by Eliana Fermi
“POPSICLE” is Lilith Czar’s first independent release is a seething, genre-scorching exorcism of misogyny wrapped in industrial-tinged rock and weaponized electro-pop. It’s a scream from the edge of pop’s plastic fantasies, the kind where a woman is told to ride a frozen treat in a bikini to sell records. Czar answers by turning that symbol inside out and then lighting it on fire.
Produced with a deliberate blend of sleek synth swells, down-tempo pre-choruses, and full-tilt death-metal choruses, the track mirrors Czar’s emotional trajectory: from manipulation to defiance. Her vocal tone shifts with precision through soaring, raspy, and guttural textures, each texture chosen to match a moment of unraveling or resistance. By the time the half-time chorus lands, her voice isn’t just singing “I’m melting the silence, the payback is violent,” she’s vocally enacting it.
“POPSICLE” dismantles the male gaze with vicious irony in the lyrics. The “easy rocket bomb pop” refrain, delivered with raspy intensity and rhythmic force, satirizes the infantilizing imagery often marketed to women in the industry. This is satire for reappropriation with teeth, made more explosive by the death-metal rhythmic figures underneath. The band’s staccato strikes and aggressive pacing turn what could’ve been cartoonish into something carnivorous.
The emotional turning point arrives in the bridge: “Sex sells let’s celebrate it / Let’s see how well you’d do.” The instrumentation coils tightly, then erupts, and Lilith delivers her most righteous punch in reclaiming power. The songwriting paces fury, melody, and truth.
In “POPSICLE”, Lilith Czar obliterates the mold she was asked to fit inside. The result is a song of self-definition fueled to turn lived through experience into musical vengeance. It’s a message to the industry and a call to every artist: the only thing colder than a popsicle is the chill of being underestimated. That’s the short of it!
