the other day in Chicago I overheard some Actual Teens talking about Billie Eilish, and it's fairly uncommon for someone in the general alt-pop space to both be actually popular with actual young people who are not extremely online, and to make interesting music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBRi6aZJGj4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za8Ki4CCXgg
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Friday, 27 July 2018 17:34 (five years ago) link
Saw her earlier this year at the Paradise in Boston and crowd was 95% under 18, super triple thrilled to be there and knew EVERY SINGLE WORD.
She has lots of really good tunes. "Idontwannabeyouanymore" is a classic.
Really liking the new single after what were a couple of misses for me. I like that she re-did that track w Vince Staples, but, thought it was trash compared to the album version.Here's to hoping her love of hip-hop continues to get integrated better and better over time.
― mr.raffles, Friday, 27 July 2018 18:00 (five years ago) link
second of those much more promising than first
― imago, Friday, 27 July 2018 18:15 (five years ago) link
Thank you for starting this thread, katherine. I'm on board.
― Jeff W, Friday, 27 July 2018 18:46 (five years ago) link
yeah, the second is my favorite thus far -- not so much in sound but in misanthropy it reminds me a lot of early laura marling
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Friday, 27 July 2018 22:12 (five years ago) link
I think this one is the song I like best from her discog to date
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVUmSgzgOqs
― Jeff W, Monday, 30 July 2018 14:57 (five years ago) link
I love the attitude and conviction in these and that bass rumble in "you should see me in a crown" is >>>
― boxedjoy, Tuesday, 31 July 2018 16:37 (five years ago) link
My 11-year-old stepkid is obsessed with her - not bad! A lot better than most of the other pop stuff she listens to, and I'm not even sure where she first heard Billie Eilish since it doesn't seem like she gets much radio play? Is she on a kids'/teen show soundtrack somewhere?
― Roz, Tuesday, 16 October 2018 10:27 (five years ago) link
"Lovely" with Khalid was on the 13 Reasons Why soundtrack
― Iain Mew (if), Tuesday, 16 October 2018 13:09 (five years ago) link
Hmm I haven't let her watch that show cause I don't think she's ready to handle the subject matter. She does listen to Khalid quite a bit though, so maybe just came across during a YouTube binge.
"you should see me in a crown" is v v good.
― Roz, Tuesday, 16 October 2018 15:25 (five years ago) link
New song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6WNdcZpDhQ
― Jeff W, Thursday, 18 October 2018 19:23 (five years ago) link
i like that one. its video is grippingly dramatic
― dyl, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 04:51 (five years ago) link
I noticed “when the party’s over” is in the top 20 of global spotify streams. What’s the story behind this? A movie/ad license? Was she famous prior to this single?
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 31 October 2018 09:16 (five years ago) link
Check her play counts on Spotify. She's been quietly big for awhile. She was already on her way at the time, but the track w Khalid really pushed her over.
― mr.raffles, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 12:44 (five years ago) link
she seems to be similar to halsey in that she's been able to build up a very large teenage following prior to scoring any proper radio hits
― dyl, Thursday, 1 November 2018 01:48 (five years ago) link
I've tried to ignore her for some time because of her idolisation of and connection to XXXtentacion, but I'm pretty taken with this latest single. There's a lot of The Love Club EP about it.
― monotony, Thursday, 1 November 2018 02:05 (five years ago) link
I've tried to ignore her for some time because of her idolisation of and connection to XXXtentacion
this is a thing with young artists I've just given up on because it increasingly seems like one would have to write off the entirety of current pop artists (and that's just based on what's known and out there, god knows how many collaborations were planned/scrapped)
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Thursday, 1 November 2018 21:19 (five years ago) link
oh i didn't know that re: x
guess i'm not surprised tho
― dyl, Saturday, 3 November 2018 02:12 (five years ago) link
New single is great:https://youtu.be/xXFdnHiGwos
She keeps finding new wrinkles on what Billie EIlish songs are with all these singles. Great fun having her making so much music.
64th in the world on Spotify? That's like Future (#60) level of fame. If "Fine China" or "Realer N Realer" don't take off, he's dust.
― mr.raffles, Saturday, 24 November 2018 05:14 (five years ago) link
1 more popular than Juice WRLD (#65).
