Our take on... Billie Eilish
To have an estimated net-worth of six million dollars is an accomplishment most of us could only dream of achieving, but singer/songwriter Billie Eilish has achieved this, and more, having two hit singles, “Ocean Eyes” and “Bellyache” as well as an extremely successful debut EP and debut album at the age of 17.
Billie Eilish released her debut album “When we all fall asleep, Where do we go?” on the 29th of March this year, and let’s start off by saying this, it’s good, really good. The album’s production (produced by Billie’s brother Finneas) is second to none, the beats are masterful and the overall production is fantastic.
The album opens with an extremely hard-hitting, bass heavy track titled “Bad Guy” with Billie’s vocals creating a hypnotizing chant carrying the song forward in her silky, cobweb, whispering voice. Accompanied by an extremely catchy synth line, the song is a grade-A pop song, creating a great foundation for the album.
The second track of the album “Xanny” is without a doubt my personal favorite from the entire album. The song opens with a lullaby esque vocal melody accompanied by a gentle piano phrase which is carried along throughout the song. The song takes a dark turn appropriate to its theme, Billie’s vocals become warbled and heavily distorted, split into eerie harmonizing octaves, which despite the creepy sound are somewhat soothing and beautiful.
The album also includes previously released singles such as “Wish you were gay” and “Bury a Friend”.
“Wish you were gay” opens with Billie singing in her signature style accompanied by an acoustic guitar, before turning into a more upbeat, bass driven electronic pop song. Billie has stated in interviews she wrote the song after being rejected by a boy that she liked, and felt that it was because of her personality. Billie being upset by this, wanted there to be another or less hurtful reason for the rejection, a theme she describes in the lyrics of the song.
“Bury a friend” is possibly the spookiest and darkest song within the album. Billies vocals are heavily distorted and pitch shifted for the duration of the song accompanied once again by octaves to harmonize the vocals. The lyrical rhythm of the song are at some points similar to that of a haunted child’s nursery rhyme. Billie wrote this song from the perspective of a monster that lives under her bed and details the confusing relationship between Billie and the “entity” that haunts her, an idea which is expanded on in the accompanying music video released alongside the track.
The album throughout maintains, a spooky, eerie, dark and disturbing vibe, created by Billie and Finneas due to their love of creating themes and characters in their songs to tell a story, influenced by their upbringing in a family of musicians and actors. Billie displays her ability as a prolific singer/songwriter in this fantastic debut Album. The album is a must listen for any pop fans out there who somehow haven’t already heard of this teenage pop sensation.
Above are the talented and insightful words of our man Dylan McGrath from our Waterford store, and the slightly frightening eyes of our resident vinyl model Eoife Clarke from our Navan store.
Billie Eilish "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" is available on CD and vinyl here at goldendiscs.ie and in all Golden Discs store nationwide.
