So if you know me, you'll know that I have a lot of thoughts on music. Like a lot. I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I like listening to it. I like keeping up with it. And most of all, I like talking about it. That's why I decided to start this blog. I've never been that much of an album listener, but recently I've been compelled to start listening back to some old albums, and listening to new ones to see what I'm really missing.
I've wanted to do an album review for a while now, whether it's revisiting an artist whose singles I've like in the past, or checking out the big new album. I thought, why not start by reviewing one of the most anticipated pop releases of 2019? Here are my quick track-by-track thoughts on the debut album by Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
After an 11-second intro where Billie proclaims that she has removed her Invisalign, we kick in to the first proper track on the album, “Bad Guy”. It’s got a thumping dance beat, which is something that I never thought I’d say for a Billie Eilish song. Still, it’s got this haunting keyboard riff post-chorus and divergent coda that makes it distinct from sounding like a generic club banger. Though it does come off a little try-hard and at points a bit uncomfortable (specifically that "Might seduce your dad type" line makes me a bit uneasy), the concept is a fun bit of posturing.
“Xanny” is a refreshingly woke track in which Billie rejects the glorification of drugs that’s pervasive in current pop culture. It’s a nice sentiment. If anything, it’s a gesture for someone of her level of influence.
“You Should See Me In A Crown” was the first official single to be lifted from the album, I think it’s a significant turning point in her career with regards to its sound. Nothing she had released before this single was this sonically abrasive, with trap hi-hats and choppy vocals flicking throughout the track. It got me excited for the stage she was setting with this album.
If “Crown” sees Billie playing queen, on “All The Good Girls Go To Hell”, she plays God. The track seems as if it uses Melanie Martinez’s Cry Baby as a jumping point for its sound and themes (with a little bit of the "Nuthin But A G Thang" synth thrown in for good measure), and turns it into something even more twisted. Instead, Melanie's child imagery in her lyrics is replaced with religious imagery, which gives the whole concept an even darker spin.
Pre-release single “Wish You Were Gay” has an odd charm to it, even if its subject matter does seem a bit immature. Wishing someone was a different sexual orientation to explain their disinterest for you does seem like a very teenage thing to do, but seeing as Billie is a teenager herself, it’s easy to excuse. I also find the use of stock sound effects a bit grating, but in a way, it kinda reminds me of how generic stock photos can be turned into memes like Distracted Boyfriend and Hide The Pain Harold, which is neat. Honestly, the best part of the song is the way she plays with numbers in the lyrics of the verses.
“When The Party’s Over”, as I’ve mentioned before, reminds me a lot of Imogen Heap’s “Hide And Seek”, in the way it’s so minimalist and uses the silence in between the noise to its full effect.
“8” is the album’s lowlight for me. The combination of ukulele and pitched-up vocals was almost enough to turn me off immediately, but thankfully it develops a bit more as it goes and doesn’t drag on for too long.
Thankfully, the album picks back up again with the album highlight “My Strange Addiction”. It is the song on the album that most closely sounds like a conventional pop song, characterized by DJ Mustard-esque synth blips, subtle cowbells, and perhaps the most inexplicable, soundbites from the US version of The Office. I mean, it’s one of my favourite shows, so I can’t complain. But I didn't exactly go into this album expecting to hear Andy Bernard asking Michael Scott to do the Scarn dance.
From the first time I listened to it, “Bury A Friend” has always sounded like a massive leap into more interesting things for Billie’s sound. She may have been toying with creepy vibes before, but this song can be considered as legitimately frightening. That’s not something you can usually say for many songs that have achieved commercial success to its level.
Ever since I first I heard the beat fading in at the end of “Bury A Friend” I was always eager to hear the track it led to. “Ilomilo” reminds me a bit of Lorde’s “Buzzcut Season” for some reason. I’ve always had a feeling that Billie would eventually be compared to Lorde, given that she wrote *Pure Heroine* at around the same age as Billie wrote this album. But it is at its most apparent here.
Following this, the last three tracks on the album are perhaps the slowest and melancholic on the album.
“Listen Before I Go” is thematically the absolute darkest song of the album, with lyrics pointing to suicidal themes. “Sorry can’t save me now”, Billie cries as she reaches the point at the bottom of all utter hopelessness.
“I Love You” keeps emotional energy going, as Billie wrestled with her feelings in a complicated relationship. It's probably one of my favourites out of the ballads on this album. Billie just sells the emotional weight of the whole thing.
The album ends with “Goodbye”, a short track with lyrics comprising of other song’s lyrics on the album in reverse order. It’s a neat way of tying everything together at the conclusion of an album, and it kinda reminds me of how the gunshot at the end of Kendrick Lamar’s “DUCKWORTH.” reverses the whole album. The album ends where it starts.
My rating: 7.9/10.
Highlights: Bad Guy, My Strange Addiction, Bury A Friend, I Love You
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