Billie Eilish was never the typical pop star, but she became a star no one ever knew she was needed for.
Her layered storytelling opened up a songbook delving into the depths of self-love and fear, mental health, loss, love, depression and some of the things that are often easier to sing in song than words, each lavishly arranged around textured, impulsive beats. by his brother, co-writer and co-producer Finneas O’Connell.
[RELATED: Billie Eilish on Struggling With Body Image: “I Feel Like My Body Was Gaslighting Me For Years”]
Born Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell on December 18, 2001, Eilish was just 13, already uploading her music to SoundCloud and quickly hit the Billboard charts – albeit on the lower end of the spectrum – with her debut. “Ocean Eyes”. which peaked at No. 84 on the Hot 100. Now two albums into his career – since debuting in 2019, When we all fall asleep, where do we go? and more responsible follow-up, happier than ever—Eilish has already received seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.
Celebrating one of music’s youngest and greatest talents, here’s a chronological look at just 10 of Eilish’s best songs.
1. “Eyes of the Ocean” (2015)
Written by Finneas O’Connell
Although “Ocean Eyes” later appeared on Eilish’s 2017 debut EP, don’t smile at meshe first released the song on SoundCloud in 2015, when she was 14 years old. Originally, Finneas wrote the song for his band, the Slightlys, but realized it was a much better first for his sister’s vocals.
I watched you for a while
I can’t stop staring at those ocean eyes
Burning cities and napalm skies
Fifteen flares inside these ocean eyes
Your ocean eyes
Not fair
You really know how to make me cry
When you give me those ocean eyes
I am scared
I’ve never fallen from so high
Fall into your ocean eyes
These ocean eyes
2. “Six Feet Under” (2016)
Written by Finneas O’Connell
Although the term “six feet under” is often used to refer to a deceased person, in the song, Eilish talks about a love that has ended, a love that she cannot overcome. The clip was edited with the help of Eilish’s mother, Maggie Baird, an actress whose first role was on the soap Another world in the early 1980s. Coincidentally, Baird also starred in the HBO series Six feet Under ground.
Help, I got lost again
But I remember you
Don’t come back, it won’t end well
But I would like you to tell me
Our love is six feet under
I can’t help wondering
If our grave was watered by the rain
Would the roses bloom?
Could the roses bloom
Again?
3. “Bored” (2017)
Written by Billie Eilish, Finneas O’ConnellAaron Forbes and Tim Anderson
In 2017, Eilish released her debut EP, don’t smile at me, which featured the single “Bellyache”. That same year, she released a separate single, “Bored,” which featured in the first season of Netflix’s teen drama. 13 reasons why, based on the 2007 novel by Jay Asher. The mid-tempo ballad explores revealing the mistakes of an old love.
I’m not afraid anymore
What makes you sure you’re all I need?
Forget that
When you walk through the door and leave me torn
You teach me to live without it
4. “Charming”, with Khalid (2018)
Written by Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell and Khalid
Contributing again to the second season of 13 reasons why, Eilish collaborated with Khalid on the more “lovely” bedroom pop. Driven by delicate piano and strings before its construction, “lovely” dives into depression and is a message of hope, of finding a way out of the darkness.
“We called it ‘lovely,’ because the song was kind of really depressing, so it’s like, ‘Oh, how lovely,'” Eilish shared. “Just take everything horrible like you know what?” It’s good. I’m so happy to be miserable.
I thought I found a way
I thought I found a way out (found)
But you never leave (never leave)
So I guess I gotta stay now
Oh, I hope someday I’ll get out of here
Even if it takes all night or a hundred years
I need a place to hide, but I can’t find one near
I want to feel alive, outside I can’t fight my fear
To this day, “lovely” remains Eilish’s most-streamed song on Spotify with over 2.1 billion plays.
5. “When the Party’s Over” (2019)
Written by Finneas O’Connell
Eilish shares one of her most captivating vocals on “When the Party’s Over,” written by Finneas, from her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? The song tells the story of a recurring painful love that plays like a church hymn. The video for “when the party’s over” shows Eilish dressed in white and drinking an opaque liquid as black tears begin to roll down her cheeks.
Don’t you know that I’m no good for you?
I learned to lose you, I can’t afford
I tore my shirt to keep you from bleeding
But nothing stops you from leaving
Silent when I come home and I’m all alone
I could lie, say I like it like that, like that like that
I could lie, say I like it like that, like that like that
You don’t already know too much?
