Between her 9 Grammys and 2 Oscars, Billie Eilish has made quite the name for herself in pop-culture media. She has released 3 studio albums called, “WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?”, released in 2019, “Happier Than Ever” released in 2021, and “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT”, recently released in 2024. Her Oscar’s are credited to the movie “Barbie” winning the award for “What Was I Made For?”, and for the movie “No Time To Die” for the James Bond film “No Time To Die”.
It is clear that Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas have made some very influential and cultivating music that speaks to all types of people around the world. Her lyricism and soft tone convey intense feelings and have been known to make listeners rather sad and emotional.
I interviewed 4 students about Billie Eilish, asking them what their top 3 songs were, and what lyric they resonate with the most and why. I interviewed Lacey Crouch, Destiny Hill, Juliette Johns, Graden Patyk, and Sophia Minowa.
Starting with Junior, Lacey Crouch, when asked what her top 3 songs were from Billie’s discography, she found the question difficult to answer since there are so many possible answers and combinations. In the end, she told me her favorites were “BLUE”, track #10 from HMHAS, “NDA”, track #13 from Happier Than Ever, “The 30th”, one of her two singles released under “Guitar Songs” in 2022, and “SKINNY” from HMHAS. I also asked Lacey which lyric of Billie’s that she connected with the most and why. She found this question harder to answer than the first one, again because of how many powerful lyrics there are across all of her songs; She eventually answered with “If I wear what’s comfortable, I am not a woman.” from the song “Not My Responsibility”. This song is pretty much Billie Eilish talking the whole time, but her words are very specific and targeted. Lacey chose this lyric because “I think girls in society are having their freedom withheld and they can’t express themselves, and I like to express myself through my clothing and fashion.” I think Lacey could also speak for a lot of women who enjoy expressing themselves and their style and personality through the medium of fashion and expression.
Next, I interviewed Junior, Destiny Hill. Destiny is a big fan of Billie Eilish and has been listening to her music for a very long time. When I asked her what her top 3 songs, she went and gave me 5!! First, “i love you”, track #13 off of WWFAWDWG, “Happier Than Ever”, track #15 off of Happier Than Ever, “wish you were gay”, track #6 off of WWFAWDWG, “my future”, track #4 off of Happier Than Ever, and “No Time To Die”, her original song for the film “No Times To Die”. These are 5 very emotionally captivating songs, and have beautiful melodies and lyrics. Speaking of, Destiny said that the lyric she related to the most was “Cause I, I’m in love, With my future, Can’t wait to meet her”. The reasoning behind this lyric was “Because I have lots of hope for the future, and I honestly can’t wait to see how everything plays out with work, family, and my general happiness.” Hope for the future is very positive and I think people can also relate to Destiny’s optimism and curiosity about what lays ahead in her future.
Senior, Juliette Johns is also an avid listener of Billie Eilish, and had her answers ready to go when I asked her which songs made up her top 3, she answered with “idontwannabeyouanymore”, track #2 off of her EP dont smile at me, “Therefore I Am”, track #14 off of Happier Than Ever, and “NDA”, track #13 off of Happier Than Ever. Juliette gave us a song off of Billie’s EP dont smile at me, the EP that first started really attracting people to Billie’s music. Juliette’s most relatable lyric was “I’m getting older, I’ve got more on my shoulders”, because “As I get older and move on through my life I realise more and more gets put on to my shoulders and on my plate, it is just a lot and I don’t see it ending any time soon”. This is almost like a highschoolers all time quote, as people move through their 4 years here at LHS, a lot more responsibilities start to pile up in front of them and managing them can sometimes be a challenge.
Graden Patyk, a junior, was the last person I interviewed. He told me that his top 3 songs as of right now were “Happier Than Ever”, track #15 off of Happier Than Ever, “i love you”, track #13 off of WWFAWDWG, and “Lunch”, track #2 off of HMHAS. Lunch was the lead single of Billie Eilish’s album Hit Me Hard And Soft, and was immediately a huge radio hit across the nation. I also asked Graden which lyric of hers that he really connected with and resonated with the most, and he answered with “Man am I the greatest?” from the song “The Greatest”. He told me the reason behind this specific lyric was “Because man am I the greatest?? I mean come on?” Graden has been a big fan of Billie Eilish since her album, When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go, but he says that “Happier Than Ever is what really got him hooked into her music.” Graden also can commonly be seen wearing his Billie Eilish merch in school, showing off his loyalty as a fan!!
