Soccer Mommy released “Unholy Affliction” on April 19, 2022. The song is the second single off of their upcoming album Sometimes, Forever, shortly following the release of the lead single “Shotgun” on March 23, 2022. Where the first single focused on the dreamy shape of “losing yourself in love” (quoting Sophie Allison, stage name Soccer Mommy), the new single is a bit more raw and savory in nature.
Listen to “Unholy Affliction” here:
The album is produced by Daniel Lopatin, or Oneohtrix Point Never, and is his most recent project since working with The Weeknd on Dawn FM.
Allison opens the song with the lines “I don’t want the money/That fake kind of happy/I’d sink in the river/Before I let it have me.” Allison seems to be talking about her career in music in referencing the thing that gives her money. Creating music of the caliber that Allison produces (that is, highly introspective) is in itself emotionally taxing. It is an “Unholy affliction/Desires an addiction.” She must obsess over this work in order to produce something she sees as worthwhile.
In the chorus, Allison sings: “So carve me up and let the colors run.” This again leans into the idea of mutilation to create art that is already “in [her] bones and in [her] blood.”
Soccer Mommy shifts her imagery and tone in the second verse, discussing how her mind is treated as a machine: “I’m tired of the money/And all of the talking at me/I’m barely a person/Mechanically working.” She describes how she has lost her sense of personhood by turning her talent and passion into a career; in doing so, people (presumably those higher-up) talk “at” her rather than to her.
Allison describes the collaboration that occurred between her and Lopatin to create the unique sound of the song: “’Unholy’ was really fun in the studio because the end result was totally different from what we expected… Dan made this really cool sequence with the demo vocals that wound up becoming most of the song. It was nice to have two different versions of the song that kind of mashed together.”
Allison has also announced that she will perform on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday, April 25, 2022.
Photo Credit: Kalyn Oyer
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