Weekly Finale: Zola Jesus and "In Your Nature"

For this week's musical finale, I am drawn to a 2011 song by a lesser known artist, Zola Jesus.

Overall, I am not a fan of Zola Jesus. Her music isn't approachable, as her lyrics are mostly too vague. Listening to her music is like looking at some impressionist paintings: You can see there is something there, but it isn't clear exactly what it is. Her vocals are powerful, and yet they lack clarity, almost like a drunk opera singer. Her music isn't for singing along.

But the song "In Your Nature" carries such an intensely beautiful darkness to it, I cannot resist it:


So what is she singing about here? Here are the lyrics (from Genius.com):

Eyes above me
Eyes are blown
And now just when the wall becomes a hole
I don't want to know

The ground is shaking
Out of realm
A hunted world
Where it never shows
I don't want to go

I feel it forming
Through the skin
Swallow me whole
Let it bury me in
And there i go

It's coming down
Like a sharp
Curve in the sky
I don't even know why

If it's in your nature you'll never win
[If it's in your nature you'll never win]

It used to be that
A war was brought
But now the end becomes us again
We never let it in

And in the shadows
A burning light
It's getting deeper for the fight

So run off run off
Let it drip down you
Run off run off
Like it was born for you

If it's in your nature you'll never win
[If it's in your nature you'll never win]

And then you go [down] that same forgotten road
And i'm not the one to say i told you so
And you know
Oh you know

If it's in your nature you'll never win
[If it's in your nature you'll never win]

Sadly, I cannot find what these lyrics mean, so I will take an interpretive stab at it.

It seems to be discussing war. The early lines "when the wall becomes a hole", "The ground is shaking", "A hunted world",  sounds like scenes of war. On top of that, the trio of lines describing the "Curve in the sky" sound like a missile launch. If that isn't enough to give it away, she hits us over the head with:

"It used to be that
A war was brought
But now the end becomes us again"

Ultimately, her point is that we fight wars not for a goal, but rather because it is in our "nature". When the goal is just to fight the fight, "you'll never win".

If this is what she means, it is a profound thought. If it isn't, I tried.

That's all for me this week. I hope it's in your nature to enjoy this weekend. I will return Monday with more blogging.