billie eilish

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"

american bradass (BradNelson) at 1:09 29 Jan 20

she took her invisalign out for your benefit though

lol it's not her, I think it's just digital recording can be so detailed now with hardly any noise floor and mic tech has gotten to where you can get affordable stuff that performs like a $1000+ mic now, plus I think it's just a thing now I know lots of people are into it.

I notice with FM radio DJs a lot now too

I notice with FM radio DJs a lot now too

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, January 29, 2020 12:40 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i was listening to bob boilen on npr the other day and had to turn it off for this reason so i empathize

She’s reportedly booked to perform during the “In Memoriam” segment at the Oscars.... That’s quite a gig, hope she takes out her Invisalign!

I think her real genius is in her soft closely microphoned vocals

yeah, i don't even know who produces and records her stuff but they should be getting paid

I was listening to a lot of the album yesterday and I'm still amazed how perfectly the xanny vocals, starting at skepticism, kind of float off at the end

xp it's her and her brother in her bedroom iirc?

xp production is entirely her brother, Finneas, who also writes the music for the tracks. All in their bedrooms at their parents' house in LA. I've seen interviews where Billie points to the bed and says yeah I just lay on my back there with a vocal mic to record "Bad Guy" or whatever.

it does feel like bedroom music in the best way

does anyone know of a good edit that basically justs extends/loops the house-tempo sections of Bad Guy?

(for download)

still astonished that my 10 year old goddaughter picked up on her even before this album came out

Finneas won Grammys for producer of the year and best engineered album, so he's certainly getting recognized.

imo the biggest argument for billie eilish having actual talent is how much worse finneas's solo stuff is

fr

I assume now that Finneas will take a bunch of production jobs and Billie won't drop another album until 2022

can't imagine there are many/any production gigs more lucrative than the one he already has

he's worked with Halsey, Tove Lo, Camilla Cabello and Selena Gomez recently. Probably made a few bucks.

Her bro is reportedly readying a solo bow.

he already put out an EP last year

anything to recommend on it?
(btw maura, i liked your time mag best music of the decade and connected with a lotta your choices)

i'd have to relisten!

(and thank you :))

I've only heard "bad guy," but I liked it. That's all I got on the subject, beyond thinking it's damn ridiculous people thought she should be aware of Van Halen.

Her brother did one of those "song association" things for ELLE that made me want to defenestrate my monitor.

i have to say i have never forgiven him since seeing this picture
http://scrumptiousmoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Maggoe-Family.png

i'm sorry but when you're 16 you're not supposed to like family photos. you don't smile reflectively while dressed like you're doing a Tigerbeat shoot

dude wait til you see his yearbooks

let's do an old fashioned FT 'am i cool or not?'

What's wrong with that photo?

(as in -- I don't get the problem w/it, looks like a perfectly normal family pic)

a lot, not least of which dad's mock turtleneck, but i'll stop shitting up this thread now

it may sound harsh, but the revolution will not be a success without the destruction of the family as a concept

I love the bit at the very beginning where she and her brother just fall around laughing, but then at some point her laugh stops being a teenager goofing around and becomes this hollow sardonic supervillain laugh and then Bad Guy immediately kicks in.

If we do look back on this record at the end of the decade as one of those records that changed pop then it's immediately apparent from the very beginning. Just binning the permagrinning champagne maximalism of so much of the previous decade, it already sounds like a generational shift.

Oh it turns out I already made that last point several months ago.

it's a great otm point, deserved to be made again

yes^^^

Just binning the permagrinning champagne maximalism of so much of the previous decade, it already sounds like a generational shift.

Even in light of Lorde?

(I’m not knocking BE or calling her derivative, but she feels very post-Lorde to me, not something radically new on the pop landscape.)