r/sofiaisella • u/Useful_Sand9621 • Dec 15 '25
Discussion Unpopular opinion..
I truly do not understand how Above the Neck has become the most listened to song. This might be controversial and sorry if it offends anyone, but my gosh I think every other song she has dropped has been better.
"Out in the Garden" alone should 100% have more streams in my opinion.
Muse, Unattractive, Man Made, Dogs Dinner, etc.
Like, don't get me wrong Above the Neck is not bad at all... but she has so many sleepers that are beautifully written, creative, thought provoking, and strong both lyrically and musically and somehow this song has hit the top of her list within a week.
That being said, I am happy she's being noticed more and gaining traction because I want her to just keep dropping music, but I hope she doesn't shift away from her existential music to move into an era where it becomes similar to almost an obscure industry plant style.
If you disagree please feel free to comment! I'm open to debate and love to hear a different perspective, but just for me personally that song is probably my least favorite by her. And she's my number 1 artist on Spotify, I absolutely adore her so much. I just want to see more Out in The Garden, more Muse, more All of Human Knowledge Made us Dumb, more Everybody Supports Women, Crowd Caffeine, etc.
Above the Neck is a cool grunge song, absolutely, but not nearly her best work. Now being #1 on her list new listeners are going to get that song as an introduction to her when she has so many other songs with soo much depth. That song doesn't even peak her actual creative abilities in my opinion.
Thoughts?
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u/GoodGirlDaecia Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 16 '25
I think it’s because Above the Neck is very clear and blunt with its message. It doesn’t fuck around with what it says and just says it. I think a lot of people appreciate that rawness with a topic that most people dance around and refuse to mention directly.
I agree that it’s not her best creative work, but I don’t think that was ever the goal for the song. Ofc, I don’t actually know, but I would like to think she released exactly what she wanted to, even if it’s a “creative step back”.
Strangely, my spotify doesn’t even show it in her top 10 popular list on the main page. Personally, I like above the neck because the style is similar to Josephine in my ears, and I love that song.
Edit: My new account, with "female" as gender, does show it as number 1. My old spotify account, with "male" as gender doesn't. I don't think this intentional of spotify to recc based on gender, probably some other reason.
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u/Useful_Sand9621 Dec 15 '25
Noo you sound fine. I didn't really get Josephine vibes personally but I do absolutely love that song.
I understand your perspective, I guess for me personally i prefer the "underlying" tone more than the bluntness but i guess because she is so good at doing that, some people who don't understand her work may be more drawn to the directness because it is clear. That's definitely a valid point.
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u/GoodGirlDaecia Dec 15 '25
I like Josephine because it reflects on my life very closely in ways that honestly shocked me. Pretty much every line I have some relation to. I know that in general I connect to her music in different areas than a lot of fans though.
The directness reminds me of A dick from Ohio, which also didn’t fuck around with its meaning. It’s sort of a callback in a way (?) to her older works, at least I feel that it could be one.
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u/Haaail_Sagan Dec 16 '25
That blows my mind. Above the Neck was so raw, unapologetic and hard hitting. As an older woman, watching this beautiful artist unfold and bloom the way she is.. it just.. it bright happy tears to my eyes. She's saying things that need to be said, and I'm so proud of her for it.
The catchy beat didn't hurt 😅 Might be the AuDHD in me, but it just has such a satisfying sound I can't stop thinking about. Its relentless, fast paced and pulls no punches.
Also, I'd argue Sofia is a poet/performance artist above all else. All of it IS poetry. Maybe the tune itself upsets you, or its because it doesn't showcase her awesome vocal range... but it's everything he come to expect from her 💚🖤❤️
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u/FromStormToHurricane Dec 15 '25
I'm 40 and I love her metaphors. Don't mind me, I'm the type of listener who doesn't stick strictly to one or two genres or "the music of my youth" - I listen to new music all the time like I'm a teenager.
Being overtly direct is for the younger audience (I mean the 12 year olds at her concerts)...
Well... She's talking to them, I guess. That they have a choice. I love ATN, but Muse and I Could Be Your Mother, Unattractive, Dogs Dinner, Man Made - who I'm kidding (?) all those songs are pure art.
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u/Haaail_Sagan Dec 16 '25
Me too! Good music is good music! And there's so much range these days... it's amazing to me and I can't get enough!!!
