One Liner: Dark pop phenom at only 19 years old.
Wikipedia Genre: Pop, electropop, indie pop.Home: L.A.
Poster Position: 1
Both Weekends.
Saturday at 8:30 on the Lady Bird Stage.
Thoughts: The nice thing for me is that she was just here in 2019, and she hasn't released much new music in the interim! So I can pretty much just use the same post I did in 2019 and let that do the talking for me. I'll update streaming numbers and maybe talk about a new track down below, but otherwise, welcome back to last ACL!
Here's another creepy one - "when the party's over," with 1.1 billion (up from 364.1 million in 2019) streams.
As far as the live show experience goes, I honestly hated the show in 2019. My daughters were really excited to go see it, and I even went so far as to buy them little collapsible stools so that they could see the stage over the crowd. It was packed like no other show I've been to in recent memory, but when the music kicked in, it was honestly boring. She tried to hype of the crowd, and then she's sing some whispery ballad. At one point she demanded that most pits be created, and the kids obeyed and made weak little mosh pits that ended after about 10 seconds. If you want to see for yourself, take a look (from I Heart Radio in 2019).
Mediocre sound on that video, but I will tell you that the crowd enjoyed singing along at top volume so it won't much matter. Maybe she'll be releasing a new album before October?
Let's also throw this out there - Rainn Wilson, from the Office, doing a trivia interview with Billie Eilish. Kind of funny (and she has a DEEP Office memory).
Major "pop" star, but with pop music that tends towards the dark, moody, emotional end of the spectrum instead of the "California Gurls" end of the performance world. The first few times that I ever heard a song by her, I had no clue that it was a new artist, I thought "you should see me in a crown" was Lorde.
This article calls her a "generational icon," which I suppose is probably true. She does this stuff semi-DIY, with her brother the only other listed collaborator on her whole album, which seems like a very Millennial way to do things, to eschew the hit producer and do your own badass thing. And then seem totally surprised when its a big deal.
Her first hit single was "ocean eyes," which I have heard more times than I can count because my youngest daughter loves that song and wants to hear it all the time. 754.a million streams (up from 269 million in 2019) on Spotify.
She put out an initial EP back in 2017, but finally released a full album in 2019. I reviewed it and was surprised that it is actually better than I expected. When all I had to go on was that EP (which I don't much like, other than "crown") I figured it would be more pretty poppy love song stuff like "ocean eyes," but I was very wrong. Here is my review of the album.
Its a very weird album - you get bangers like "crown," then you get tender suicide balladry like "listen before i go," then you get kinda funny dance pop like "bad guy" (which shifts tempo near the end to become a totally different track made of trap beats), then you get weirdly funny stuff like "wish you were gay." I have no clue how to actually pigeonhole this album or tell you what to expect. I guess the thing to expect is something different from any other current pop album, and a lot of dark lyrics that can be a bummer, even while they sound lovely.
Wikipedia says her real name is "Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell," which I can't say I entirely believe. But then this interview with her from the BBC agrees with the same, so I guess that is the word on the street. Also, her brother Finneas, who wrote "ocean eyes" and produced her album, was an actor on Glee and I really wish I could remember who Alistar was on the show. Nope - just went and watched some clips on YouTube, I definitely stopped watching Glee by the time those other new people came onto the show. Did Glee keep going after everyone left for New York or whatever? I guess so. I, however, did not.
Her most streamed track is bad guy, with a whopping 1.7 billion streams. That is insane.
Even just the start of the track is cool, with that sliding sharpening of a knife sound. AND THEN YOU SEE THE VIDEO AND YOU HATE EVERYTHING BECAUSE SPIDERS!!! YUCK-O-RAMA. That track has 576.8 million (up from 185.9 million in 2019) streams, which means it isn't even in her top five tracks overall on Spotify.
This article calls her a "generational icon," which I suppose is probably true. She does this stuff semi-DIY, with her brother the only other listed collaborator on her whole album, which seems like a very Millennial way to do things, to eschew the hit producer and do your own badass thing. And then seem totally surprised when its a big deal.
Her first hit single was "ocean eyes," which I have heard more times than I can count because my youngest daughter loves that song and wants to hear it all the time. 754.a million streams (up from 269 million in 2019) on Spotify.
So, she was freaking 14 when she made and uploaded that song. Which is absolutely wild. If you would have just played me the song without naming the artist, I would have guessed it was Lana Del Rey. Has that same breathy, torchy singing style.
She put out an initial EP back in 2017, but finally released a full album in 2019. I reviewed it and was surprised that it is actually better than I expected. When all I had to go on was that EP (which I don't much like, other than "crown") I figured it would be more pretty poppy love song stuff like "ocean eyes," but I was very wrong. Here is my review of the album.
Its a very weird album - you get bangers like "crown," then you get tender suicide balladry like "listen before i go," then you get kinda funny dance pop like "bad guy" (which shifts tempo near the end to become a totally different track made of trap beats), then you get weirdly funny stuff like "wish you were gay." I have no clue how to actually pigeonhole this album or tell you what to expect. I guess the thing to expect is something different from any other current pop album, and a lot of dark lyrics that can be a bummer, even while they sound lovely.
Wikipedia says her real name is "Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell," which I can't say I entirely believe. But then this interview with her from the BBC agrees with the same, so I guess that is the word on the street. Also, her brother Finneas, who wrote "ocean eyes" and produced her album, was an actor on Glee and I really wish I could remember who Alistar was on the show. Nope - just went and watched some clips on YouTube, I definitely stopped watching Glee by the time those other new people came onto the show. Did Glee keep going after everyone left for New York or whatever? I guess so. I, however, did not.
Her most streamed track is bad guy, with a whopping 1.7 billion streams. That is insane.
It is apparently a thing with her to make her videos awful and horrible and disgusting. Very pretty song, but that video is disturbing. I know I said only one more, but let's do one more. This is "bury a friend," which has 786 million (up from 252.7 million in 2019) streams.
I was going to say - oh good, she isn't putting something foul in her mouth! A real video! But no, she's still getting shoved and prodded and messed with and injected with 15 needles... Radio has been playing this one, and it is truly a weird song to hear on the radio tucked next to The Black Keys and Imagine Dragons...
As far as the live show experience goes, I honestly hated the show in 2019. My daughters were really excited to go see it, and I even went so far as to buy them little collapsible stools so that they could see the stage over the crowd. It was packed like no other show I've been to in recent memory, but when the music kicked in, it was honestly boring. She tried to hype of the crowd, and then she's sing some whispery ballad. At one point she demanded that most pits be created, and the kids obeyed and made weak little mosh pits that ended after about 10 seconds. If you want to see for yourself, take a look (from I Heart Radio in 2019).
She released a new song in 2021 "Your Power," that leaves behind the pop hardness and aims for gentle ballad (and a sad ass song about a broken relationship). 78 million streams.
Definitely trying for a different thing than "bad guy" or "crown." Don't love it. I don't have any interest in trying to see this show again. Maybe my girls will and I'll be stuck in the mass of bodies again, but hopefully they'll have outgrown her and we can go to Stevie Nicks or Miley Cyrus.
Let's also throw this out there - Rainn Wilson, from the Office, doing a trivia interview with Billie Eilish. Kind of funny (and she has a DEEP Office memory).
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