Five Speed Intro: Billie Eilish
Five Speed Intro is where I write about artists I’ve heard of but who’s music I’ve never heard. I may not know anything about them outside of their name so it’s an opportunity to gain an introduction to their music with limited preconceptions. Whatever tidbits of information and gossip I have heard about them I lay out upfront. These articles are based on listening to the top 5 songs they have on Spotify.
Do you have an artist I may have heard of but who’s music I’ve never heard? Let me know in the comments.
Why Billie Eilish
I follow Cameron Hanes on Instagram because he does crazy workouts, used to run a marathon a day, and doesn’t drink alcohol. He recently posted a video in which he was listening to Billie Eilish and insinuated that people would hate on him for it. I watched part of the video just to see what the big deal with Billie Eilish was.
What I Know About Billie Eilish
I think Billie Eilish wore a Kurt Cobain t-shirt once and everyone freaked out? So maybe the music will be some sort of rock/alternative throw back?
That’s it, that’s all I know about Billie Eilish.
The Top 5 Billie Eilish Songs On Spotify As Of This Writing
“bad guy”
Definitely not rock/alternative, more of an electronic thing. Cool bass line, but the chord progression is boring. The vocals are great: the right amount of lazy/whispery-phrasing with hints of robot-like-treatment. Not at all into that synth lead. Oh snap, at around 2:30 it switches into what sounds like a completely different song! I like that musicians are doing this lately, I’ve heard Frank Ocean and a few other people do this, where the song really switches up at the end into something totally different. It’s like “bad guy: Movement II”.
“lovely” (with Khalid)
Nice piano intro, chilled out, with some strings. I appreciate that as it’s 5:35 a.m. right now. Is Billie influenced by Lana Del Ray? Getting that impression a bit. I like the snare, it sounds like it was recorded in a cave in Iceland or something. Where is Billie Eilish from? America? Sweden? Australia? I don’t think that’s the Khalid that posts on Instagram and makes mega-hits. His voice is cool, too. This song is super-vibey. Overall, a nice love song for when the one you want to be with is not around, and may never be around, and you just need to pine away.
“when the party’s over”
Is this going to be a party song? Oh duh — it says “when the party’s over”— it’s probably not going to be a banger. I don’t think I could deal with a banger at the moment.
Choir vocals up front — cool. Helicopter sound — cool. Really pretty vocals, Billie Eilish is serving up the feels here. “…I’ll call you when your party’s over,” is that the lyric I’m hearing? If so, that’s melancholy. There are some really nice vocal arrangements in this song. Yeah, this song is the opposite of a banger, which is good for me right now because I’m too tired for a banger.
“bury a friend”
Who’s deep male voice is that up front? Laid back beat but more up tempo than the last 2 songs. Melody is kind of tired, but then the verse goes into these really dry vocals, which is cool, and I am always a fan of marrying a synth bass line to the kick drum, which this song does. Very sparse. Actually, overall, I’d say that Billie Eilish music is sparse. Dare I say…minimalist pop? Pop for people who want to tidy up and declutter? Also — a bit dark. Pop for the dystopian set. That deep male voice keeps popping up throughout the song. This could be a club song but isn’t really a club song, more a song you’d play at a dive bar and feel really cool about because usually you listen to songs with guitars and this proves you are open minded and hip enough to branch out and that you can enjoy this, too. Nice percussion tag at the end, almost a “bury a friend: Movement II” but they only just barely tease the second movement.
“bad guy” (with Justin Bieber)
I’m glad this song is coming up again because I forgot it and want to contrast it with the last three. I know who Justin Bieber is but what will he bring to this tune? Crooning? I bet he’ll croon. Vocal gymnastics would not pair well with this minimalist pop Justin so just leave it!
Oh yeah! That bass line! Right. This isn’t my favorite Billie Eilish song. Why then is the original version the most popular song on Spotify? The original version has almost one billion listens. Should I like this song more? I think the other songs are better. Oh, there’s Justin Bieber. He’s kind of just singing the verse, but I can understand the words more, he enunciates. There are a few reasons for that, I imagine: 1) Billie Eilish is probably going for a more mumbly/can’t be bothered vibe. 2) Justin Bieber has been recording pop hits for so long he can’t help but enunciate. HEY! Justin Bieber tried to throw in a vocal gymnastic! Back off with that! You can enunciate, but we’ll not have that here sir, thank you very much. Justin Bieber didn’t really bring much to this, but okay, I guess?
Overall Impression of Billie Eilish
Yeah, overall, cool songs. Minimalist pop. Pop music for the dystopian set.
Why would anyone hate on Billie Eilish? These songs don’t blow me away, but they definitely have something behind them.
One other thing — after listening I visited Billie Eilish’s Instagram and the description just says “17”. Is Billie Eilish 17 years old? Will that get updated every year? I imagine being a 17 year-old pop star is probably the best job.
Do you have an artist I may have heard of but who’s music I’ve never heard? Let me know in the comments.
