The FADER’s transgender charity covers compilation FADER & Friends Volume 1 is out now, available exclusively on Bandcamp until December 1, 2023. 100% of the proceeds go towards the Transgender Law Center, Mermaids, and Rainbow Railroad. Throughout the month of November, we’re speaking to the artists who contributed to the 44-song collection about the songs they covered.
Ethel Cain's "American Teenager" couldn't have come out at a better time. It was released in spring 2022, when the world was grasping for normalcy while dealing with the trauma of the pandemic. The American Dream hadn't been exposed as such a farce in a long time, and Cain's "anti-war, anti-patriotism fake pop song" became an anthem. For his cover version, Johan Lenox uses his talents as a pop arranger to boost the production into a palatial realm, his vocals smokey yet pleading, like we're hearing the entries from a waterlogged diary as its pages go up in flames.
Listen to the song below and buy the full album on Bandcamp. Scroll down to read Johan Lenox on the original song and their cover.
What's your first memory of this song?
I can't remember where I first heard "American Teenager," must've been a year ago at least, but I do know that when I was touring the US in February we were listening to this in our van every day. The nature of the track really works in that setting and the lyrics added a lot of meaning to the rural expanses we were traversing on these 10-hour drives.
Why did you decide to record it as your cover?
Covering songs is weird because unless you're picking a song that's already pretty imperfect it's unlikely you're going to beat what the original artist did with it. So much of what makes our favorite songs work comes from our relationship with the artist and understanding of how they arrived at that particular sentiment. I think knowing that the lyrics to this particular song were completely removed from my own life experience made it easier to not worry about that and just enjoy living inside of it musically.
What does this song/band mean to you personally?
I write and sing a lot about America so I think I connected to that aspect of this song, and I think the anti-war message is something we can all stand to be reminded of at this exact moment.
What's another song you'd love to cover and why?
I've always really wanted to do "Wind Beneath My Wings", the song made famous by Bette Midler.
