ALBUM REVIEW: SOFIA ISELLA – ‘I’m camera.’

Words by Emily Hollitt

SOFIA ISELLA has quickly found her place in the public consciousness. Rising to TikTok stardom with her song Everybody Supports Women, the 20-year-old starlet quickly rose to her own brand of fame. She’s supported the likes of Melanie Martinez, Tom Odell, Glass Animals and, most famously, opened for Taylor Swift on multiple legs of her historical ‘Eras Tour’. The Californian-born artist found her home in Burleigh Heads, Queensland, from 2020 until mid-2024, paving her way into the heart of our community as whispers of her work began to circulate globally.

ISELLA mixes gothic and experimental elements with her feminine rage, often exploring the most taboo and uncomfortable facets of the patriarchy. She also explores the themes of technology and its vast sociological impact. Ultimately, her music has a dark, somewhat cynical, but overall comforting and revealing exposé on the world and its social constructs. She brings the best elements of great female songwriters like PJ Harvey, Tori Amos and Ethel Cain. As a poet at heart who’s also classically trained in violin, her songwriting and perspectives are completely unique, making her one of the most exciting new artists to date.

The sounds of flies buzzing go from headphone to headphone before a deep drone and dreary plucked guitar start to play, opening first track Muse. Once SOFIA’s voice enters, her melody is deep and scattered; anxiety-fuelled and unsettling. As the track continues, her melody grows higher, demonstrating her incredibly diverse range as a vocalist. As it grows, her voice bears resemblance to Ethel Cain. The drums are deep and reverberated, supporting the atmospheric, eerie tune with an angsty, ’90s grunge sound. Josephine follows next. Hard-hitting, tom-heavy, industrial drums introduce the song. She sings down the scale, almost chromatically, adding a disconcerting sound. In the pre-choruses, she sings high-pitched and eerily. “I make myself more and more into a tourist attraction” she sings, “I give them teeth, I give them sound. I’m consuming your hometown… I thought I saw you in the crowd”.

A steady, neo-soul-inspired drum beat opens Dog’s Dinner. SOFIA’s vocals are heavily distorted and reverberated. The classically trained violinist subtly showcases her skills in the background, contributing to the disconcerting atmosphere. The energy is frantic; anxious, as she sings out her message with barely a breath in between each note. Crowd Caffeine is the most theatrical track on the record. Comparing humans to machines and machines to meat, she explores our reliance on technology. The piano part is reminiscent of Regina Spektor; it’s janky, bouncy and unpredictable. Midway through the song, the circus-like backing instrumental shifts entirely to something heavier, and entirely darker. “What will you drink when the screens go black? When there’s no more colours to get your dopamine back?”.

Country/Western acoustic guitar opens Man Made. “Oh man, you’re winning the game with the rules you wrote and the road you made.” She repeats in the chorus, a clear critique of the patriarchy. Her voice is dark and low, like she’s about to break, conveying her slowly seeping underlying rage perfectly. “Steve, wake up. Steve you’re a man. Steve wake up. You’re a man Steve!” she sings as the song slowly fades out, before building up again. “The kids are dead; the women are afraid. The boys are down there, cheering in the crowd. Man, oh man, oh aren’t you proud?”. Loud, crashing, industrial sound samples open Orchestrated, Wet, Verboten. “Want you to take my breath and merge your own and walk into my open bones”. This track is intense; passionate. She sings about wanting to be loved and desired wholly, rather than being treated as disposable and objectified. “I want you unaware or to consume me, entire. I am not something to be casually desired”. The song perfectly encapsulates the female paradox: to be sickened at the thought of being objectified and belittled while also longing to be desired. The track perfectly balances anger and vulnerability, expressing the need to not just be viewed, but to be fully seen.

‘I’m camera.’ is a wholly captivating, thought-provoking record. In just 23 minutes, SOFIA ISELLA covers a range of evocative subjects, ranging from living as a woman, sexuality paired against social expectations, living in a world fuelled by screen time and so much more. Ultimately, the record is a beautiful, haunting and captivating snapshot of some of the most harrowing issues we face in the way our world is structured today.

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