Whether you’ve stumbled across one of her TikToks or have been closely following her journey, alt-art rock artist SOFIA ISELLA’s music has a magnetic pull that makes it nearly impossible to look away or stop listening.
Blending raw percussion with lyricism that’s clever, witty, and laced with humor, she delivers a biting intellect that stays sharply attuned to today’s social landscape, particularly the ways women are treated and navigate a world that has historically tried to keep them in the margins.
Her new EP Something is a shell . arrives alongside the release of a video for her track “The Chicken is Naked and Afraid,” which sits fourth on the six-song project.
Conceptualized and directed by ISELLA herself, the visual leans into the 21-year-old prodigy’s dark humor and absurdist imagery, unfolding through a montage of sensory, shape-shifting scenes.
The music video features ISELLA eating raw eggs, shell and all, wearing stilts, and dragging a dolly piled with male bodies. In another moment, she is seen eating a bell pepper. In the corner, a group of men in beige underwear huddle together, seemingly intimidated by her presence.
In essence, the track speaks to her experience of men often falling short, even when the search is for something genuine and organic.
The line, “I’ll break the bullet and I’ll bite the end / This is disappointing news for both of us, my friend / There’s nothing to you, and that’s very sad / I looked for depth in a dick, that’s my bad,” stands out for its blunt honesty, as well as the way it speaks to the complexities of dating; especially when you’re confident and clear about what you want.
The video ends on a humorous note, zooming in on a bottle labeled “Theatrical Sweat & Tears,” the same prop ISELLA has been using throughout the video, as she applies it to her face with a dropper. It ultimately answers the lingering question of what she’s been using on herself for much of the visual.
Overall, ISELLA continues to blur the line between performance art and music, using satire, discomfort, and theatrical excess to sharpen her commentary. It is messy, intentional, and not designed to be easy to watch, but it sure is difficult to forget.
Want to see her perform? SOFIA ISELLA is currently supporting Florence + The Machine on tour and is slated to appear at several summer festivals, including Fuji Rock Festival in Niigata, Japan; Hinterland Music Festival in Saint Charles, Iowa; and Montreal’s Osheaga.
Photo Credit: Jasper Graham
