Billie Eilish, an artist aged 17, has been able to leave a special mark in the pop music sphere with her songs that portray the dreams and aspirations of the young generation. She has successfully established herself in the very small league of important people in the music industry who are born in the 21st century.
In an interview, Billie stated that she likes to convey simple things that are not too deep rather than saying deep things that are said without any thought in reality. She likes to collaborate with her brother Finneas in songwriting in music projects. In some cases, the duo likes to just make the characters up and get lost in them and in other songs they sing their own experiences actually.
Billie’s journey started when she sang the song “Ocean Blues” written by her brother and sent it to her music teacher. In May 2019 the song was ranked 84 on Billboard Hot 100. It was released on SoundCloud and subsequently, a video was also released. In July 2017 she leased her EP “Don’t Smile at Me”. In September 2017 Apple Music named her an Up Next artist.
Her album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Released in March 2019 featured on the number one position on billboard 200. This made her the first artist born in the 21st century to achieve number rank on US charts.
Her unique dressing style always grabs attention from both the admirers and critics. The testimonial to her success is that she has endorsed Calvin Klein and released her clothing line in collaboration with Takashi Murakami.
With her different style and an approach to remain “genreless”, she is sure to achieve a more pivotal place in the music industry.
1. bad guy
“Bad Guy” was released as the fifth single from her debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? on March 29, 2019, by Darkroom and Interscope Records.
Lyrically, the track has Eilish taunting a lover for being a bad guy; however, she eventually suggests that she is tougher than him. The singer also approaches topics such as misandry and sarcasm.
In an interview with PopBuzz, Eilish referred to the track, stating she knew from the beginning that “bad guy” would open the album. The track was written by Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell, while production was solely handled by the latter.
A remix featuring Justin Bieber was released on July 11, 2019.
2. when the party’s over
“when the party’s over” was released on October 17, 2018 and serves as the second single on her debut studio album.
The song was first performed live on the 30th of January 2018 at The Tuning Fork in Auckland, New Zealand, and stayed in the setlist of the singer’s second tour, the “Where’s My Mind Tour.”
Produced by her older brother Finneas O’Connell, the song had an immense impact the first time she heard it, she tells NME “I remember hearing it from the other room or something and, like, he was like, ‘Billie come here I just wrote this fucking crazy song’. I feel like the melodies in that song get you, you know what I’m saying.”
3. bury a friend
“bury a friend” is written from the perspective of Billie Eilish’s monster under her bed. The track details a confusing relationship with this ‘entity’ and ambiguously sets her up to be the monster itself.
The song serves as the third single for Eilish’s debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019).
Lyrically, she assumes the position of a monster there to haunt somebody (a lover or herself, or all of the above), and fully digs her heels into the role, begging the questions of “Why aren’t you scared of me?” and “Why do you care for me?” in the same breath.
4. lovely (feat. Khalid)
“lovely” and Khalid for the official soundtrack for the second season of the Netflix drama series 13 Reasons Why. The lyrics of the track focus on the duo’s attempt to overcome depression.
It premiered in Zane Lowe’s World Record feature on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio station on April 19th 2018. Eilish told Lowe: “We called it [lovely] because the song was sort of really freaking depressing so then it’s like oh, how lovely. Just taking everything horrible like you know what this is great. I’m so happy being miserable.”
5. wish you were gay
Billie Eilish‘s new single “wish you were gay” prompted some questions about the story behind the track’s striking title and lyrics, but the rising star has already spoken about the deeper meaning behind the track. It had been criticized as offensive to the LGBTQ community and she was accused of queerbaiting
In a new interview with PopBuzz, the 17-year-old star responded to a backlash about the song. “First off I want to be so clear that it’s so not supposed to be an insult. I feel like it’s been a little bit misinterpreted. I tried so hard to not make it in any way offensive,” she said.
6. you should see me in a crown
Billie Eilish debuted a bewitching music video for her spooky synth-pop track “you should see me in a crown” on Monday (March 18) via Apple Music. Eilish then made the video available on her YouTube channel on Wednesday (April 17).
Released in July 2018, the song came accompanied by a vertical video that is certainly not for the faint of heart (or anyone with arachnophobia).
In the interview with Annie Mac, Billie stated that the song was inspired by the TV show Sherlock. “We wrote this song ’cause of Sherlock, actually, ’cause there’s a scene where Jim Moriarty says, “You should see me in a crown” and me and my brother were like “hey that’s jiggy as fuck”. Then we just sorta made the song about being jiggy I guess, and you should see me in a crown, so there it is.”
7. Come Out and Play
The L.A. singer, who credits both My Chemical Romance and Lana Del Rey as huge influences, released this single as part of Apple’s “Share Your Gifts” holiday ad campaign. “Come Out and Play” starts off with a few gentle guitar notes before Eilish comes in with vocals so soft that it sounds like a lullaby.
8. &Burn (w/ Vince Staples)
The song “&Burn,” serves as a companion track to “Watch” on the teenage pop singer’s don’t smile at me EP. The song strips away the piano melodies, replaces the sensual vocals with synthetic subdued ones, and you become fully immersed into the grungy space that Billie creates.
9. Ocean Eyes
“Ocean Eyes” would go on to launch Eilish’s career by earning the support of influential blogs like Hillydilly and catching the ears of Interscope/Darkroom Records.
Alicia Keys even took to Instagram to unveil an emotive cover of Billie Eilish’s 2016 breakout hit “Ocean Eyes.” Written and produced by her older brother and featuring her vocals, the song was originally created for Billie’s dance teacher, who wanted to choreograph a routine to original music.
10. Bellyache
“Bellyache” is a 2017 song by American singer Billie Eilish. In “Bellyache”, the narrator (Billie) sings from the point of view of a dangerous psychopath. She has committed a very heinous crime (apparently a murder) and regrets what she did. She ends up taking her life at the end of the day.
In an interview with BBC UK, Billie said: “I wasn’t like, “Let’s write a song about killing someone!”. We were sitting in my garage rehearsing for a show with my brother’s friends. Finneas started riffing on the guitar, and one of them started playing on the piano, and I sang the first line – “Sitting all alone, with a mouthful of gum in the driveway”.
