billie eilish

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.

Finneas is the plant, don't you get it

He was on Glee! (apparently)

it’s no secret that people who have gone to music school or been in successful musical ventures know “the formula”

the rest of us must read the KLF book

The manual is so good, classic bittersweet snapshot in time

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

― dad genes (morrisp), Tuesday, January 28, 2020 9:26 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

in the course of interacting with people in the real world you will often be asked the question "so what have you been listening to lately?" and it helps to not have to lie when answering it

(to be totally fair, billie eilish probably had one of the highest "oh I actually think she's good too!" ratios among pop artists, although that's declined lately/required a lot more justifying to people in my experience. probably the same trajectory lizzo had in the past few years)

OMG Eilish is the queen of "I don't usually like pop music but this is great" it's all the dads my age on the big Facebook now playing group

I hear it irl too... almost to a weird degree actually, like something is going on there

like Alex in NYC likes her iirc

If you guys are meeting a-n-y-b-o-d-y IRL who has the nerve to dis to your face whatever you tell them you’re listening to, the problem isn’t with you (or the artist)!

people are afraid to tell people what they're listening to?

people are afraid to tell people what they're listening to?

Not in my experience. I got my hair cut yesterday and my barber, a 42-year-old ex-con and member in good standing of the Latin Kings, was playing the 2014 Sam Smith album and talking to me about how much he liked it.

I think she's the rare new pop artist who successfully marries Gen X signifiers and up-to-date sonics, is what accounts for older ppl not being embarrassed to like her

like, listening to the album I thought of Tori Amos more than once, justifiably or not

i like her lot and EVERYBODY AT THE POTTERY STUDIO (aka "my world of mostly old people") love her and Lizzo a lot

A lot of my old friends all seem to like her, Lizzo and Cardi B. But they also like singing and dancing to contemporary pop. My more generic old people friends like shit like Imagine Dragons. Do old people like Lorde?

I think she's the rare new pop artist who successfully marries Gen X signifiers and up-to-date sonics, is what accounts for older ppl not being embarrassed to like her

Upon hearing "Bad Guy" for the first time, it reminded me a lot of late-model Spoon.

considering she just won like eight grammys and based on my personal experience which matches with others itt I feel pretty confident saying she is broadly popular

depends on how you define "saying"

She’s about as close as you’ll ever get to a critical/commercial/internet music nerd coalition consensus on an 18 year old mainstream pop star.

Even people who don’t like her seem to be able to acknowledge that they’re probably too old for it but can at least understand the appeal.

yeah, that was the point of my first post; however, that is changing, in large part due to the "streaming" plant discourse in the air*, plus the general "I liked them when they were underground" backlash that can happen to anyone, plus the grammys. with lizzo it's in large part due to that, plus the postmates thing, plus the (correct) pointing out of a certain kind of white woman having this weird hero worship of her. or potential foreshadowing: what happened to the general opinion and acceptability of admitting to liking arcade fire post-awards.

* obviously this only affects a certain subset of people, but those are also the people I tend to run into socially

and xp -- it's not about dissing you to your face (though that sometimes does happen, or more commonly backhanded comments) but about people thinking less of you. this kind of judgment obviously is also one of those things women experience more acutely

my whole family likes eilish (wife & i are in early 40s, daughter is 10). i think the overall minimalism of the sound works heavily in its favor.

there’s a great Matt dc post way upthread about how refreshing the relative sparseness of the production is, how maybe it portends a reaction to the maximalist 10s... I think it’s pretty awesome how “minimalist” it sounds while still being hi-fi yet intimate, warm, un-clinical, and (most paradoxically) full of little sounds and variations

plus the MASSIVE bass

yeah totally — it's definitely "produced" in the general sense, but it's not overstuffed. leaves plenty to the imagination.

I can dig it on a theoretical level but I have this primal aversion to ASMR mouth noise stuff that keeps me at arm's length. something I expect will occur more and more in the future. even some Leonard Cohen on headphones is too much for me.

she took her invisalign out for your benefit though

prob another key is Billie Eilish coming off as likable and more relatable for ppl, and also just not appearing to give a shit (tho i'm sure she does). i guess probably having a more punk rock type attitude comes into play there.

bad guy is great except for the crazy frog synth after "duh"