Instead, having shed her distinctive debut image and its emotional baggage, Eilish is content with being ‘Happier Than Ever’ – on the cover, she gazes wistfully into the distance, clutching at expensive white cashmere and gently weeping like a old-timey Hollywood star. It seems fitting that this monologue – titled ‘Not My Responsibility’ – should also act as the centrepiece to Billie Eilish’s second album, a record that pulls apart and debunks the idea of a pop fairytale and its happily-ever-after. “So while I feel your stares, your disapproval or your sigh of relief, if I lived by them, I’d never be able to move.” “Nothing I do goes unseen,” she said over washes of Lynchian synthesizer crafted by her brother and key collaborator FINNEAS, who produced her debut and this follow-up. Such immense levels of misogynistic scrutiny eventually led Eilish to deliver a powerful monologue at a show in Miami last spring she called out the unacceptable expectations placed on women, and spoke about the weight of being watched constantly. Quite incredibly, paparazzi even began hiding out in bushes to sneak photographs of the ‘real’ Eilish outside her own home in her native Los Angeles. Some debated and dissected her motives with an unsettling interest, either scolding her for hiding her body or praising her for not flaunting it. By the time Eilish swept the 2020 Grammys, she was a household name, and both sound and artistic persona became flattened down into a cartoonish image: garish green roots, sci-fi sunnies and big, baggy two-piece outfits.
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Though she hadn’t yet released her debut ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ – a menacing tangle of eerie whispers and monstrously lurching melodies that would later redefine the sound of contemporary pop – those early comments feel prophetic with some hindsight. I had wanted to get those screams out for a very long time and it was very nice to.“Sometimes it’s flattering when people copy you, but sometimes it gets to a breaking point,” a 15-year-old Billie Eilish told NME back in 2017, roughly a year after her first single ‘Ocean Eyes’ laid down the foundations for the life-altering, seismic levels of success that would follow. Happier Than Ever probably the most therapeutic song I've ever written or recorded, like ever, ever, ever ‘cause I just screamed my lungs out and could barely talk afterwards, which was very satisfying to me somehow.
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I stay with a smile on my face even when im hurting. Anyone who knows me knows where my heart is. Its on you to understand theres several point of views to a situation. Sometimes people disagree and dont want the same things as one another. Especially around that time when it was fresh. People fail to realize ive been dealing with my brothers death. Adams posted online to an Instagram story in attempt to explain himself in the midst of all this. I just, like, spent time away from him for a little bit and I was like, wow, I'm missing so much because I'm worried about you all the time.įans began harassing Adams virtually after this all was revealed and after the song's release, sending threats and other harmful messages, Eilish told her fans to calm down and be nice no matter what. I literally was just like, “Dude, you don't even have enough love to love yourself, you can't love me.” I do love him, though, which is what made it harder, ‘cause I'm not over him. There was just a lack of effort, I think. I don't think you should be in a relationship, super excited about certain things that the other person couldn't care less about. And I didn't want the same things he wanted and I don't think that's fair for him. Just after the scene, Eilish talked more about the relationship. – Billie Eilish, Billie Eilish: The World's A Little BlurryĮilish sang a portion of Happier Than Ever in the documentary film as well. Because you don't take me seriously when I say that.
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I know, I'm glad you told me but I don't want you to do that. (on the phone with Adams) Where are you right now? hungover? You didn't drive home, right? You did? Why? You said you wouldn't do that. Eilish introduced a more inside-look on the mess of the relationship in her 2021 documentary, Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry, Happier Than Ever tells the story of Eilish's abusive ex-lover, Brandon Quention Adams (also known as 7: AMP, Que, or Q) and his horrific actions throughout their relationship.