On the 26th of April, Aiko and TEYA released their single ‘Hunger’. Aiko, stage name of Aljona Sjirmanova-Kostebelova, was born in Moscow, but raised in Czechia, where she met Austrian singer-songwriter TEYA, stage name of Teodora Špirić, at a songwriting camp four years ago. Having known each other for quite a while, the two women decided to hop in the studio and write a song together.
Not so long ago, Aiko stated that now that she’s representing Czechia in the Eurovision Song Contest, she’d love to work together with other artists who have competed. Already familiar with TEYA, this made her the perfect candidate for this collaboration, as she represented Austria just last year. The duo teased they were working together at the beginning of February, showing a video of them in the studio together. “The girls were hungry and decided to write a song about it” is how Aiko introduced the track to the world just a week before its release.
The song opens with a deep brass sound and catchy beat, which fit perfectly with Aiko’s stunning vocals. In the first verse, she sings about there being “A new shape on the market”, referring to the beauty standards women need to adhere to according to society. “We’re the sculpture” she sings, referring to women in general, and “They’re the artists” referring to society as a whole, but men in particular, telling women what to do and how to look. Halfway through this verse, one can hear fingers being snapped, adding to the upbeat sound of this lyrically quite angry song. The entire verse speaks of losing weight to be beautiful.
This continues in the pre-chorus, which ends with the sentence “Do it for the male gaze”, reinstating that it’s men who make those rules. In the first chorus, more percussion is added while Aiko belts the phrase “To be a woman is to hunger”, meaning that many women feel the need to starve themselves to be pretty enough.
There is a small pause before the beat continues in the second verse, which slows the track back down ever so slightly. TEYA opens with “Where is your smile?” – men keep telling women to smile, to look kind and pretty for them. “We’ve been doing this for centuries” she sings at the end, focusing on the fact that beauty standards have been implemented on women since the dawn of time by the men in charge. TEYA continues with the pre-chorus, backed up by the sound of clapping.
The second chorus combines both women’s vocals using the same lyrics and beat as the first. The bridge is significantly quieter than the rest of the track, showing the ethereal vocals both women are more than capable of. The first half of the bridge is sung by Aiko, while the second half is sung by TEYA, making it flow very nicely. “Hunger is all I know” they repeat, before diving right into the catchy final chorus. It must also be noted that the ad-libs – “Hush hush” – add to the idea that a woman just has to shut up and keep starving rather than complain. The song ends rather abruptly after the final reinstatement of “To be a woman is to hunger”.
It is clear how powerful of a message this song has, with both women singing about the experience of needing to look a certain way to be accepted. On the cover art and in the music video a treadmill can be spotted, emphasizing the idea that women need to lose weight and suffer to be “A stunner”. This is a track so many people can surely relate to – and what is more empowering than yelling along to a song that perfectly captures this feeling of one’s body being the enemy because society has raised you so?
Written by: Mandy Huibregtsen
Edited by: Ilse Muis
