On March 28, 17-year-old Billie Eilish released her first album titled “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”
The first time I ever listened to a song by Eilish was at the beginning of this year when I saw something posted about it on Instagram. I clicked the link in the caption that brought me to an Instagram page. I saw pictures of this girl with dark blue hair dressed in extremely oversized Gucci, Balenciaga, and Louis Vuitton tracksuits accompanied by a mound of silver chains hanging from her neck. I thought to myself, “These are some weird clothes, but I guess it fits her.” Just like her clothes fit her, so did her style of music.
Her style of music was something that was pretty out of my comfort zone as I usually stick to songs ranging from Drake, J Cole, and Offset to Sam Smith and Frank Ocean. But her unique sound made me really interested in what other songs she could make, so I looked out for her new album.
Her music is labeled as alternative pop but incorporates aspects of rap, pop, rock, and dance music. From this album I would describe some of the songs as pretty gothic due to the lyrics and overall messages.
“When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” incorporates songs inspired by Eilish’s fascination with sleep paralysis and one’s subconscious thoughts (very deep for a 17 year old). To complete a full review of her album, I listened to every song and here is my opinion on each one.
The first song on the album is titled “!!!!!!!” (yes it is really titled this). I can’t really review this ‘song’ because it isn’t even a song. It is just the sound of her taking out her invisalign and saying, “I have taken out my invisalign and this is the album.” I thought this was a very strange artist choice but different at the same time.
“bad guy” includes a lot of bass and certainly gets your head bumping. From Eilish, this is one of her more upbeat songs. I would describe this as a very techno song with her distinctive chilling harmonies throughout it. Also the ending of this song is very odd and kind of demonic but it still works for the song.
“xanny” is for sure my favorite song as it is one of her slower songs incorporating soft piano and whispered vocals layered over intense blown-out bass. The reason why I like this song is due to its message, which is usually what I look for when calling a song my favorite. This song shows extreme vulnerability for her as an artist due to its topic, and I commend her for putting it out for the world to hear.
“you should see me in a crown” is very techno and bass heavy with whispered vocals transitioning to a more uptempo chorus. I thought this song was ok, but I wouldn’t listen to it a lot.
“all the good girls go to hell” is an upbeat song featuring her normal vocals but definitely has a gothic message as many of her other songs do. Personally, I don’t really like this song because I felt the melody fell flat when compared to the other songs.
“wish you were gay” is another slow songs featuring soft vocals and guitar and then transitioning to a produced techno sound. I liked this song because the melody was very good.
“when the party’s over” is one of my standout songs. The song is pretty much just slow vocals and piano but includes a lot of chilling harmonies closer to the melody. The message of the song is kind of depressing ,but if you just listen to the vocals, it’s pretty calming.
“8” features the sound of a ukulele and produced high pitched vocals in the beginning. The rest of the song is happy and upbeat but was not one of my favorite songs.
“my strange addiction” incorporates samples of plain dialogue from the show “The Office” which I felt was very creative and different. The song is pretty upbeat ,incorporating whispered harmonies, bass, and techno sounds. If you’re a fan of “The Office” this song should be interesting for you to listen to.
“bury a friend” is another one of my favorite songs on the album, incorporating gothic and techno dance bets and sounds. This song is one of the most sinister and instantly reminds me of “The Exorcist” (in a good way) due to its intense bass and chilling produced harmonies.
“Ilomilo” uses many voice distortions, bass, and whispered vocals. Other than not being able to pronounce the name of the song, I felt it had a very good bet and melody.
“listen before i go” I thought was another great song due to its slowness which definitely shows off her vocals the best. The overlay sound of sirens in the streets can be heard in the background, along with the sound of child laughter and thunder. It is one of her more ‘depressing’ songs on the album, but like I said before, I like it because of its vulnerability.
“i love you” is simply just another slow song with only guitar and harmonies. I enjoyed this song because it simply displayed her vocals and no out-of-this world produced vocal sounds like many of the other songs.
“goodbye” is the definition of a farewell song for an album as it incorporates melodies from all of the songs in the album. It is almost as if the album is crying to you not to leave as it is very slow with echoing vocals. I think this is one of the most creative songs on the album because no album that I know has made the last song of their album a mashup of all the other songs as a way to say “goodbye.”
I would give this album four and a half stars out of five because of the creativity and vulnerability that went into making it, and that can obviously be heard while listening to every song.
Billie Eilish is becoming her own artist; she is not sticking to any of the normal sounds of any other pop artist and rather developing her own style. I believe that this album was a huge risk for her as an artist; from the album art looking like she is possessed to a lot of the songs including sinister sounds and lyrics.
In the end, Eilish’s risk- taking truly paid off. “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” is an album that everyone should give a chance even if it is not some of the typical songs they gravitate towards.