― mr.raffles, Saturday, 24 November 2018 05:18 (five years ago) link
(Kids redacted) pic.twitter.com/wRF6TSLrBn— Stephen malkmus (@dronecoma) December 11, 2018
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 01:54 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUHC9tYz8ik
debut album scheduled for release march 29th. i semi-consistently enjoy her new releases so i guess i'm anticipating it!
― dyl, Thursday, 31 January 2019 05:59 (five years ago) link
is it wild to say that this one almost reminds me of róisín circa ruby blue
― monotony, Thursday, 31 January 2019 06:45 (five years ago) link
ICYMI, this was pretty interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm0MGnuRnH0
― that's not my post, Thursday, 31 January 2019 06:53 (five years ago) link
― monotony, Thursday, January 31, 2019 1:45 AM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
not at all, it's very "night of the dancing flame"
― theorizing your yells (katherine), Sunday, 3 February 2019 23:46 (five years ago) link
Good call.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 February 2019 03:52 (five years ago) link
this songs pretty good and I like the production but the current trend of suicide ideation as a sign of artistic credibility annoys the fuck out of me
― . (Michael B), Sunday, 24 February 2019 11:32 (five years ago) link
Michael, I notice that too. Inwards aggression.
― nathom, Sunday, 24 February 2019 15:51 (five years ago) link
billie could u not https://genius.com/Billie-eilish-wish-you-were-gay-lyrics
― self-clowning oven (Murgatroid), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 03:10 (five years ago) link
whatever u say abt her she's much better than lorde
― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Saturday, 9 March 2019 20:01 (five years ago) link
Based on those lyrics that seems... implausible
― Simon H., Saturday, 9 March 2019 20:02 (five years ago) link
i haven't spent much time with lorde's music really but that seems like a perfectly defensible position to me
― dyl, Sunday, 10 March 2019 01:40 (five years ago) link
I like Billie Eilish but wow that seems totally wrong to me.
Call me when she's released something as good as "The Louvre" or "Writer in the Dark".
― Roz, Sunday, 10 March 2019 02:46 (five years ago) link
no one in history has ever described what they like about "the louvre" without mentioning its sole memorable line
― dyl, Sunday, 10 March 2019 05:40 (five years ago) link
it's good tho so i feel bad for dissing it
i always thought lorde was insanely overrated (esp by press ppl eager to have a young woman star or w/e during peak poptimism) so i have something of a bias here...the amt of hype leading into her soph project was ridic considering how quickly it faded afterward
― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Sunday, 10 March 2019 11:02 (five years ago) link
but to me billie eilish whatever her other faults sells u on her as a kind of auteur in a way i never got from lorde personally
I've tried listening a few times and I wish she should speak up a little more.
― ☮ (peace, man), Sunday, 10 March 2019 12:53 (five years ago) link
I'm getting to the point where I can't really even listen to anyone who seems like a rich kid
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 10 March 2019 15:41 (five years ago) link
her music is dreck and the claim that she's better than lorde is simply outrageous
― calumy (rip van wanko), Sunday, 10 March 2019 15:50 (five years ago) link
which artist's hit tune contains the line "i'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air, so there"
― dyl, Sunday, 10 March 2019 19:21 (five years ago) link
Yea the 'so there'part almost seems like it was written by a self mocking teenager - I think her lyrics have come on a fair bit since then
― Hinklepicker, Sunday, 10 March 2019 20:22 (five years ago) link
fwiw I think most of the songs in this thread are better than "the louvre" or "writer in the dark"
― theorizing your yells (katherine), Sunday, 10 March 2019 20:52 (five years ago) link
So this is like soundcloud rap but pop/r&b? Everything madd my teenagers now seems to have this overriding note of bleakness that’s different than merely “sad” or “angsty”. (Not a critique—an observation).
this is the first wave of new music that’s made me feel old and out of the loop.
― Trϵϵship, Friday, 29 March 2019 08:12 (five years ago) link
I think musically lana del rey is a better reference point than lorde, btw, but this is coming from a slightly different emotional place. (love lana)
― Trϵϵship, Friday, 29 March 2019 08:18 (five years ago) link
it is that overriding note of bleakness that makes one feel out of the loop. i got it with brockhampton too. it is the music of *prepares self for trenchant overload* people raised by smart technology rather than humans, and therein lies the bleakness
― PPL+AI=NS (imago), Friday, 29 March 2019 08:30 (five years ago) link
I don’t want to go too far in saying why this kind of music is resonating with people born after 1995 but it certainly is. i’m wondering what exactly the musical qualities are that i’m picking up on
― Trϵϵship, Friday, 29 March 2019 08:41 (five years ago) link
I learned about Billie Ellish from the 9-year-old.
