Billie Eilish Does Whatever She Wants

In 2016, there was a new song called “Ocean Eyes” by an artist who was younger than me. Her name was Billie Eilish, and with ethereal harmonies and (literally) bedroom production, her debut song became a viral hit, now marking at 95 million views. Since that date, Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell, has released an EP, and last Friday, released her first album at seventeen. Her debut, “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” is the product of the musical-millennial who follows every instinct. The album is indulgent in a way that can could only work when stemming from a creator whose attention span is too short to wait for a studio or for a better idea to come: so she stays at home and makes it better.

From the opening track which exists just for Eilish (accompanied by her brother and co-writer Finneas) to say "I have taken out my Invisalign and this is the album" with a chorus of laughter before “bad guy” throws you into a driving bassline and beating vocals that dares you to think Billie is anything but trouble. The song doesn’t even try to finish itself. You get the point.

By the next song” it remembers that Eilish is still sussing stuff out, suddenly not feeling so cool by rejecting to her generation’s current drug romance. She sings as the lover in mourning “their pretty heads are hurting/they’re awfully bad at learning,” the young woman who simply wants the best for her friends. The majority of “xanny” feels more human, until her acid-dripped vocal asks her friends not to offer her any of what their taking.

Eilish then goes through a tumble-dryer of existential crises and revelations. The uplifting “You Should See Me in a Crown” is simply “Look What You Made Me Do” done better. She makes friends with the devil on “All the Good Girls Go to Hell”. “bury a friend” is written by the abstract fears lurking just before Eilish goes to sleep. The record is haunting, always checking over its shoulder to make sure nothing is behind it. It’s doesn’t have the time to stop and reconsider other options. The eighth track is named “8” because that’s what is is. The attitude on this album was to capture youthful elan and the lonely nights when there’s no more snapchats to open.

It’s near the middle of the album where the boldness might serve skeptics and naysayers a ground to upbraid the record. The song “Wish You Were Gay” sees Eilish wanting her crush to have a better reason not to like her. It’s unrequited love in 2019, and Eilish asks of the young man not to say it’s anything to do with her specifically, but to “just say that I’m not you preferred sexual orientation”. The song received backlash, “queer baiting” The most forgiving exoneration would hope the lyrics reflect the best case scenario that can come from a mind that wants anything and everything working out. Which though understandable, his disinterest could have been understood through less controversial terms. She has responded to the aspersions, saying “you don’t love me because you don’t love me and that’s the only reason and I wish you didn’t love me because you didn’t love girls” and it And that’s so not meant to be offensive in any way”. She did however compensate for any acrimony by promising to donate a portion of the profit made on merchandise to the Trevor Project, a suicide and prevention program for LGBTQ youth.

Eilish marks the female version of the musical-millennial making pop music. There’s trap drums, it’s a DIY production, and it’s message is bigger than the bedroom it was made in. It’s subcultural; Eilish isn’t communicating with anyone else but herself, because that’s where she needs to start. It’s worth noting how different the album sounds on a speaker versus in your headphones. She knows it’s how music is consumed, and in true self-expression, that’s how close she wants you to feel as close to her words as she can feel away from her thoughts.

On “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Eilish and Co. are learning more than anything. From the production, it’s clear that both O’Connells are students of the streaming era. You can feel the alacrity that makes the album go from deep house synths to a ukulele ballad. Lyrically, call this album naive would be a misnomer, because she is young and in writing for an audience her age, answers to instructions are desired. But if she wrote more macroscopically, maybe that’s where she could have lost the album, and the exciting energy of making her biggest musical endeavor. Believe the record, because it’s all she tried to do.

Rating: 7.5/10

Album; WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?

Label: Dark Room-Interscope

Listen WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO? on Spotify