Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell recently became the first musician born in the 21st century to score a number one single in the United States. Eilish had already been building a profile for a few years, debuting on SoundCloud and building a following through singles and EPs. Her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, was released in March 2019, after she’d already built an ardent following.
Eilish’s intensely personal and dark music seems like an unlikely fit for the top of the charts, but she’s connected with disaffected teenagers. In an era of careful PR and image cultivation, Eilish is refreshingly individual. Her songs are written about the night terrors and lucid dreams that she experiences. Eilish is charismatic and her vocals are engrossing.
There are parallels in Eilish’s teen angst and bedroom poetry to Lorde’s 2014 breakout Pure Heroine, but Eilish’s music is rawer. She’s supported by her brother Finneas O’Connell, formerly a child actor on Glee. O’Connell supplies the instrumentation, and When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was recorded in his bedroom studio. Often the instrumentation is minimal, with O’Connell just playing a single instrument at once – the prominent instrument on number one single ‘Bad Guy’ is the synthesizer bassline.
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? captures a range of moods – the album closes with pretty and vulnerable songs like the acoustic guitar on ‘I Love You’ and piano of ‘Listen Before I Go’. Despite the bedroom setting and use of acoustic instruments, there’s an industrial harshness to songs like ‘Xanny’. ‘My Strange Addiction’ presents Eilish’s skewed take on pop, accompanied by samples from The Office.
I’m clearly not the target audience for Eilish’s debut album, but there’s enough happening musically in her songs and productions to draw me in. She has an off-beat magnetism that’s allowed one of her insular songs to top the charts. Eilish is an important figure for legions of youthful fans, and she’s one of the most influential voices in popular music.
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I can’t get into the whisper singing, but more power to her.
Sounds like there’s a good voice there – wonder if she’ll use it different someday.
I’m absolutely certain she will. 100%. She’s a kid on her first album, and she seems like she has a lot of ideas to express.
Yeah, hopefully she kicks on to a successful career – I like this first record a lot, but hopefully there’s an even better album in her.
If she continues the “formula” (if that’s the right word) of working at home with her bro, that’s a good sign. Isolated away from record company execs and promo people. She’s done it once, so there’s always a chance the record company will let her do it again. I think the less outside influences, the more likely she is to grow into someone really diversely talented. Just my theory!
Both my kids have turned me onto her music and I can recognise just how damned good she is, without quite ‘getting it’ myself. This is exactly the sort of female musician I want my daughter to follow, I love her stance on clothes and utterly rejecting any attempts to sexualize her; it’s powerfully rebellious in this day and age. Plus she gets double bonus points for the scary LP cover!
How old is your daughter? My oldest just turned 8, and Billie Eilish is way too dark and mature for her – I make sure I turn it off when she’s in the room.
17, so it’s all okay-ish.
Yup, that’s a lot different from 8!
She is incredible. My daughter discovered her pretty early before she got real big. The girl is talented. My daughter can’t believe I like her and I told her it was because she is unique and has her own voice. She isn’t being like all the pop crap currently on the radio.
I’m amazed she got a single to number one – she’s very good, and obviously done the hard yards building a profile. But she seems super-niche and dark.
I think you are right. We will have to see what her next album is like to see if she has staying power.
You’d think she does, but anything can happen. Her brother’s obviously a big part of the setup too.
Yes he is. He has his own music and it is very different than hers (which is smart). I don’t like it as much, but good on him.
My niece wanted me to get her tickets to her shows around here but they sold out pretty quickly. Still haven’t listened to her but she seems to be building a lot, a lot of buzz. At some point, I’ll give it a go, I imagine…
It’s not an all time favourite, but I think she has a lot of charisma and is certainly one to watch.
It’s different than her pop peers. I like more of a melody while singing but you are right…it draws you in whether you want it to or not.
There are hooks there, but it’s a lot about atmosphere.
I listened to her again today on Han’s site…yes I do hear the hooks.
Have you heard The 1975? They’re not power pop, but rock with a poppy edge (or pop with a rock edge):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT2sZilxP2Q
Yes I’ve heard them a few times. I like some of their songs…ironic..they sound more like the 80s than their name.
Nice to see The Office make an appearance in My Strange Addiction!
Eilish basically seems like what would happen if April Ludgate, from Parks and Recreation, released an album.
I’d watch/listen to that!
I don’t dislike it but it’s not really my cup of tea. I could listen to this as background music in a cafe and enjoy it that way.