Crush (Ethel Cain song)

Cain wrote "Crush" in 20 minutes.^[9] It is a love song for a "bad boy" by "see[ing] some light in all the darkness", with allusions to addictions and gun violence present in the United States.^[9] According to Pitchfork, the lyrics of the track presents "an introspective and moody teenager fawning over a boy with a violent streak".^[10] Although it was labeled by Cain as experimental,^[11] "Crush" is closer to pop music than her usual alternative style.^[12] She talked about her "fear" of making pop music, saying that "once you make [the genre], your other genres won't be taken as seriously", but "she has worked to make the music she wants".^[12]

In a press release about the theme of the song, the artist said:

I really had no business at 16 having week-long relationships with random 23-year-old drifter students but at the time I just thought they were so cool. You know, the deadbeat stoner skater boys who definitely weren't making it over the county line. It was out of total innocence that I ever envisioned a future with them but damn it if I didn't daydream about them all the same. Good men die too, and all that.^[13]

The Fader's staff included "Crush" on their list of 20 best rock music releases of March 2021.^[14] They described it as a "nuanced and grungy love song written from the rearview mirror of adulthood".^[14] The same magazine also named the song one of the 100 best songs of 2021, placing it at number 11, and Colin Joyce described its lyrics as "myth-making", with "the sort of detail that emerges in a documentary about a forgotten artist decades later".^[9] Coup de Main Magazine also included the track on its year-end list of best songs.^[15] "Crush" was highlighted as a standout release by magazine Nylon.^[16]