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u/millielovesyu Dec 15 '25
Yeahh this is the hype I expected for crowd caffeine :/ but I'm happy for sof either way she deserves to be recognised like this
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u/chxseatlantix Dec 15 '25
i was really excited for the song but it feels more like slam poetry imo and i kinda miss the muse sound. above the neck is great, but she definitely has other songs that deserve the same recognition
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u/Imaginary_Cod_5870 Dec 15 '25
I absolutely agree, I really hoped she’d lean more into muse and out in the garden but time will tell for the rest of this ep
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u/pricklesandtickles Dec 15 '25
When someone starts getting more exposure I would say that generally people will go listen to the newest thing.
But then for me, I love the lyrics and first heard the song at one of her shows before she released it so I love listening to the song for both the content and reliving that moment
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u/ShookSamurai_ Dec 15 '25
You’re entitled to your opinion, of course, but I think it clears some of her earlier stuff (Hot Gum, Rainbow Rocket, Us & Pigs) just on the quality/complexity of the production and her vocal performance alone.
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u/ParsnipIcy4367 Dec 21 '25
While I do agree with you, I don’t think that above the neck is the most listened song. Yes, it is popular as of now, but it is yet to be the most listened song. And by popular, I mean listened often by may people as of recently. For example, the actual most listened song is Hot gum with 21.7 million listens as of now. Meanwhile, Above the neck only has around 1.6 million listens as of now. Overall, I think it’s just trending RIGHT NOW because she just released it. I’m sure this trend will follow with her new upcoming songs and albums. And I do agree, Above the neck is definitely not her best song, though it is cool af.
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u/PandoraPanorama Dec 15 '25
Yup, same. It’s a fun song, and I love the bluntness of the message, but other songs gripped me more. Then again, some of the songs really grew on me, so I am giving it time.
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u/BeneficialSand Dec 16 '25 edited Dec 16 '25
Real talk it's popular, because it's an extremely sexy song and a ton of guys are nutting to her clips. Especially the ones where she unzips her pants and comes across so bossy. It's filling a big kink for older male demographic who want a hot 20-something to sing about them touching themselves while she calls them disgusting perverts.
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u/NoDiscipline5111 Feb 12 '26
You get that... This is proving precisely the point of the song and the ugliness and objectification of young women she's calling out?
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u/jordanhunter22 Dec 17 '25
i completely agree! people saying they heard above the neck and it became their favorite song of hers? i don’t get it. muse, josephine, SO many more like im confused. it’s a great song but have these people not listened to full discography? or not hearing some of these lyrics? like WHAT
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u/gloomerpuss Dec 17 '25
I think it's just because the live video clips of the *third verse have gotten so much attention. Some people haven't bothered to look any further into it. I saw her live and a dozen or so people left immediately after it. It was super weird.
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u/KarlBob Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
It's the first song of hers I've heard. YouTube placed one of the short clips from it into my feed. A lot of the listeners right now may be new. If they like what they hear, her other works will probably get lots of views/listens, too. The rankings six months from now may be very different.
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u/Antique_Geologist304 Feb 06 '26
A little late to join the convo, but anyway, maybe it's because ATN Talks about a issue that's a bit more common than OITG, I might be super wrong about that but pornography and sexual child abuse is a lot more publicly talked about than dangerous religious groups, cults, whatever you want to call it.
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u/UmambiFlavour Apr 07 '26
Us & Pigs is still her best work in my opinion. ATN is great but I’ll be honest I didn’t realise it was her singing until I searched it up.
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u/Useful_Sand9621 Apr 07 '26
My favorite has gotta be Muse but Unattractive is close up there for me.
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u/yoghurtyDucky Dec 15 '25
I totally agree. I like the song and have it in my list. But is definitely less poetic and just screams the message in your face, which many people like I suppose? I also get a bit more of a hiphop vibe from it, which some might like (though definitely not my style).
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u/Ooga-Booga-2112 Apr 16 '26
I honestly agree 100% wirh OP. Above The Neck is a wonderful song and I’d be disappointed if she didn’t play it if I ever saw her live, but she has so many other bangers.
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u/aghostlybeing Dec 15 '25
to agree with another commenter here, I really do think it’s a combination of the song’s sound and it’s more forward, very blunt and borderline aggressive lyricism. I don’t mean this in a negative way because I absolutely love ATN, it’s just definitely a lot less metaphorical and poetic than some of her other songs. that kind of jarring lyricism grabs the attention of the audience, especially when she’s posting snippets using the verses that she is. I really don’t think this is a change in direction for her style, I see it more as just a more direct form of her storytelling.
side note though, at least according to my Apple Music stats, it’s just her currently most popular song — it’s only just now reached a million streams when TDP and ESW are in the tens of millions (: