Strangers (Ethel Cain song)

"Strangers" is a song written, produced, and recorded by American singer-songwriter Ethel Cain for her debut studio album, Preacher's Daughter (2022). The last track on the record, it was released as its second single via her own record label, Daughters of Cain, on April 7, 2022. Influenced by grunge, it received praise from music critics for its affecting lines and its hair rock guitar solo. On "Strangers", she follows the narrative of the concept album centered on fictional characters; Cain concludes Preacher's Daughter with a cannibalistic climax.

Background and release
Ethel Cain began 2022 by announcing her debut studio album titled Preacher's Daughter, along with the release of the first single "Gibson Girl", on March 17. She also shared its track listing, in which "Strangers" appears as the last song. She stated that it is the second song that she wrote for the record, "without the intention that it would become the ending". About that topic, Cain continued: "Looking back, I can't imagine a more perfect resolution to this lineage. I think subconsciously, this song was always the end of the road. It's the realization that some things cannot be avoided, only accepted, and that just because it isn't a happy ending, doesn't mean it's a bad one. There is an ending in every beginning, and all things come back around in one strange way or another. You can't change your past, nor anyone else's, and the only real strength you have in this lifetime is your forgiveness."

On April 7, 2022, Cain released "Strangers" as the second single from the project.

Composition
With a "cannibalistic climax", it contains "haunting pianos", grunge guitars and "muddy sounds". The song was described as "unbearably sad" and "is built across some of the record's most affecting lines" ("When my mother sees me on the side / Of a milk carton in Winn-Dixie's dairy aisle / She'll cry and wait up for me"). In the narrative of the album, in the song the character is a "freezer bride" in her killer's basement and being cannibalised as she sends out one final message of love to her mother. The song ends with a "suprisingly [sic] fitting" hair rock guitar solo.