Billie Eilish is arguably the most talked about teen at the moment. After the success of her first single ‘Ocean Eyes’ in 2016, Eilish released her first EP in 2017 Don’t Smile at Me. The release of her first album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? has absolutely flourished. In fact, she has become the youngest ever female solo act to top UK charts at the age of 17 years, three months and eighteen days. A remarkable achievement considering what the vast majority of 17 years olds get up to.
I first came across Eilish when my younger sister played her CD to me and in all honesty, I wasn’t entirely convinced. Her whispery singing voice sounded like a weird ASMR video, leaving me feeling quite uncomfortable. Admittedly, after listening to the album once, I wasn’t sure why this girl was so popular.
However, after persevering a bit further, I’ll hold my hands up and admit that she isn’t half bad. Eilish is capable of catching a range of emotions and styles in one album. Whilst the majority of the album is slower, songs such as ‘bad guy’ capture her more upbeat and playful style. In addition to this, arguably Eilish sticks with her trademark slow and whispery voice throughout the album. However, whilst doing this she experiments with different voice effects, as evident on the track ‘xanny’.
On a fun trivial note, there are familiar voices on the track ‘my strange addiction’. Eilish got permission from the cast of the US Office to use pieces of dialogue from the episode ‘Threat Level Midnight’, where the protagonist Michael Scott stars in his self-made film as a secret agent. A self-professed Office fan, this just illustrates the playful side to Eilish whilst also creating more emotional tracks.
Eilish is capable of catching a range of emotions and styles in one album.
Although upon first listen Eilish may not be to everyone’s taste, further listening to the album is a must to discover the range of the 17 year old’s talents. This is definitely an album worth having a look at.
(3/5)