He probably found her not from TV or a movie, but through a combination of TikTok, YouTube and Roblox.
Meanwhile, my Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify thinks I need more Canned Heat in my life.
― pplains, Friday, 29 March 2019 08:45 (five years ago) link
My discover weekly wants to firmly keep me mentally in 2007. All the comfort food indie of my college years plus a bit of tasteful postpunk for when I feel retro. Maybe spotify is trying to protect me from something.
― Trϵϵship, Friday, 29 March 2019 08:48 (five years ago) link
The idea of a 9 year old liking a song like “when the party’s over” is baffling to me.
― Trϵϵship, Friday, 29 March 2019 08:55 (five years ago) link
the album is a little long but I'm not sure where I would trim it, and I much prefer it to the first one - her on-record identity seems much more fleshed-out, this one feels like listening to a real person instead of an outline of a personality. There's a few moments where some of production choices irriate me - the drums, particularly the hi-hats, seem to be a bit cheap and too loudly mixed.
― boxedjoy, Wednesday, 4 August 2021 08:47 (two years ago) link
I could see maybe losing tracks 8 and 9, if you wanted to trim it down... though those both feel pretty essential to the "project."
("Halley's Comet" is pretty, but the melody is distractingly reminiscent of "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You")
― Malibu Cheer Chants Forensics (morrisp), Wednesday, 4 August 2021 22:52 (two years ago) link
(...which is a lyrically apt reference, of course)
― Malibu Cheer Chants Forensics (morrisp), Wednesday, 4 August 2021 22:56 (two years ago) link
haha
I've played this album more often than the debut.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 4 August 2021 23:23 (two years ago) link
love this one so far
her first album was lyrically very much about being a teen who had a lot of online fame and hype but, really, still the experiences that implies
now it’s.. oh no, billie’s still had a limited world because you can’t just go out and do things as a famous teen, but you’re still a young person who loses track of friends and has shitty relationships, but you can’t step outside your house without getting hassled
or as I put it briefly, “ms. eilish has had more life experiences and didn’t like them very much”
― mh, Thursday, 5 August 2021 21:10 (two years ago) link
her and lay dee goo gaw can go away now!
― xzanfar, Thursday, 5 August 2021 22:37 (two years ago) link
^"that shit's embarrassing"
― Malibu Cheer Chants Forensics (morrisp), Thursday, 5 August 2021 23:20 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt-BMjO232I
title track live
― ufo, Tuesday, 10 August 2021 07:27 (two years ago) link
I think the first song on this record is my favorite one.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 10 August 2021 09:15 (two years ago) link
It’s this wonderfully calibrated simmer/seethe, with an amazing range of emotions contained therein.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 10 August 2021 09:21 (two years ago) link
A showtune that’s also a hymn, a confessional booth session - if I were a director shooting a video I’d frame it like something from “The Real World,” which is why I’m not a music video director, of course
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 10 August 2021 09:37 (two years ago) link
The production on “Lost Cause” is so sick. Those tinny, distant guitar strums… It’s like a deep, lost trip-hop track.
― Shallot Shortage 2021 (morrisp), Sunday, 22 August 2021 01:13 (two years ago) link
"GOLDWING" on my annual mixtape, it's an earworm
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 18 December 2021 05:07 (two years ago) link
Oh, she just turned 20. She has really good influences but they are old ! (Even though the sound is very 90s) I thought of the fucking Beatles on the first track.On first listen, Oxytocin, Goldwing, Your Power (I feel like I've heard that vocal line before though) and Therefore I Am stand out for me.I wish she rebalanced her singing even more in favour of clean singing and giving her voice more space rather than keep this focus on every trembling syllable, I get that it's part of her identity as a singer but I find it a bit gimmicky and grating over a whole album and she doesn't really need it anymore to demarcate herself. The rest of her vocal arsenal is much more powerful.
