billie eilish

i think the tomboying of martinez’s aesthetic (which when i saw her was very “nine year old left flat after her birthday party”) is a factor here too. the big mr yuk green sweatshirts and baggy shorts are much more accessible and appealing as an emulatabke look

Aaaah she was the one I was thinking about when trying to find the closest relative to Billie Eilish’s sound and completely blanked. Had no idea she was that popular it’s been a while since I heard anything about her. I wont be watching that k-12 video because it’s too long for me as I’m not a big fan of her so it’s not particularly directed to my interests but I feel glad that an hour and a half musical video is faring rather well in views. It’s an interesting way to deliver a conceptual album and hope it inspires other artists to present ambitious multimedia projects like this one. Last year it was Whack World. But we need more musical movies out there.

Having someone like say Janelle Monae or FKa Twigs or Grimes or Beyonce, hell even Billie Eilish do a multimedia album like this would be interesting.

uh Whack World is a god tier video album - the Martinez one is embarrassingly awful.

Her SNL performances were good, I thought (at least by the standard of SNL performances)

the rotating room set for Bad Guy was pretty darned cool

Agreed

I don't like this at all.

i think i like this more than anything on the album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCTMq7xvdXU

Yeah that’s really nice.

Very nice indeed, ended up playing it a couple times in a row. Could easily envision a great Koze-style remix, too.

good drag name: billy eyelash

that's all

pleasantly surprised by how lovely this is

Tricky Eyelash is even better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZyybvVx-js

new video for one of my favorite songs of the year

cw if you don't enjoy watching people getting burned by cigarettes

lol whatever snowflake!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my niece who turns 13 next week is a superfan (seeing her in Boston and NY next year), i was fed videos at Thanksgiving

I was fed turkey

turkey w/ Eilish vids as a side

"everything i wanted" is so nice to listen to at this time of year

Xanny def my fave song on the record.

There's something vaguely Roxy Music-ish (Stranded era or so) about it, but I can't be bothered to pinpoint exactly why. Ferry could probably do a decent cover?

i am liking what i have heard from billie.
get a lot more CREEP vibe than LDR, but i think we can be pretty certain billie has never heard CREEP.

Are u still accepting late arrivals on the Billie Eyelash train?

I tried listening to her last year & barely finished Bad Guy before I was like NOPE SUCKS IDG THIS MUSIC etc. The quiet breathy INTENSE way of singing that sounds like your back teeth are clenched is not my fave & i thought this was that (but clearly isnt) Then I saw her on the Grammys last night & was so mesmerized by her performance & (many) acceptance speeches that i was like, fuckit, she seems really cool: imma give this kid another try.

Aaanyway: Having now *listened* to the album all the way through, I love it and 15 year old me is crawling out of her corner to love this too.

She really harnesses the ugly/awkward/painful internal suck of being a teenager but not in a way that alienates; i don’t know how or if it’s just me but it feels much more self-conscious & confessional than an agressive, isolating declaration. I think that’s the real joy of digging into her music is that, forgive my teen metaphor but, I picture Billie’s world of this album as something more like a sleepover for the ppl who dont get invited to sleepovers & where what you reveal during the RIL DARK truth or dare doesnt repel or repulse but brings ppl closer

great post VG

I picture Billie’s world of this album as something more like a sleepover for the ppl who dont get invited to sleepovers & where what you reveal during the RIL DARK truth or dare doesnt repel or repulse but brings ppl closer

when will the Bond theme leak?? supposedly it's completed (well, composed)

vg otm

this album and billie rule imo

otm

Yes to all of that. I have to listen to the record in private though because my stepkid loves her so much and she won’t think it’s cool if her parents are listening to it too haha.

Am I the only one who thinks Eilish sounds a lot like the singer from Superorganism? Nifty record, but "wish you were gay" is a terrible song. Like, damn why is that on the album - oh wait it was a single?! Yikes.

