AYESHA EROTICA
“vacation bible school”
Ayesha Erotica’s track, “Vacation Bible School”, is a sugary bundle of pure euphoric electro-pop. With its Y2K influences, bubbly synths, and sass, there’s no question as to why it became a trending sound on Tik Tok. The explosive chorus, “Now it’s fine, because I’m a whore / and I sleep with guys, just for fun and drugs” is a guaranteed (slightly problematic) ear-worm, but there’s more to “Vacation Bible School” than what meets the eye.
For a song that talks about one’s indulgence in hedonistic pleasures like sex, drugs, and alcohol, the title “Vacation Bible School” is highly misleading, to the point of hilarity. In fact, the top comment on Youtube for the song is by a confused listener, stating that “this is not a Bible School song and this should be a different song and why would you sing the song ever”.
But the juxtaposition between religion, what is normally seen as pious and conservative, and the blunt hedonism that Ayesha fully indulges in, is what makes the song so interesting. She constantly associates religion with sex, (“Bible study, we were buddy-buddy/ Then you said that we should fornicate”) effectively reducing religion to hedonism, a rather shallow form of pleasure and escape from suffering. In Ayesha’s modern “Brave New World”, filled with UGG boots and studded belts, religion and morality has no higher meaning than sex and drugs. The collapse of religion and morals is shown through how Ayesha “tried to call [Jesus]/ but boy, you didn’t add me back”, proving how the modern hedonistic world has no place for religion. Priests are simply “whores for Jesus”, just like how Ayesha is a “whore for drugs”. As a result, now that the overbearing morality that religion provides is rendered meaningless, Ayesha creates a rather enticing world free of judgement, where everyone is able to indulge in whatever they want and freely flaunt their inner desires. One cannot help but become drawn to the sheer freedom that Ayesha promises, which brings up the question: “is it better to have the modern world free of religion?” For Ayesha, if a world without religion allows one to experience freedom to indulge in whatever pleasures they want, then the answer to that is a resounding “yes”.
Today, in the midst of technological progress and modernity, we are already in Ayesha’s dream-world, almost fully independent from God. God might’ve existed before, in the past, but whether or not He exists, the new world no longer seems to have use for him. Mustapha Mond from “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley perfectly captures this sentiment, stating that “one of the numerous things in heaven and earth that these philosophers didn’t dream about was this… us, the modern world.” When one is young, life is fulfilling and prosperous, with new sensations and pleasures to indulge in on the daily. However, once one ages, passions that once were invigorating grow stale, and without hedonistic distractions, one tends to turn towards religion; “we feel the need to lean on something that abides, something that will never play us false- a reality, an absolute and everlasting truth.” But with modernity, one may physically grow old, but the thrilling sensations will never die out. There’s always something new to do and obtain: new drugs, a new phone, more sex. As long as one continues to constantly indulge in pleasures, one will be able to escape the need for religion and morality and continue to embrace hedonism with complete freedom. Thus, through the glorification of hedonism in “Vacation Bible School”, Ayesha immortalizes the eternal freedom and prosperity that modernity brings; every synth, melody, and lyric stands as a celebration of hedonism, another new pleasurable sensation that further renders religion insignificant, but grants the gift of unrestricted freedom. In her world, Nietzche’s declaration that “God is dead” is a welcome one.
Musing About Music 