9.3/10
Favorite Track: "Wish You Were Gay" Least Favorite Track: "Goodbye"
Seventeen year old Billie Eilish isn’t just a kid, she isn't an industry plant, and she isn’t going anywhere, and if you don’t believe me do yourself a favor and give her new, debut, studio album : WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO, a listen. With this new LP Billie Eilish brings you into her world. Compared to her previous work, WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO is so psychedelic, so different, and so incredibly mature. The mature sound of this record is something most would think is far beyond the years of the seventeen year old who wrote it. While some of the eerie and off the wall production is most likely a product of her co-writer, producer, creative partner, and brother ; Finneas O'Connell, you truly cannot discredit the vocal, lyrical, and creative ability of Eilish on this record. Almost every beat switch, instrumental, and overall creative decision on this record goes over almost flawlessly, as if Billie has been making music for the thirty years. The lyrical improvement for Billie on WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO, is innate, obvious, and transcendent but its not even her greatest area of improvement. This new project’s instrumentals combined with Billie’s vocal deliveries give this record far more direction than anything Billie has put out thus far. Compared to her previous, drawn out and almost dull sound, the instrumentals on this new piece range from cutthroat and hard-hitting to, tragic and tear jerking. Lyrically, we get themes of ; loss, drug use, love, and growing up. Originally, the singles for this record didn’t “wow” me as much as I was hoping they would. However, within the context of the entire album they all make far more sense and pan out far better with the emotional backing from the tracks that precede them. The badass and cutthroat intro track, “bad guy” goes over very well for a track that could of been painfully cringey. Billie mutters “duh” at the end of each chorus and refrain in almost a melodic adlib type style which for many artists might of sounded once again, painfully cringey but for Billie it pans out quite nicely and is one of the more personable moments on the track. There’s also this completely dark beat switch at the end of the track that is just so evil and refreshing. This is followed by one of the more meaningful tracks on the entire record in “xanny”. “xanny” is a Track where Billie paints herself as an anti-drug character. She preaches about different scenarios where she has refused drugs, how she doesn’t understand drugs, and how she “must be missing something”. I really like the meaning of this track and the way Billie tells this story and paints a very tasteful message at the same time. In an interview with NHE Billie said this regarding her anti-drug efforts. “I’ve never got high, I've never smoked anything in my life. I don’t give a fuck, I never have. It’s just not interesting to me. I have other shit to do”. Another huge highlight for me is track #6, “wish you were gay”. This track is yet another prime example of the lyrical maturity Billie has gained with this new project. The opening lines of this track when Billie is talking about “six words you never understood” and “five words you never say” are so incredibly clever that the word play quite frankly blew my mind. This gravitated me toward the track almost immediately and the way it progresses lyrically is anything but disappointing. In addition, the infectious instrumentals on this track with the drifty acoustic guitar riff that eventually blends into this synth heavy marching beat, culminates into something truly amazing. Track #9 is the one everyone is talking about because yes, she did sample the Office. Billie’s delivery is as smooth and swagger driven as ever in “My strange addiction”. As with many other tracks on the record the premise for this one is very intriguing and new. Instead of referring to a chemical addiction or a physical addiction, Billie instead describes her relationship and infatuation with an individual as “my strange addiction”. I love the techno-driven, heavy synth notes on this track and honestly I think the way Billie incorporated the samples of cometary from The Office is actually quite tasteful and funny. She is very in-tune with pop culture throughout the album and it’s moments like these where she introduces references that work out much better than expected. The record does slow down a tiny bit after this point but there aren't any noteworthy bad tracks by any stretch of the imagination. The last portion of the record does feature some slower moments that are certainly necessary in the entire scheme of the project. The closer, “goodbye” is sort of a montage of all the ideas and concepts that Billie worked into the record morphed into one final ballad. For a finale to an album like this I do have to say I was expecting a little more. The closing track is a little bit one-dimensional and superficial in a way but it certainly could have been worse. However, with this record it has become very apparent to me that I have underestimated, and overlooked this kid from LA. Track for track WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO, is psychedelic, well produced, and so incredibly enjoyable. If Billie continues to put out records like this one I truly could see her as the queen of the next generation of pop music.