Gretel

Sodikken's Gretel offers a harrowing, deeply cynical reimagining of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale. In this narrative universe, the horror does not come from a child-eating witch, but from society itself. The song's central theme revolves around the devastating impact of superficiality, bullying, and societal rejection.

Gretel is portrayed as a girl born with severe physical deformities, making her the target of relentless abuse, exploitation (being paraded on TV like a circus freak), and violence. Despite looking like a monster to the outside world, the true monsters are the "normal" people surrounding her. The song explores the profound isolation she feels; she is not malicious, she simply wants basic human comforts—a mango smoothie, a quiet movie, and peace. However, she is denied even this, becoming a "walking punching bag" for those who take out their anger on her.

Implicitly, the song serves as a critique of how society treats those who are different or disabled. It highlights the hypocrisy of a world that forces outcasts into hiding, yet demands to stare at them for entertainment. As the song reaches its climax, Gretel's ultimate demise at the hands of a startled man with a knife underscores the final tragedy: she is killed not for anything she did, but simply for existing in a body that frightens others. Her final words, wishing her abuser a trip to hell where they will reunite with her equally damaged brother, finalize the song's message of generational trauma and the inescapable cycle of cruelty.

Gretel begins her story by asking unseen entities—medieval creatures, fairies, goblins, and unicorns—to guide her, questioning if she was simply born to be tortured in what feels like a living hell. She is a girl burdened with severe facial deformities, describing her skin as naturally resembling dried apricots or being plastered with raisins. Despite her frightening, monster-like appearance, she clarifies that she is not actually a monster; she doesn't hurt babies and possesses a dietary moral compass, making her merely a misunderstood outcast. Unfortunately, society treats her terribly. She expresses deep frustration over being forced into the spotlight, wondering why she is put on TV and treated as a grotesque spectacle when nobody is genuinely kind to her. Her peers and abusers bully her mercilessly: she is treated as a walking punching bag, forced to eat ice until she breaks her teeth, and mocked endlessly by everyone under the sun. All Gretel truly desires is basic comfort and isolation—she dreams of having a quiet evening, drinking a mango smoothie, and watching a movie without being constantly ridiculed for looking 'dumb'.

As the narrative progresses, Gretel adopts a dark, defensive, and deeply sarcastic tone. She likens herself to a failed baked good, calling herself a "casserole that just isn't worth heating," which emphasizes her deeply damaged self-worth. She imagines that inner peace and self-worth taste like artificial cherry or ice cream, something she desperately needs flavoring for. Defiantly, she revokes any kindness she might have offered her abusers, declaring that her "baked goods are no longer free for the taking." She decides to embrace the isolation, finding it to be her only safe haven from the cruelty of her everyday existence.

Towards the tragic conclusion, Gretel graphically implies her own untimely death. She paints a grim picture of going out at night and accidentally scaring an 'on-edge' man with her frightening appearance, who then pulls a knife on her in perceived 'self-defense' so as not to 'cause a scene.' In her final moments, she accepts her fate, mockingly telling her abusers that it is time for her to 'fly away.' She predicts that she is moving on to a better place while her tormentors are headed in the opposite direction. She leaves them with a final, sarcastic request to "give a smother" to her brother Hansel when they inevitably see him in hell, finally achieving the eternal solitude and peace she so desperately craved in life.

Gretel was released by independent internet artist Sodikken (Sophia C. Martin) on July 6, 2021, as the second half of the two-track single project Hansel & Gretel. Sodikken is widely known for creating narrative-driven, darkly comedic internet music often labeled as weirdcore.

The song was entirely written, composed, and produced by Sodikken. The project was designed to present two opposing perspectives on childhood trauma and societal neglect, loosely inspired by the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale. While the first track, Hansel, focuses on a boy who turns to self-harm and dangerous stunts due to severe neglect, Gretel explores the opposite extreme: a girl who receives overwhelming but entirely negative and abusive attention due to her physical deformities. Sodikken's unique approach to storytelling through music quickly resonated with internet audiences, leading to a massive cult following and countless fan-made animations and illustrations.

