By Holden Hartle, Music Guy
Editor Makena’s theme for her week is Plants and Opinions. Holden speaks to Opinions. He is very opinionated when it comes to music. Listen up.
I’m aware that the teenage girl inside of me is showing, but I thoroughly enjoy Billie Eilish’s new album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO. This album was highly anticipated after her EP “dont smile at me” put her on the map. Personally, I enjoyed the more upbeat songs off of “dont smile at me,” but not the album as a whole. The slower songs seemed to go on forever, and I feel like she was still looking for her sound–something to tie her music to her name. I feel like she found her sound with WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO. The album is still a fusion of upbeat songs and slow songs, but the one thing that ties the album together is a heavy use of bass. The bass in most of the songs adds a contrast to the light, quiet timbre of the vocals and the melody. Yet, with a distorted 808 (drum machine) and quiet vocals, the album remains cohesive. This is something that is very impressive, and something that a lot of albums don’t get right.
The part that really draws me to the album is the transparency and the authenticity. Except for some very minute parts, every song was written by Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell. The connection between these siblings allows for the emotions in the songs to be fully expressed. For example, the opening track, “!!!!!!!,” is a thirteen second track with the line, “I have taken out my Invisalign and this is the album.” Now, I’m a sucker for symbolism, so to me this line means that Billie Eilish has removed anything that is holding her back from expressing her true emotions and this album will be nothing less than authentic. On a more surface level, this could just be a candid and genuine moment between these two siblings, but if you look at it from a perspective of finding the aim of the album, the opening track is opening the door to Billie’s mind.
The following song, “bad guy,” immediately gives us access to Billie’s consciousness. The song explains how Billie has a lover who is “a tough guy/…Chest always so puffed guy,” and generally, a stereotypical manly man. Billie claims that she is the type who is really in charge in the relationship. To the best of my knowledge, this isn’t something typically talked about in music. Most songwriters, if they were going down this path, would choose a position of strength and power to say that they are leaving their significant other because they are bringing them down. Billie doesn’t do this. She chooses something that is more genuine and comes more from the heart. She doesn’t leave the relationship; she enjoys the dynamic.
A few songs down, “wish you were gay,” received a lot of flag for “insulting” the LGBT community, but this wasn’t the purpose of the song whatsoever. I’m not one to decide what people should be offended over, but I think that the interesting use of homosexuality adds to the idea that Billie is exploring emotions in music that haven’t been explored before. The song explores the common anthem of the love of your crush not being reciprocated back into you, but the song does so in a way that no ever song has done before to my knowledge. Billie makes her thoughts extremely vulnerable and states that “I just wanna make you feel okay/ But all you do is look the other way/…I just kinda wish you were gay.” This idea is something that could only come from someone who is taking the idea of rejection and expressing it in its fullest.
I briefly want to highlight a line in the song “my strange addiction,” in which Billie sings, “Shoulda taken a break, not an Oxford comma.” The song in its entirety deals with the idea of being obsessed with a bunch of guys, and adding one more to the list. This specific line demonstrates Eilish’s genius songwriting where she states that she should have stopped dreaming about new guys and should not have added another one.
The song “bury a friend” is perhaps the most unique song off of this album, as it looks into the darker side of Billie’s conscious. According to her, the song is sung from the monster under your bed’s perspective. Once again, I feel as if this is a unique idea that very few artists have ventured into before. The song alludes to the fact that we all have our own monster under our bed, and this monster is some version of us. Her monster suffers from trust issues and has a depressing manner about her, characterized by the lines, “What do you want from me? Why don’t you run from me?” and the titular line, “When we all fall asleep, where do we go?”
Starting with “bury a friend,” the songs in the album take a darker and more pessimistic turn. Instead of being songs of power, the songs deal with Billie’s struggles with depression and the subsequent suicidal thoughts that follow.
To say the least, this album is a roller coaster. The album starts on a high note, with the brother-sister duo ending the first song with a few seconds of them laughing. Yet towards the end of the album, the listener is welcomed into the darkest parts of Billie’s consciousness. The fact that Billie is open to being that vulnerable is something she should be commended for. The album is successful at exploring emotions that aren’t necessarily covered on the radio, and showing the range of emotions that someone feels. Sure, people go through heartbreak, but Billie doesn’t hide any details about this fact. She isn’t scared to write a song about what people actually feel, rather than what people should feel. Shakespeare once wrote that theater, and more broadly, art, hold a mirror up to nature. Billie does just this in WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO.
Opinion Editor: Makena Behnke
Holden,
You’ve taken a thorough look at the album contents.
If you had to give an answer the album’s provocative question,
how would you summarize Ellish’s overall intended response ?????
Firstly, I don’t think the question is meant to be answered. It certainly isn’t answered during the album. I’m aware that this is a sort of non-answer, but such is the case of most philosophical questions. If philosophical questions could have concrete answers, they wouldn’t be philosophical.
Secondly, the role of the question in the context of the album to provide context to Eilish’s conscious. The question is asked during “bury a friend,” which is sung from the perspective of the monster under Billi’s bed. Billie makes the point that everyone has a monster under their bed. Everyone has their demons. Billie’s demons ask the question, “When we all fall asleep, where do we go?”
Holden, this is such an extraordinary piece of critical writing. A fantastic review of the album and the highly individualized songwriting talents of Billie Eilish. As the best critics do, you inspire your readers to seek out the work of this singular artist, or to visit her songs anew.
And you do me proud:
“The connection between these siblings allows for the emotions in the songs to be fully expressed. For example, the opening track, “!!!!!!!,” is a thirteen second track with the line, “I have taken out my Invisalign and this is the album.” Now, I’m a sucker for symbolism, so to me this line means that Billie Eilish has removed anything that is holding her back from expressing her true emotions and this album will be nothing less than authentic.”
Beautifully expressed. I encourage you to keep writing about music.
Your conclusion suggests that all our classroom time together has not been without effect:
“She isn’t scared to write a song about what people actually feel, rather than what people should feel. Shakespeare once wrote that theater, and more broadly, art, hold a mirror up to nature. Billie does just this in WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO.”