I will only hurt you if you let me
Call me friend but keep me closer (remind me)
And I’ll call you when the party’s over
6. “Wicked” (2019)
Written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
At the age of 17, Eilish got a bigger introduction to the world with “Bad Guy.” His first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, the electro-pop track is his reaction to someone who thinks he’s a badass.
“It’s like, ‘OK if you’re gonna be that, then I’m gonna be all the fake guys too,'” Eilish said. “Awesome, ‘I’m the wrong guy, the guy makes your mum sad, makes your girlfriend mad’ – which I’m not, but if you can fake it with everyone and try to prove you’re somebody’ one that you are not, then I can do it too.
Eilish admitted she was inspired by rapper JID’s song, “Never,” and Isaiah Rashad’s “Stuck In The Mud,” which stops in the middle and continues on a different beat. “Bad Guy” made Eilish the first artist born in the 21st century to release a chart-topping single.
So you’re a badass
I like it man really hard
I can’t get enough man
Chest still so bloated man
I am that bad guy
make your mom sad
Drive your girlfriend crazy
Might seduce your type of father
I’m the bad guy, duh
7. “No Time To Die” (2020)
Written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
In 2022, Eilish and Finneas won their first Oscar for the theme song to the movie 007 no time to die. Originally released in February 2020, “No Time to Die” caught the attention of fans of the long-awaited James Bond film, starring Daniel Craig, reaching No. 16 on the Billboard Top 100. Before landing the Oscar in 2022, the song also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 2022 and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2021.
“It’s so amazing I could scream,” Eilish said during her Oscars acceptance speech. “Thank you to our 007 family.” Eilish then thanked the no time to die cast and crew and duo collaborator and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. “Thank you Johnny Marr,” Eilish added, “for taking it and making it fit for James Bond.”
I let it burn
You are no longer my concern
Faces of my past return
One more lesson to learn
That I fell for a lie
You were never by my side
Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or heaven?
Now you’ll never see me cry
There’s just no time to die
8. “My Future” (2021)
Written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
On Eilish’s second album, Happier than ever, “My Future” was Eilish’s first release since “No Time to Die”. The dreamy and poignant track, which peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100, was written by Eilish and Finneas at the start of the pandemic and accompanied by an animated video, created by Australian artist Andrew Onorato.
“I think the simplest meaning is the future me, the future person I’m going to be – but also the future world I’m going to live in and the future friends I’m going to have and the future of the people I’m going to be with. ‘surround,” Eilish said of the song. “It’s really not about wishing for the present and the past and wishing you were in the future, but just hoping and being content with the idea of change. And I can’t wait to see what’s in it.
‘Cause I, I’m in love
with my future
I can’t wait to meet her
And me, I’m in love
But not with someone else
I just wanna get to know myself
9. “All I Wanted” (2021)
Written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
Also featured on happier than ever“All I Wanted” details a dream Eilish had, one where she jumps off a building to her death.
“We [she and Finneas] started writing it, because I literally dreamed that I was killing myself, and nobody cared,” revealed Eilish of the song. “All my best friends and people I worked with went out in public and said, ‘Oh, we never liked her.’ In the dream, the fans didn’t care. The internet shit on me for killing myself, all that stuff, and it really pissed me off.
I had a dream
I have everything I wanted
Not what you would think
And if I’m honest
Maybe it was a nightmare
To anyone who might care
I thought I could fly (fly)
So I left the Golden, mm
Nobody cried (cried, cried, cried, cried)
Nobody even noticed
I saw them standing right there
10. “The 30” (2022)
Written by Billie Eilish and Finneas
Eilish and Finneas premiered two new songs, “TV” and “The 30th” live on their Happier Than Ever tour, before releasing a surprise acoustic EP, guitar songs, with the two acoustic tracks. On the pensive “TV,” Eilish reflects on a distance with her friends, escaping while watching TV, and the overthrow of Roe v. Wade, while the more moving “The 30th” tells the story of a loved one who survived a tragic accident on November 30.
sometimes you look alike
Just like you did before the accident
When you stare into space
IIt’s hard to believe you don’t remember
I woke up in the ambulance
You put it all together on the disc
In 2022, Eilish and Finneas filmed two videos, one for each track, at Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay Cloud Forest, a space for sustainability and conservation. The videos were produced by Singaporean filmmaker Choānn in partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board, as part of their international SingapoReimagine campaign.
Photo: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
