never see her wiping her fuck me eyes " I might be biased because thats what I went through but I feel like she makes herself look more than she is, but inside shes still the young girl begging for her mom to stop getting high and play with her.
NETTLES OH MY GOD SCREAAMIONG this song is litterally me btw. It's about the beginning stages of Ethel and Willoughby's relationship. she's scared of losing him, imagining his death and all the ways he could potentially leave. Just wishing for the day they marry to come soon, that all their petty arguments wouldnt happen when they're together. That if they could only live together, far away from this small town, away from their family. She believes that her insecurities are too much, that somebody will have to suffer her, before being able to love her. She longs for that honeymoon phase, wanting that with willougby, forever. I had the same relationship with my ex girlfriend, we'd run away to the fields behind my house whenever omne (or both) of our family arguing. That when we would get older me and her would marry and move somewhere far far away from the small christian church we grew up with. I wanted to spend all my time with her, held close all the time, knowing that I'm half of her. I'd get anxious, crying asking her to never leave me, she would tell me not to worry, that one day we'd have a small house with her and me. She was always the more mature one, worrying that if we truely did marry that either our families would kick us out and not help us and how we were going to afford living together. But all of that worrying came to an end, when the doctors truley did only gave her until the end of the night. she passed away November 15th 2021. Time truley passes slower in the flicker of the hospital light. At the end, I did lay her down where the trees lay low, putting her down gently where the greenery stings.
I have no thoughts on willoughy's interlude besides the fact that it shot me 6 times in the right leg when I listened to it the first time
DUST BOWL AAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH tears coming out already. In the beginning it talks about Willoughby's love towards her, taking her virginity and just admiring her beauty and taking all of her in. Willoughby himself is, how I interpret, somebodyh that just wants his parents back. He just wants to be loved but since both of his parents are gone and emotionally unavailable it taught him at a young age that nobody truly loves him and cares enough to stay.Grew up hard, fell off harder / cooking our brains smoking that shit your daddy smoked in vietnam In some cases people who have endured child abuse come out stronger, better, and healed. However thats not what happened with Willoughby. He fell into drugs, hatred, and apathy. Like an endless cycle trapped in a curse that was put upon his family. The line between using love as an escape and true love, bleeds out like water color. They want eachother, not for eachother, but as an replacement for eachothers parents. Willougby is the protective dad that ethel never got. And Ethel is the emotionally available mother that Willoughby never had. I knew it was love / When I rode home crying / Thinking of you fucking other girls Only love can hurt you that much, making you cry at one single thought. For me, love never brought anything good to me. As soon as my partner makes me cry, I know I'm too far in. I wonder if Willoughby ever cried over their relationship. For me, I tend to wall up and become unavailable when hurt or in a situation that might hurt me, like love. But I dont tell my partners. anyways, for me honestly I've just accepted that I'm too sensative for love, that I get too hurt too fast, and my partner making me cry is normal at this point.
A Knock at the Door - I dont really like this song its fine but wtv..
Radio Towers - A tornado hits Shady Grove, those beeps sound like a heart monitor, as well as a tornado alarm. Also storms are Willougby's worst fear, i think what ethel does during this storm shows how shallow or deep she cares and understands willoughby
Tempest- So sad, so good, only song written from Willoughby's perspective. Ethel doesn't understand willoughby, she understand the image she has created of him. she's acting like a mother, suffocating willoughby with love. He wants to be independent, but ethel sees this as him rejecting her love, as hate. He begs and begs for ethel to stop holding him up to the standard Ethel sees him as, to see him as he really is. Does ethel love him for him, or for who she thinks he is? She tries real hard to do what she thinks what he needs. Not once asking or thinking about what he wants. Her love seems shallow to him, seems like the surface level attempt of love like his mother that eventually, left him. Eventually this argument makes Ethel leave, leaving him during the tornado that he's most scared of. Only after leaving Willoughby curled up on the couch when it all got too loud, did she start to feel regret. That is one of the biggest knife that could stab willoughby throughout their relationship. Maybe willoughby never told ethel what he really wanted till now, but he heavily implied it to her, wishing that maybe she would be able to pick up on it without him having to destroy the perfect brick wall that he put up to protect the vulnerable young boy inside. Or maybe Im just projecting.
waco texas - I never really understood this somng but a line that made me cry was "I've been picking name for our children / you've been wondering how you're gonna feed them / Love is not enough in this world / But I still believe in Nebraska Dreaming / cause I'd rather die / Than be anything but your girl"
1. Janie / 5:00
2. Willoughby's Theme / 4:44
3. Fuck Me Eyes / 6:05
4. Nettles / 8:04 ♡
5. Willoughby's Interlude
/ 7:27
6. Dust Bowl / 6:27 ♡
7. A Knock At The Door / 5:24
8. Radio Towers / 5:12 ♡
9. Tempest / 10:01 ♡
10. Waco, Texas / 15:16
Ultraviolence
By: Lana del Rey / Released: June 13th 2014
My Opinion
This is an amazing album, seriously, beautiful vocals and just overall one of my favourites. The story that she sings is one that I can really relate to. Ultraviolence, Shades of Cool, and Cruel world are all gorgeous songs that just makes you want more. This album has been released for 11 years, and still is very relevant. If you think you havent listened to it, you probably have, brooklyn baby, pretty when you cry, ultraviolence and the other woman are all very different, but somehow makes the album complete.