First and foremost let’s dive into the history about who Jezebel was. Jezebel was the former queen of Israel, thought to have lived between the 900’s and 800’s BCE. Much of the knowledge and literature about Jezebel has been brought down through history from the Old Testament. Here in the Books of Kings we are told of Jezebel’s marriage to the Israeli King, Ahab.
What is notable in the literature is that Jezebel is introduced as a worshipper of Baal, a god from a different religion than the writers of the Bible. Jezebel convinces Ahab to convert to Jezebel’s religion, and we are told that Jezebel orchestrated the killing of prophets of the opposing Yahwistic religious beliefs (those that form the crux of Christianity, Islam and Judaism today) and accusing Naboth falsely of blasphemy to result in his death.
The picture created of Jezebel by the writers of the Bible leads to her presence being described by Encyclopaedia Britannica as the “archetype of the wicked woman.”
To understand more about the historical importance of Jezebel, and to try and understand what makes the mere notion of Jezebel so notoriously wicked, I spoke to Heli Yli-Räisänen. Heli is a Doctoral Researcher within the studies of Gender, Culture and Society at the University of Helsinki, studying and interpreting female and queer characters within ancient Near East literature.
“What is helpful for a contemporary reader to understand in the historical context is that Jezebel lived in a time of religious ferment. It is stated already at the first mention of Jezebel that for having different religious views she is an enemy.
“Her action of killing the Israeli prophets doesn’t differ from the action of Elijah, the Israeli prophet, getting the prophets of Baal killed. But Elijah, unlike Jezebel, represents the right religion in the narrative, thus the equal actions get to be judged by the religion they favour.”
Despite the theological debates that exist about how ‘bad’ Jezebel was, there is little debate that thousands of years have built on this negative archetype about what it means to ‘be a Jezebel’. It is this archetype that inspired the reference to Jezebel we will hear in Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix this year.
Keeping You From Your Issues
When the 21 competing songs in Melodi Grand Prix were released, it didn’t take long for ‘Death Of Us’ to emerge as a possible favourite for victory. The haunting and sensitive ballad is brought to us by Elsie Bay. Favourite status for Elsie Bay, the stage persona for songwriter Elsa Søllesvik, comes despite her being far from the biggest name in the competition alongside winners of Idol and former members of boy band A1.
Elsa explains to ESC Insight how the song came to be.
“‘Death of Us‘ was written at a songwriting camp for Melodi Grand Prix in August 2021, by songwriter and producer Andreas Stone, producer Jonas Jensen, and myself. We finished the melody and lyrics as well as the piano arrangement that day, and later we added strings and orchestral drums. The lyrics are personal to me, and so it felt right to release the song under my new project “Elsie Bay”.
The personal story that plays out here is that of a dying relationship. In this the performer is tearful, emotional and unable to sleep while next to her partner, her thoughts swirling through the good and painful parts of the relationship at play.
While this song is the resolution to ultimately end that relationship, there is a twist on the conventional break-up theme. We learn through the song that the partner has had a rough time of it, with the singer asking “am I keeping you from your issues, from your purpose, from your grief?”
We don’t learn why there is grief here, or why her partner is “spittin’ anger” when tired, or what, if anything, has triggered this relationship to reach its conclusion. What we do know though is that making this decision is hard, with the singer still wanting to listen to her partner’s heartbeat.
It is clear that leaving this relationship is a big choice and not one that the singer particularly is pleased about, despite knowing that is the required conclusion. The reference to our former Queen of Israel comes within the opening lines of ‘Death Of Us‘.
“The devil hides between the jack and the king
A Jezebel filling space in your sheets
Am I keeping you from your issues
Lay next to you like its’ nothing”
I asked Elsa to explain how these lyrics were made and what imagery she wanted to get by referring to herself as a Jezebel in this case.
Elsie Bay at the launch of Melodi Grand Prix 2022 (Photo: NRK)
“It was still early in the writing session. We had just agreed on the verse melody. I sat down by my computer and started writing lyrics. It’s hard to say how this line was made, as I’m not quite sure myself how it really works. I get an idea, I write something down, it works, or it doesn’t work. The lines need to sing well and they need to fit the story and the melody.