The song features a highly erratic and bouncy rhythmic structure that heavily contributes to its unsettling atmosphere. Sodikken utilizes a mix of AABB and AABBCC rhyme schemes, frequently employing slant rhymes and internal rhyming to maintain a rapid, almost breathless pace (e.g., "groovy / smoothie / movie"). This rapid-fire lyrical delivery mimics the feeling of overwhelming anxiety or a rushing stream of consciousness from a hyperactive, deeply traumatized child.

The interplay between the lyrical rhythm and the musical rhythm is masterful. During moments of intense frustration, the tempo feels rushed and chaotic, packed with syllables. However, the rhythm deliberately slows down and becomes more methodical during the final verse, where Gretel describes her impending death ("blend it up real nice and slow" and her final farewell). This deceleration creates a haunting sense of finality and grim acceptance as she prepares to "fly away."

Sodikken employs a variety of musical and literary techniques to create the song's signature weirdcore atmosphere.

Musically, the track relies on a chaotic, carnival-esque electronic pop arrangement. The instrumentation features bouncy, erratic synths, sudden tempo shifts, and a dizzying, theatrical production style that mimics the feeling of a circus sideshow—perfectly aligning with Gretel's complaint that people put her on TV like a spectacle. The vocal delivery is heavily stylized; Sodikken uses pitch-shifting and exaggerated, theatrical vocal inflections that range from bubbly and innocent to aggressive, sarcastic, and unhinged. This erratic delivery mirrors Gretel's unstable mental state caused by continuous abuse.

Literally, the song makes excellent use of dark irony and juxtaposition. The upbeat, almost childlike bouncy melody starkly contrasts with the gruesome lyrical content about being beaten, forced to eat ice, and ultimately murdered. Sodikken also utilizes rhetorical questions ("Am I really that much of a freak?") to directly confront the listener, breaking the fourth wall and pulling them into Gretel's tragic narrative.

Gretel, along with its companion piece Hansel, has had a significant impact within the internet music and animation communities. Sodikken's work is a staple of the weirdcore and alt-pop scenes on platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

The song became a massive hit among digital artists and animators, who created hundreds of animatics and Picture Music Videos (PMVs) interpreting the tragic lore of the siblings. It sparked widespread discussion and theory-crafting in comment sections and on Reddit regarding the nature of Gretel's deformities, her relationship with her brother, and the identity of her abusers. By seamlessly blending classic fairy tale elements with modern themes of bullying and social alienation, Sodikken cemented their place as a premier musical storyteller for outcast and neurodivergent internet subcultures.

The song heavily utilizes metaphors related to food, baking, and consumption, cleverly twisting the original fairy tale's witch and gingerbread house elements into modern anxieties.

• The Casserole and the Oven: Gretel sings, "I get out of the oven too, sometimes there's a casserole that just isn't worth heating." This signifies her deeply damaged self-worth, comparing her deformed, "ruined" physical form to a failed baked good that society has decided to discard.
• Dried Apricots and Raisins: She describes her skin conditions using dried fruit imagery ("spots resemble dried apricots," "like raisins are plastered on my skin"). This continues the baking motif while highlighting how people perceive her as grotesque or unappetizing.
• Artificial Cherry and Ice Cream: She imagines that "self-worth and inner peace tastes like artificial cherry... or ice cream." Because she has never experienced genuine love or peace, she can only equate these feelings to artificial, sweet flavors—a tragic realization of her emotional starvation.
• Mythical Creatures: By asking fairies, goblins, and unicorns for guidance, she leans into the narrative that society views her as a mythical monster or a medieval creature, emphasizing her complete alienation from normal human life.

Several motifs recur throughout the track, anchoring its chaotic narrative:

• The Mango Smoothie / Quiet Evening: Gretel repeatedly mentions her desire to "get groovy, drink a mango smoothie" and watch a movie. This simple, innocent request is a recurring motif that underscores the tragedy of her situation; despite her monstrous appearance and the horrific abuse she endures, her deepest desires are incredibly mundane and harmless.
• The Motif of Sight and Spectacle: Phrases like "want me on TV," "retch at the sight of me," and "looks couldn't kill you but they can get you disowned" are repeated to emphasize society's superficial obsession with her appearance. It highlights how she is constantly perceived as an object of disgust rather than a human being.
• Baking and Pastries: The constant references to scones, pizzas, pies, and baking serve as a dark, thematic thread tying her personal trauma to the traditional Hansel and Gretel lore, reframing the "witch's oven" as the crucible of societal judgment.