WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO – a track by track review

Billie Eilish has quickly become one of the biggest artists of the times. She has been singing since 2015, releasing many singles. Her heavily promoted debut album was released on March 19.

The first thing in the album is a short intro sound bite titled “!!!!!!!”. It makes the album more personal and relatable as she and her brother joke about her invisalign

The next song on the album titled “bad guy” differs from what she usually releases, beginning with a pulse like beat, and Eilish whisper-singing. Combined with a catchy hook, the song also got its own music video, which I hate. The music video looks like how small town rapper music videos look. She jumps around with people riding tricycles and dancing on multi-colored floors.

“Xanny” is repetitive lyrically with too much bass. The middle of the song hits you really hard in the head with the bass, over and over again. Still, Eillish’s voice sounds similar to other songs she has released, but the parts where she holds out notes and the way she breathes just makes it better.

The song “you should see me in a crown” came out in July 2018. Lyrics like “Bite my tongue, bide my time / wearing a warning sign, wait ’til the world is mine,” flow nicely into one another. It has a good beat, but is focused more on her singing than the music. This song also has two vertical music videos. Both have an eeriness to them with a common theme of spiders and monsters.

“all the good girls go to hell” is on the shorter, upbeat side. Lyrically it is a one of the best on the album, and the beat does not sounds like one she has used before. The song sounds like something you would hear closer to Halloween, with the flat notes and lyrics like “my lucifer is lonely.”

The song “wish you were gay” has some of the best lyrics Eilish has ever written, and she was only fourteen when she wrote them. This song shows off her talents the most, but surprisingly she received some backlash for this song for queer baiting (hinting that you are part of the LGBT community) her fans. People went so far with the hate that Billie had to respond saying, “First off, I want to be so clear that it’s so not supposed to be an insult” in an interview with PopBuzz. You can hear the influence recent pop culture has had on her, like the laughing and cheering tracks that have been used in many YouTube videos.

“when the party’s over” was released as a preview to her album, along with a creepy music video. The song and video took the internet by storm, many, including myself were taken aback by how different it is from her usual songs: full of emotion. I can actually feel her hunting in the song. The music video with the white room and black liquid makes me the good kind of uncomfortable.

“8” starts out with Billie’s autotuned voice, which is supposed to be child like, but it just makes me uncomfortable. Lyrics like, “I guess I’m gonna go, I just never know how you feel” fill me with sad emotions, but the voice singing it does not match. The actual music is the best thing about this song, with the drums and ukulele showcased throughout the song.

The song “my strange addiction” is one of the funnest songs on the album. It has a futuristic beat that make you want to move. Lyrics like “To be talking to you, belladonna / shoulda taken a break, not an oxford comma” are fun and flow well. The thing that sets this song apart are all the samples from The Office that are used.

“bury a friend” was another song released before the album, but is one of the main inspirations for the whole album. It has a creepy pulsing beat and good fantastic lyrics like “Keep you in the dark, what had you expected? Me to make you my art and make you a star, and get you connected?” This song came out with a music video, with her in a lab being turned to darkness.

The song “ilomilo” is one of the slower songs on the album. The music is more melodic than the other songs, but the lyrics don’t match. She sings “ I don’t Wanna be lonely so show me the way home. I can’t lose another life,” in her whisper-like voice. This song is the transition from the more upbeat songs to her classic melodic songs.

“listen before i go” is a powerful song since it is about suicide and relationships gone bad. Lyrics like “Sorry can’t save me now Sorry I don’t know how/ Sorry there’s no way out (Sorry)/ But down” tell you that theme. There is little music so that you focus more on the words than the sounds, but you can faintly hear sirens as if a tragedy struck.

“i love you” is the classic break up song. The lyrics give it away, saying things like “And nothing has to change today/ You didn’t mean to say I love you”.  The music and the lyrics flow really well together.

The final “song” on the album is “goodbye”. I use the term song loosely because this track is just her epilogue to the whole album. The lyrics are the main chorus of each song, but in reverse order. The music is dark, sad, slow, with a depressing beat. It is short and gives the album a great conclusion.