Sofia Isella Disrupts The Status Quo With Her Crude Poetry

Sofia Isella released “Numbers 31:17-18” last week and people aren’t happy about it. Her music tends to be divisive between the people who know what she means and those who don’t. The reactions to her latest single made me think what a service she is doing to all of us and how necessary her voice is in music.

Isella often talks about “Us and Pigs” as her first political song. It was written after Roe v. Wade was overturned, severely limiting the right to abortion and body autonomy. A line that strikes me is “Murder in the name of a loving God” with gunshots in the background. It showcases the hypocrisy of pro-life religious people who ignore the real issue taking lives, such as gun control. “Us and Pigs” shows that Isella has known who she is as an artist and the stance she takes in her lyrics since the beginning of her career.

So, pump us full of sperm, put us in a barn

Us and pigs on a Mississippi farm

In nine months, we’ll have a kid you won’t care about

And if the kid’s not straight, white and male

We guarantee a living hell

Murder in the name of a loving God
Us and Pigs, Sofia Isella

Her criticism of the nature of Bible verse extends to sexuality. It is taught that being sexual outside of marriage is inherently a sin. “Hot Gum” reconciles the desire felt by two people with the education they received that what they feel is wrong. If they were to give into the sexual tension, they would end up in hell.

I watch us burn and fall, the heat is ten feet tall

The potential is bench pressing us into the wall

And the flick of flames weaving through my teeth

If the hot gum were to slip out, where would we be?
Hot Gum, Sofia Isella

“Sex Concept” plays on the same subject, though this time, it is much less delicate about it. It talks of corrupting someone by being seductive, which is what is reproached to women but never to men. “The concept of sex is stronger than the concept of God” shows no matter what you’re taught, desire prevails.

‘Cause I’m the backyard heathen

The girl he’s dreaming

I’ll bend him over backwards give him something to believe in

No end, no completion

He says stop teasing

We’ll play the game, both go insane, and then we’ll call it even
Sex Concept, Sofia Isella

Isella portrays herself as a ‘heathen’ in her tracks, someone who corrupts others from the normative path of religion. Since the rollout of her upcoming EP began, she has focused particularly on religion. Beginning with “Out In The Garden” she talked of a woman’s worth being tied to her body and particularly virginity. By painting herself as a heathen, she’s taking onto the role of someone who disrupts people’s beliefs.

I’ll meet you out in the garden

Dressed like the devil, like a lamb that’s been sharpened

If you puncture me, I won’t lеak

Something isn’t right, isn’t human about me
Out in the Garden, Sofia Isella

It makes sense that this would begin this project given how the next songs have unfurled. Her perspective in “Out In The Garden” mirrors her position in music as well, as someone who doesn’t mince her words. Despite it all, she reveals she wished she’d believe in what they’re saying, and how this lack of faith makes her feel less human and empty inside.

How beautiful it must feel to be so sure

I don’t know anything, Hannah, I don’t know anything anymore

But how pretty to be praying to nothing

That gorgeous pill of sugar you swallow like it’s something
Out in the Garden, Sofia Isella

It’s intriguing because it’s a shared sentiment between people who question religion in a world ruled by it. While there’s gratitude for seeing past these made-up rules that target mainly women, it’s a heavy burden to witness the majority of people agree with these ideas.

While a prominent theme in Isella’s discography, the criticism of religion takes a break with the release of “Above The Neck.” This one is about men’s obsession with youth. She calls out men’s pedophilic tendencies, reflecting on morality versus legality. Men will hide behind the reasoning that since law allows it, it’s fine. They fail to consider the moral implications of sexualising someone who’s still a teenager.

Your hands are down your pants, you’re settled in for the night

It’s time to watch eighteen-year-olds on a private browser site

But eighteen years isn’t short enough for you

They have pigtails and Hello Kitty shorts on to undo

They’ve learned that the closer you look like to a kid

The more money you get from a forty-two-year-old piece of shit

So on screen, they’ll touch a dick and act so confused

Because cluelessness is easier to get off to
Above the Neck, Sofia Isella

Though it isn’t the main focus, religion still finds its way in “Above the Neck.” Sex and religion are intertwined for the better or the worse. With the obsession of virginity being rooted in men thinking a woman is dirty or used if she has been with other men before, they reduce women to a sex object, someone who is only worthy if they haven’t been with a man. Isella points out this that if a woman’s worth can be tainted by a man, then the issue is the man. “But if something’s dirty after you touch it, the problem is your hands, dipshit, cut it off,” can refer to the Bible line of “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off” (Mark 9:43).

Oh, you’ll praise the virgin, self absorbent

You think your penis is very important

But if something’s dirty after you touch it

The problem is your hands, dipshit, cut it off
Above the Neck, Sofia Isella

This brings us to her latest release, “Numbers 31:17-18.” The title refers to two verses in the Bible that say “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.” Isella explained that she was inspired to write the song after she found out the existence of this verse. She brought it to conversation with two of her Christian friends and their response was to look at the context, and that “What God gives, God can take.”

She was shaken by this reply, as she knew these men to have values that align with hers. The realisation that people would justify anything if their religion said so. The suffering of women is brushed under the rug if the Bible dictates it. The questioning of the morals behind these quotations meets disregard and hostility.

Context! Context!

There is context to the slaughter

There is a loving, good, good, reason

God’s quotations kill a daughter

There’s a lump under the rug in religion’s house

They will dance and defend anything to keep it from coming out
Numbers 31:17-18, Sofia Isella

The chorus of “Numbers 31:17-18” is intriguing. Isella talks of a woman that would rather die than live by the rules that make her a sinner and doom her body to be owned by someone else. The woman says, “I’m biting into an apple and I’m afraid of nothing.” She refers to the original sin committed by Eve. It proves women have always been villainized and their actions condemned. “I’m afraid of nothing” is the key phrase that she repeats in the outro of the song, which highlights Isella’s position in the music industry. She is unafraid to speak up, even if that makes her prone to criticism from those who feel offended by what she’s speaking out on.

There’s a whore next door

She’s your reward

Oh what could you want, could you want that’s more?

Before her death, I heard her say something:

“I’m biting into an apple and I’m afraid of nothing.”

And here they come with their bullets made of Jesus

The muscle of God that will surely defeat us

The bigger question that’s presenting

Is what kind of God are you defending?
Numbers 31:17-18, Sofia Isella

The song delves further into the verse which calls for young girls to be “saved” for the men. It’s concerning as it not only excuses but encourages pedophilia. It shows that those who were born female will always be sacrificed for the pleasure of men. The strength and desperation in Isella’s voice makes for an impactful delivery. There’s anger at the unfairness of what girls and women have to put up with.

Oh, oh God says you’re such a good boy

Take a child for yourself, for yourself to enjoy

‘Cause what God gives, God can take

And give to you with God-given permission to break
Numbers 31:17-18, Sofia Isella

Isella is a needed artist in today’s social and political climate. She expresses injustice through her art in a masterful way. She shows the gravity and the hypocrisy that hides behind what the loud majority advocates. In doing so, she faces them with the reality of the consequences of their reasoning, and gives the oppressed a voice that they can gather around.