Kinda surprised at the strong opinions in this thread. The record is okay, definitely a "right place right time" record, but damn. Mostly though, reading this thread is an interesting exercise in watching people feel self consciously old.

it may feel that way but it can’t be, I’m too old to exercise

(also I continue to like this record a lot and think it is genuinely striking, despite all the ambient Discourse insinuation that I am a mark and/or a corporate shill for doing so; at this point I honestly prefer the days when people would call me a dumb bimbo for liking pop music, rather than just implying I am one and also accusing me of false consciousness)

I like it too and I'm pretty resistant to the stuff. Did anyone call you a shill on ILM?

(also I continue to like this record a lot and think it is genuinely striking, despite all the ambient Discourse insinuation that I am a mark and/or a corporate shill for doing so; at this point I honestly prefer the days when people would call me a dumb bimbo for liking pop music, rather than just implying I am one and also accusing me of false consciousness)

It's a likeable record. There's a lot of formulaic elements to it, which is why I presume it is getting criticism, but a bit surprised at the vitriol. Some strong words for a record that feels harmless and trendy and has more than a few good songs on it.

no, hence why I said “ambient Discourse” (which is very heavy in the air after she won all the grammys, though the “she’s a streaming plant you fools, shun the music of no value” takes crop up every so often)

Ah, I see. Yeah, the rest of the internet is rife with such takes.

Having watched my kids engage with her rise over the last 18 months, I think it's quite clearly driven by Billie's intelligence and ability to connect very directly with her fans through the right media, alongside genuine and self-developed talent. I've seen many interviews / performances etc as part of sharing their interest, and she is unfailingly what she appears to be - a wry, witty, warm-hearted person who comes across as extremely grounded. I have nothing but admiration for the way she's built her success on her own terms - notably, since I have two daughters and I'm sufficiently old-fashioned, by resisting sexualisation as a marketing tool. Of course she's very good looking but her image and dress are about self expression rather than the male gaze, and that resonates VERY strongly with my kids. I could do without the Gucci/Vuitton/McCartney labelling but it's better than Juul I guess, and a nod to hip-hop culture which is a strong influence.
Of course this may well be a naïve take, but I was interested to read about the strategy employed by her managers which seems to be to amplify and enable the decisions made by Billie and Finneas - I'm sure having parents in that world was a headstart, too.
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/behind-billie-eilish-meet-the-managers-guiding-the-artists-global-success/

I am also late to this but I like it.

I have no idea who these weirdos are who are trolling you, K, but wtf!

everyone in my life has enjoyed this record or has come around to liking some songs

oh, to clarify, nobody is trolling me personally, but there are plenty of takes (again, uptick since she won the grammys) like "billie eilish is a corporate/industry/spotify plant and everyone promoting her has been duped"

god save us from the fucking smarks

I’d just shrug that off in the end, because you have to believe that music is promotable product and people don’t care about genuinely relating to music — in which case you are judging people as much as corporation — or you think it’s all pumped up metrics and you shouldn’t be caring about any industry acclaim. Worst case is people think critics are dupes, and they can alway just not listen to critics

I mean one of my favorite artists is kate bush but it is also true that she may not have become kate bush had emi and david gilmour not invested shitloads of money at her as a teenager

I did a poll of my friends and family via messaging a bit ago and they’re all positive or ambivalent because the one crappy clearchannel station only played bad guy

tbh we should all have invested in kate bush

Who cares what dumb wags on Twitter or wherever think, anyway? Serious q

my friend who nearly exclusively listens to the clearchannel/iheartmedia radio stations has reiterated that their format is so weird/impoverished that one of their shows is just “hey so these music sites we follow like these songs”

so either broke blogs are the plants or

tbh the idea of anyone spending money to plant an artist on anything that doesn’t already have an angle in 2019/2020 is

The idea of anyone complaining that an obviously talented pop star is being promoted by (gasp) “the industry” is totally high school.