“I didn’t know a lot about Jezebel before I wrote the song, but I must have heard of her, because at one point during the day I googled her name. I was working on a line and the name just popped into my head, and so I had to research a little bit to see if she would fit the story.
“From what I could tell Jezebel was a powerful woman who was disliked by many. The opening line in “Death of Us” is “The devil hides between the jack and the king” (so, the queen). And continues “A Jezebel, filling space in your sheets”. I like to keep my songs open for interpretation, but I think it’s safe to say that in this story there’s a chance the female is (or at least feels like) “the bad guy”.
As said previously, it is clear in ‘Death of Us’ that despite the singer clearly rationalising the end of the relationship, there is clear fraught and guilt in this process. However, opening with this line makes us feel that the weight of the world is on the singer and that breaking up, here feels is the bad thing to do.
With this context one can interpret that the songwriter’s actions to cause this relationship to break apart are somewhat selfish. The feeling of badness comes from their role as being the one with the power to decide the relationship’s fate, and deciding that based on what their needs, not that of their partner.
A Killer Shark In Heels
From Norway we turn east to one of the most hotly anticipated songs so far in Eurovision’s 2022 season. The Rasmus, of ‘In The Shadows’ fame and numerous international tours since, will appear for the first time in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, Finland’s selection to the Eurovision Song Contest. Like Elsie Bay, they are considered one of the favourites to represent their country.
The Rasmus’ ‘Jezebel’ takes a different approach to the character that Elsie Bay portrays. The Rasmus preach in the song’s lyrics how their Jezebel is an insatiable lover in the song lyrics, describing her as a “predator” and “hunter”, whereas the lead singer is the “prey”. After an encounter with Jezebel our lead singer claims to have woken up battered and bruised with “hands tied, like Jesus on the cross”, to continue the Biblical theme into this wild affair. And an affair it may be, as we hear in the song’s bridge how as soon as tonight this Jezebel will “catch another lover.”
Lauri Ylönen, lead singer of The Rasmus and co-writer of ‘Jezebel’ alongside Desmond Child, explains his interpretation of who Jezebel was and what the song embodies.
“A woman called Jezebel is mentioned in the history books. She was the ”bad girl of the Bible”. According to the stories she did awful things and caused a lot of chaos by going against the grain. I find her very inspiring.
“Jezebel is a rebel girl who does things her own bold way. She’s loveable but dangerous company. A free spirit. There’s a Jezebel inside of me too. It’s a state of mind.”
There is a clear juxtaposition between the views of ‘Death of Us’ by Elsie Bay to ‘Jezebel’ by The Rasmus. What The Rasmus offers up here is an ownership of being Jezebelian – twisting the idea that one would avoid or be ashamed of the connotation.
Instead Lauri Ylönen takes inspiration from the character, the “bad girl of the Bible”, seeing the positivity in the ability to take ownership of your own decision and rule the way you desire.
The Opposite Sides of Being Jezebel
While both characters in these songs portray Jezebel in different ways, both play with this perception through history that being ‘a Jezebel’ is a trait to avoid. In Elsie’s case it is unavoidable, and she is pitted in a situation where doing the thing that she justifies is right still feels so cruel and hurtful. For The Rasmus, they play with our perception of Jezebel as one of history’s most infamous bad girls and take ownership of that.
While both songs take the same character they approach Jezebel from opposite directions.
History for millennia has passed on the knowledge that Jezebel is no saintly character, and nor do The Rasmus try and suggest that. But the group show a pride, and a desire, to be their own people – to be bold, brave, different, decisive – and ultimately a free spirit who does as they please.
And with this both Elsie Bay and The Rasmus come back together. Despite Elsie Bay’s guilt, she goes through with the plan to break up, as The Rasmus’ Jezebel fulfils their desires. Neither let the possible negativity of their actions stop them from doing what they wish. For that both of these songs share a message of self-worth, empowerment, and for enacting on the emotions that you feel – no matter what others think.
Time will tell if the viewers in Norway or Finland think these stories are the right ones to represent their nations in the Eurovision Song Contest.