― Nabozo, Wednesday, 22 December 2021 16:08 (two years ago) link
I was kinda surprised at how naturally charismatic and game she was on SNL. I mean yeah pop-star-is-good-on-camera shocker, but I guess it's been a minute since I've seen her (outside of a performance) and was expecting the kind of awkward, slightly stoned, slightly gloomy, alt teen presence she had earlier on.
Anyway, she rules. Most likable popstar.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 22 December 2021 18:07 (two years ago) link
I watched bits of the SNL stuff, and I agree she was unexpectedly charismatic and low-key "charming" on camera. Kind of a young Juliette Lewis vibe (or something). I find many of today's pop stars to be fairly "likeable," FWIW.
― Texas Medicine v. Railroad Gin (morrisp), Wednesday, 22 December 2021 20:15 (two years ago) link
I think the use of social media really helps modern popstars to not be live in a bubble all of the time. Back then the connection was almost strictly via mainstream media doing all the discourse and they couldn’t really connect directly with any of their fans or have much to say.
Now they can be silent observers on what fans are liking or not liking about anything they do and correct course immediately if they think it’s a fair criticism. It’s also a much comfortable option for pop artists with a bit of an introverted side to them like Billie Eilish.
Many people think of social media as a very toxic environment but tbh I think what we had before was way worse.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 24 December 2021 02:54 (two years ago) link
the doco "The World's a Little Blurry" is about twice as long as it should be, but is insightful and unfussed, and Billie's commitment to her art and her fans is quite remarkable. Seems to have maintained her authentic self despite the six-orders-of-magnitude growth of her fanbase and reach. Well worth a watch.
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 24 December 2021 05:57 (two years ago) link
Her SNL monologue began with a joke about why she used to wear baggy clothes; and ended with her saying that she “spent years pretending to be someone I’m not”(?) (I don’t remember her exact words). I was a little surprised by that deliberate about-face (if I’m interpreting it right). OTOH, sometimes a joke is just a joke…
― Texas Medicine v. Railroad Gin (morrisp), Friday, 24 December 2021 07:30 (two years ago) link
“I didn’t change my number” is becoming one of my favorite things in here.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 24 December 2021 18:52 (two years ago) link
On her previous album I felt the singles were the strongest material, this time around I feel like the best tracks of this album weren’t released as singles (I didn’t change my number, lost cause, oxytocin, goldwing…)
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 24 December 2021 18:56 (two years ago) link
Lost Cause was a single!
― Texas Medicine v. Railroad Gin (morrisp), Friday, 24 December 2021 19:45 (two years ago) link
Oh fuck you’re right. I hate that music video/song combo so I erased it from my mind.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 24 December 2021 21:54 (two years ago) link
She has a new 2-song EP out, Guitar Songs... it's good.
― A Hurricane of Jacarandas (morrisp), Thursday, 21 July 2022 17:14 (one year ago) link
it's great!
― ufo, Thursday, 21 July 2022 20:44 (one year ago) link
She played "TV" live as a duet with her brother when i saw her recently. i thought it was the one slight weak point of the set but it is much better recorded.
― stirmonster, Thursday, 21 July 2022 21:39 (one year ago) link
She was st the Dodgers v Giants game tonight in LA. Drop a single, go to a game.
Only TV is on YouTube and it was good.
― Bee OK, Friday, 22 July 2022 07:04 (one year ago) link
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/billie-eilish-dance-cam-bad-guy-dodgers-game-1386733/
Billie Eilish was dancing to her own song at Dodger Stadium 😂 💃 pic.twitter.com/OQjA6zZ7VA— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 22, 2022
― Bee OK, Friday, 22 July 2022 17:30 (one year ago) link
https://autos.yahoo.com/billie-eilish-achieves-dance-cam-124811897.html
― Bee OK, Friday, 22 July 2022 17:35 (one year ago) link
2-song EP
this is literally not extended
― Vance Vance Devolution (sic), Friday, 22 July 2022 19:16 (one year ago) link
went to post the crossed arms smiley but functional image search is a thing of the past
― Vance Vance Devolution (sic), Friday, 22 July 2022 19:25 (one year ago) link
2-song EPthis is literally not extended
I'm tempted to quibble about that: the "extended" in EP surely means extended compared to a single, and as nowadays singles generally are one-track releases (rather than the misnamed doubles of yore), I guess a two-track EP is within reason?
