Review: Billie Eilish's WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?

by Ananya Panchal

photography courtesy of Billie Eilish's Instagram

After several successful, groundbreaking and iconic singles and EPs, pop artist Billie Eilish blessed her fans with a long-awaited debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

The album was released on March 29 and did so well that 17-year-old Eilish became the first artist born in the 2000s to hit No. 1. This feat shows, however, how music is changing with the rise of young artists.

The California native’s career took off immediately after she released her first song “Ocean Eyes” in 2016, and it went viral on SoundCloud. Her debut EP “Don’t Smile at Me”, featuring eight more singles, came out almost a year later and, no surprise, it went viral, too.

Eilish brings an unorthodox sound to her music while still remaining within the realm of pop.

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? features four songs, “You Should See Me in a Crown,” “When the Party’s Over,” “Bury a Friend” and “Wish You Were Gay,” that were previously released as singles.

The 14-track album begins with an intro called “!!!!!!!” featuring Eilish taking out her Invisalign and laughing alongside her brother, Finneas O’Connell, who co-produced the album. The album then jumps straight into funky and bass-heavy track “bad guy,” which also happens to be my second favorite on this album.

Though I would call this album very on-brand and almost predictable of Eilish, it still managed to shock me with the diversity of each song.

“All the Good Girls Go to Hell” is an upbeat and religious track that I would without a doubt add to my “shower” playlist on Spotify. “i love you,” “when the party’s over,” and “listen before i go,” on the other hand, are simple love ballads that could make any emotionally unstable person like me cry. Each of these songs focus less on the music and far more on the emotion-filled lyrics. You can hear the pain, the suffering, and the feelings as Eilish sings each and every word.

“listen before i go” breaks out the piano, something that I personally think Eilish’s music lacks, at least prior to this song. I love her acoustic filled guitar tracks but you can never go wrong with a classic piano ballad, especially when your voice is as husky and beautiful as Eilish’s.

My personal favorite track, “8”, makes me feel like I’m living my best life in Hawaii. The sweet background ukulele mixed with a drum pattern and Eilish’s fluctuations between a whispery-low and child-like high pitched voice make this song much more unique, especially compared to all her other songs, even on this album.

There are very few albums that I can go through and enjoy every single track, and this album is, without a doubt, one of them.

Eilish has already collaborated with big-name artists like Khalid and Vince Staples and she is now onto bigger things. Her sheer talent and blatantly strange fashion, persona and charisma make her an artist that you will not regret investing an Instagram or Spotify follow in.