This article won honorable mention in the 2020 Michigan Interscholastic Press Association spring awards ceremony.
By now you have probably seen no less than a million social media posts sharing it, listened to a good half of your friends at least reference it, and seen it all over the music charts. Whatever the case, if you’re a teenager you will be hard pressed to avoid 17-year-old Billie Eilish’s debut album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell (can you blame her for picking the first two names and calling it good?) rose to nearly overnight popularity in 2016 when she and her brother, Finneas, uploaded “Ocean Eyes” to the streaming platform SoundCloud. Originally recorded for her dance instructor to choreograph, the duo was shocked when rather than dying into obscurity like many home-made endeavors, “Ocean Eyes” quickly went viral and landed Eilish a record deal with Darkroom/Interscope.
The next year Eilish dropped her EP don’t smile at me, featuring “ocean eyes” (she had adopted the lowercase aesthetic by this point) along with eight other songs. don’t smile at me hit on the top 15 on the Billboard 200.
Following its release, Eilish recorded multiple singles including the popular “lovely” as a collaboration with Khalid.
Meanwhile, she acquired over 20 million Instagram followers to date, a billion digital streams, her own custom merchandise, multiple tours, and a spot on several popular talk shows. All before she’s even old enough to vote.
The way she dresses, how she talks, her life, her music, even her name itself – it’s all so unique.
“WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” (released March 29) channels this defiance against the norm.
WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Photo courtesy of Darkroom/Interscope.
Rather than stick with the traditional teen pop-star formula of adding catchy beats and upbeat music to plucky romance songs, Eilish chooses to write about deeper topics.
Throughout the album, Eilish tackles difficult issues such as loss (“bury a friend”), heartbreak (“when the party’s over”), suicide (“listen before i go”), drug abuse (“xanny”), and separation (“ilomilo”).
While it’s an emotional rollercoaster of an album, she doesn’t forget to have fun. Edgy, bass-heavy hits such as “bad guy” and “you should see me in a crown” cut the tension and add further diversity to her already impressive array of music.
Her sound is blatantly electronic, but she doesn’t try to hide it. In fact, quite often she seems to flaunt it. Eilish uses unorthodox sound effects such as swords scraping together and dental drills (no, that is not a joke), but somehow it works.
There’s no easy way to explain her musical style. Her music has been described by the New York Times as “genre-agnostic but playlist-friendly.” Some songs are upbeat and angsty, others unsettling and heartbreaking, and many others are tucked somewhere in between.
Her voice is chilling but beautiful. Eilish barely sings above a whisper but conveys so many emotions. She brings edge, thrills, and tears to the studio and leaves them for her fans in every song.
Eilish’s formula is a massive success. FALL ASLEEP debuted number 1 on the Billboard 200 with 12 of the 14 songs (“!!!!!!!” and “goodbye” excluded) charting on the Hot 100. Eilish is currently on tour for FALL ASLEEP, although sadly will not be gracing Grand Rapids. Cross your fingers for the next album.