― anatol_merklich, Sunday, 24 July 2022 18:06 (one year ago) link
lmao who gives even the slightest fuck
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, 24 July 2022 18:12 (one year ago) link
Apparently her 2018 cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” has been getting TikTok heat; so she released an edit that’s only the second half (without the actual lyric/vocal)? Pretty random…
― Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Wayne Manor (morrisp), Friday, 12 May 2023 04:47 (eleven months ago) link
Btw – i’ve posted this elsewhere, but it’s one of my favorite tracks this year so far:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVCNgOi4kFg
― Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Wayne Manor (morrisp), Friday, 12 May 2023 04:53 (eleven months ago) link
The hotline edit was released because that’s the portion of the song trending on twitter and I guess they wanted to monetize on it. Weird to only upload a portion though… I assume you pay less royalties?
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 12 May 2023 05:17 (eleven months ago) link
Yeah I wondered if that portion doesn’t technically incorporate any of the songwriting on the Drake song…
― Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Wayne Manor (morrisp), Friday, 12 May 2023 05:29 (eleven months ago) link
songwriters listed as drake, paul jefferies (drake's producer) and timmy thomas (as sampled in drake's hotline bling)
but there is still money to be made from those millions of streams the song will undoubtably get
― corrs unplugged, Friday, 12 May 2023 07:15 (eleven months ago) link
But how many times will people listen to a minute-long slice of ambience? I'm sure a million ppl will stream it once (like I did)... but if it were the full song, it would end up on playlists etc. And if the songwriters get paid anyway...
I'm sure there's a logic, it's just opaque to me – they didn't even include the full title in the track name.
― Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Wayne Manor (morrisp), Friday, 12 May 2023 14:39 (eleven months ago) link
my guess as to why they released this “version” is because billie doesn’t actually like the full cover & didn’t want it officially released and turned into a whole thing. if it’s from 2018 then she was prob 15 when she made it, it feels likely to me that she’s sheepish/embarrassed by it being revived out of nowhere 6 years later by tik tok & so she gave her label the okay to monetize the version that basically sounds like… nothing i don’t think there’s any business reason why you would do it this way. a copyright is a copyright you don’t get to pay less if you only release a 59 second song
― J0rdan S., Friday, 12 May 2023 19:35 (eleven months ago) link
Sure, I just thought maybe that section was entirely disconnected from the original song; to the point they could slice it off and treat it as a separate composition... thus also the truncated title... obv not the case though!
― Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Wayne Manor (morrisp), Friday, 12 May 2023 22:34 (eleven months ago) link
Very nice new ballad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW8VLC9nnTo
― Bittern Storm Over My Hammy (morrisp), Thursday, 13 July 2023 18:49 (nine months ago) link
This is a good song, not quite Vampire great but good nonetheless.
― Bee OK, Monday, 17 July 2023 03:03 (nine months ago) link
Yeah v different contexts – soundtrack contribution vs. lead single for a new album.
― Bittern Storm Over My Hammy (morrisp), Monday, 17 July 2023 03:08 (nine months ago) link
Billie Eilish debuted "What Was I Made For?" at Lollapalooza.pic.twitter.com/urcnRF8mVy— CONSEQUENCE (@consequence) August 4, 2023
Can't say I understand the literal weeping but nice performance
― Indexed, Friday, 4 August 2023 18:20 (nine months ago) link
Barbie effect. I wasn’t blown away when I first heard the song but I have to say it was used very effectively in the movie and drove several women in my screening (including my stepkid) to tears
― Roz, Saturday, 5 August 2023 02:47 (nine months ago) link
Sounds like she dedicated the performance to recently deceased actor Angus Cloud, so maybe that was part of the reason for the emotion (I don’t know if they were close).
― Nonhuman biologics enthusiast (morrisp), Saturday, 5 August 2023 03:02 (nine months ago) link
Oh wait I’m sorry, that’s a different song
― Nonhuman biologics enthusiast (morrisp), Saturday, 5 August 2023 03:03 (nine months ago) link
This article reveals that she's "putting the finishing touches on her third studio album."
― Phair · Jagger/Richards · Carl Perkins (morrisp), Monday, 13 November 2023 17:22 (five months ago) link
third album rollout looks like it's about to start
― ufo, Sunday, 31 March 2024 00:40 (one month ago) link