Hear First Aid Kit’s ‘Vengeful’ New Song ‘You Are the Problem Here’

On International Women’s Day, Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit unleashed a new song, “You Are the Problem Here,” a track that the Söderberg sisters wrote after reading about a sexual assault and the rapist’s lenient punishment.

“‘You Are the Problem Here’ isn’t a typical First Aid Kit-song,” Klara and Johanna Söderberg said in a statement. “It’s angry and direct. It’s a song written out of despair … After reading about yet another rape case where the perpetrator was handed a sentence which did not at all reflect the severity of his crime we felt upset and vengeful. We were, and are, sick of living in a society where the victims of rape are often blamed for the horrible thing that has been done to them.”

The track, significantly louder and darker than First Aid Kit’s usual fare, has the Söderbergs singing, “I hope you fucking suffer/ Do you really expect anyone to feel sorry that you ruined your own life/ You did it when you thought you had the right to put your entitled hands up her thighs.”

They continued in their statement, “Our message is clear and should not be controversial in the least: if you rape, you are the problem. Alcohol is not the problem. So called ‘youth culture’ is not the problem. You are. And you always have a choice.”

“You Are the Problem” will be available on digital music services starting March 10th, with proceeds from sales of the track benefitting Women for Women International.

First Aid Kit are currently in the studio working on the follow-up to 2014’s Stay Gold. “You Are the Problem Here” will not feature on the new LP.