Experimental, pitch-black teen pop that marked the debut of a new kind of superstar.
WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
Billie Eilish
30
With the release of her haunting alt-pop smash “Ocean Eyes” in 2016, Billie Eilish made it clear she was going to be a new kind of pop star—an introvert who favoured chilling melodies, moody beats, creepy videos and a playful crudeness. At 17, the Los Angeles native—along with her brother and co-writer, Finneas O’Connell—presented her much-anticipated debut album, a melancholy investigation of all the dark and mysterious spaces that linger in the back of our minds.
Billie, who is both beleaguered and fascinated by night terrors and sleep paralysis, has a complicated relationship with her subconscious. “I’m the monster under the bed, I’m my own worst enemy,” she told Apple Music. “It’s not that the whole album is a bad dream, it’s just…surreal.” With an endearingly off-kilter mix of teen angst and experimentalism, the album quickly and decidedly launched Billie Eilish as the perfect avatar for a new, uncertain era.