Billie

It is interesting to think that some of the most innovative, chart topping, and mature songs at the moment are coming from a sixteen-year-old girl and her older brother.

Billie Eilish is on everyone’s radar but if she isn’t on yours yet, she should be. The release of Billie’s new album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? highlights the elements that made her crash into the pop scene a couple years ago. Eilish is known for her dark, creepy concepts that push fans to both the edge of their seats and the edge of their comfort zones. Not afraid to make her listeners scared, sad or angry, her music suggests if you are going to feel those emotions, then feel them all the way. Often criticized for the mature and triggering content in her songs, Billie’s age plays a factor in what makes her unique. At the age of fifteen she had already made a name for herself by choosing not to shy away from her teenage perspective and angst. With the help of her brother, Finneas, the production of Billie’s music incorporates nontraditional instrumentation which the duo plays around with in numerous ways in her most recent release.

Speaking of the album, as I mentioned before- emotion plays an important role of it’s own in Billie’s music. While I had listened to a few songs before the release of the complete album, it was not until I listened to the whole album when all of those emotions came together. Billie’s album starts off so beautifully lighthearted with the intro piece titled “!!!!!!!.” These fourteen seconds play a clip of the sibling duo interacting that immediately makes me smile. When talking to one of my friends (a huge Billie fan) we agreed that this album would be completely different if it weren’t for this introductory clip. The way it takes some of the intensity off of the album by showing the playful side of Billie and her brother makes it a crucial piece in WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? And thank goodness it is there, because immediately the atmosphere changes at the start of the first song on the album, “bad guy.” Arguably the best song off the record, this song is what I can only describe as perfectly “Billie.” It’s confusing, it’s complicated, it’s interesting, it’s good. The song leaves you captivated and intrigued and as the transition to “xanny” happens you are left a little bit empty for a second. And then the silence is filled with a new sound as Billie quietly whispers the first verse of the song and the music begins to build in the background. The beginning of “xanny” sounds a bit like you’ve walked into a old, dusty bar with the incorporation of the bass and the bass goes from just groovy to literally being the most interesting part of the song. During my first listen to “xanny” and made a couple notes, I took special interest in how amazing this song would sound in the car with the bass turned up as far as it goes. The song is taken to a new level which makes it almost feels alive, giving a whole new meaning to the songs title, as if you are tripping on the drug that Billie is singing about.

The album continues with the track, “you should see me in a crown,” a previously released song that had its run of popularity, most notably as a challenge on the hit app, TikTok. The fifth track, “all the good girls go to hell,” is one of Billie’s best written songs in my opinion. The crafty use of word play and hidden meanings makes it one of those songs that you have to listen closely to in order to appreciate its full effect. This song contrasts drastically in subject matter and production to the records next song, “wish you were gay.” The song adds a new incorporation of back tracks and audio clips, which Billie and Finneas love to play around with and intertwine into their music. Their ability and interest to do this is what is going to take them into stardom and secure them a place in the new canon of music. “wish you were gay” uses laugh tracks and applause to provide a bit of comedic relief again like “!!!!!!!” does in the beginning of the record. The seventh and eighth songs, “when the party’s over” and “8”, are classic Billie songs and although don’t stand out on their own to me, they definitely play an intensional role in WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO.

Billie Eilish’s next track “my strange addiction” gives a nod to the hit tv show, “The Office,” known to be one of Eilish’s favorite shows. Her incorporation of audio clips from the show mimics the same practice as “wish you were gay.” This song, with a more lighthearted subject matter, provides a bit of calm before the storm. The next few songs in Billie’s album are some of her most emotionally intense, especially “i love you,” which serves as the album’s penultimate track. Billie has talked publicly about her love for this song and the experience she had writing it and is quoted on Genius saying, “[“i love you” is] still one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written in my life.” This song bleeds beauty, in everything from the lyrics to the soft melody to the heart-stopping harmonies that blend together perfectly. The song’s ability to cut through my heart with it’s words are exactly what I am talking about when I describe the emotion that is poured out of Billie and into her music. “i love you” is the song that tipped my emotions over the edge while I was listening to this record, breaking me down into a puddle of tears. The way that this song hits after listening to the whole album is a new kind of experience, one that is perfectly unique to Billie and to each listener as well. By the time the album reaches the final song, “goodbye”, which takes a trip back through the album with its lyrics only comprised of lyrics from the other songs, any listener would have to begin to have some respect for this young artist. Innovative and unique are some of the only words I can seem to use when describing Eilish, but they are so indicative of the work that she is doing. This is the kind of music that Gen. Z deserves, not necessarily the concept and image that Billie is creating, but the work ethic that she and her brother put in to create art. And that’s honestly what this album is in one word: art.