On January 23, Jen Ash released “HELL,” and with it, a warning shot to anyone still clinging to the idea that obedience equals virtue. The Lebanese-born, France-raised artist opens 2026 not with subtlety, but with ignition.
Built around the line, “I don’t need to pretend / To be the good girl you want it,” “HELL” doesn’t simply flirt with rebellion; it interrogates the conditioning behind it. For Jen Ash, the concept of “good” was never neutral. Growing up between Middle Eastern expectations and European cultural codes meant navigating layered standards of femininity, propriety and faith. In conversation, she’s clear: labels like “good” or “bad” depend entirely on who holds the power to define them.
Jen Ash reframes Hell as the fear, control and shame used to discipline behavior. The song takes direct aim at religious brainwashing and imposed morality, but it does so with satire. When comedy unexpectedly entered the music video’s casting process, she leaned into it. The result softens the confrontation without dulling the message. Humor becomes strategy: a way to disarm while still destabilizing.
Rather than just challenging institutions, “HELL” documents a personal unraveling of the beliefs that once shaped her. Jen Ash admits she once filtered her inner voice through other people’s expectations, chasing recognition and second-guessing her multicultural identity. Acting classes and a community of creatives helped flip that narrative. What she once viewed as fragmentation — Lebanon, France, spirituality, rebellion — became her advantage.
The single also sets the stage for what’s next. Two upcoming 2026 releases, “Woman” and “Freedom,” promise to tackle forced marriage, motherhood pressure and abuse, expanding the critique beyond theology into gender politics. In that sense, “HELL” isn’t an isolated provocation — it’s a thesis statement.
For Jen Ash, rebellion isn’t aesthetic; it’s structural. She isn’t rejecting faith so much as rejecting fear. And if her younger self, the girl navigating church pews and scrutiny, heard this record today? She’d apparently be humming the chorus on Sunday morning, waiting to see who flinches first.