Why is Billie Eilish looking so happy?
At 17 years, 3 months and 18 days old, the Los Angeles singer, whose “moody pop” soundscapes have won a devoted Gen Z audience, becomes the youngest female artist in UK chart history to score a Number 1 album.
“I appreciate you making WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? the #1 album in the UK so much. We worked really hard on this album. Thank you for the love!!,” said an unusually-enthused Eilish, who stole Joss Stone’s record.
Eilish also lands three tracks in the Singles Top 20 for good measure.
Is Eilish knocking out banging club anthems?
Far from it. The unnervingly-mature teenager’s record is inspired by “night terrors, nightmares, lucid dreams” and has become the soundtrack for a generation succumbing to the anxieties of a life lived out on social media.
Delivered in a “whatever” eye-rolling drawl, Eilish’s downbeat electro-pop songs bemoan friends using the tranquiliser Xanaxas as a party drug whilst the video for Bury a Friend, which features the repeated line “I want to end me”, depicts the star injected with hundreds of needles.
Dave Grohl compared the generational connection made by Eilish, who has 12m Instagram followers, with Kurt Cobain’s impact in the 90s.
— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) February 14, 2019
Why Billie is changing pop
Eilish’s album racked up 118 million on-demand audio streams in its first five days of release.
Unlike Drake, whose albums top the charts on the back of three or four huge hits, statistical analysis found that Eilish’s audience was listening to her entire album, often in sequence.
Some fans even paid money to buy or download the album.
Apple’s head of music said Eilish’s success showed that the traditional “album” could still attract young streamers.
Why is she coming to Middlesborough?
Elish, whose brother, Finneas O’Connell, appeared in Glee and co-writes her songs, will play Radio 1’s Big Weekend in the north east town in May.
She will then be the hottest attraction at Glastonbury and the Reading/Leeds festivals.
