Billie Eilish is the latest among trendsetting alternative pop artists to disrupt the music industry through a meteoric rise to fame. As a teenager, Billie Eilish O'Connell, along with her brother Finneas, started recording songs at home and releasing them online. It's a common cottage industry for underground and underage artists working to be heard in a crowded, social media-driven music landscape. While Eilish is not the first artist to gain traction via YouTube or the now dominant music streaming platforms, the song "Ocean Eyes" arrived just as there was a paradigm shift in the way music is being consumed by fans. This is why, upon the release of Eilish's debut full album, she's already a music icon to the digital underground and one of the more important new artists you might have missed.

When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? has the pop underpinnings of "Ocean Eyes" and the previously released EP. Yet, the production on the new songs has a slightly sinister, intentionally dark, and somewhat provocative tone that makes it a must-listen in 2019. As pop-ternative has become a stale wasteland of sound-alike boy bands with the right formula for commercial radio, Billie Eilish combines an industrial filter with her early work for the new release. That filter can be heard on songs like "Bad Boy" and "Bury a Friend," while you still get the sounds of her home studio with tracks like "8" with its un-effected ukulele and the warm acoustic guitar on "I Love You."

For a debut album, Billie Eilish doesn't seem to be aiming for the masses through her "try not to try hard" attitude. While many artists making their debut hold back, waiting for their moment to grab the spotlight, Eilish just simply took it through hyper-creative expression and being willing to insert her deepest emotions into all of her work.

Billie Eilish's When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is out now.

External Link

Billie Eilish - official site

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