FEATURE:
Groovelines
Billie Eilish - bury a friend
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THE third single…
from her debut studio album, WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, bury a friend turns five on 30th January. One of Billie Eilish’s most extraordinary tracks, I wanted to dive deeper. I am going to come to some critical reception. A chart success around the world, bury a friend was written by Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O'Connell. The album from which it came was hugely acclaimed. To get an idea of what the song is about and why it is so impactful, there are some articles I want to source. First, Wikipedia give some information regarding the background of the song:
“Eilish credited the song for setting the tone for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, stating: "I immediately knew what it was going to be about, what the visuals were going to be, and everything in terms of how I wanted it to be perceived". "Bury a Friend" has been described as a synth-pop, electronica, electropop and industrial track in press reviews. Suzy Exposito of Rolling Stone called it "goth-R&B" reminiscent of Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar (1996). The song is moderately fast at 120 beats per minute (BPM), and is written in the key of G minor. Its minimalist instrumentation features a hip hop and "galloping" beat similar to Kanye West's "Black Skinhead" (2013). Rumbling" percussion, "scattered" synth melodies, screams, and a screeching recording of an orthodontist shaving off Eilish's dental brace attachments are also included. Charlie Harding of Vox pointed out "a broken song form with strange alternate verses and a bridge placed untraditionally after a verse, rather than immediately following a penultimate chorus. The effect is destabilizing, and yet still accessible to the average listener". The melody presented during the chorus has been likened to the Doors' "People Are Strange" (1967), and sonically described as "innocuous as a childhood rhyme", contrasting the rest of the song.
According to Eilish, the track's "dark" and "violent" lyric are written from the perspective of "the monster under your bed. Anything could be the monster — it could be someone you love so much that it’s taking over your life. I think love and terror and hatred are all the same thing”. Laura Dzubay of Consequence of Sound interpreted: "[Eilish] assumes the position of a monster there to haunt somebody (a lover or herself [...])."The Michigan Daily's Samantha Cathie thought the fact that the singer was "hat[ing] herself" mirrored in the lines: "Like I wanna drown, like I wanna end me” and "Honestly I thought that I would be dead by now".
The feature from MTV fleshes out the somewhat dark and extraordinary story behind bury a friend. If Billie Eilish’s music has moved in direction since her debut album came out, bury a friend remains one of her most extraordinary songs:
“Billie Eilish's "Bury a Friend" details a strange and slightly horrifying relationship that the singer has with a monster that lurks beneath her bed, who also happens to be her. In its video, you can see her doppelgänger, with soulless holes for eyes, threatening to swallow the singer whole. It's everyone's worst fear: a monster near them when they're at their most vulnerable. And according to Eilish in a new interview with OK! Magazine, it's this fearful, sleep-related thought that inspired the song.
What's worse than a monster under your bed? Not being able to move. You've experienced the uneasy feeling at one point or another and, each time, you just want to hide under the covers. For everyone, it's different. But, often, people see, what they believe, are spirits, demons, or other denizens of the night that can keep you awake, and frozen, until the morning comes.
Eilish elaborated on this feeling in her interview. "I have these terrifying dreams," she told Ok! Magazine, as Uproxx reported. "Sleep paralysis, night terrors. It's like the whole night is terrifying and then I wake up." She continued on, tying it into "Bury a Friend." "I probably wouldn't have made that song the way it is if I hadn't had sleep paralysis and nightmares."
It turns out, in this case, that sleep paralysis is good. "Bury a Friend" peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified platinum. The album it comes from, When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? has not only gone double platinum, but it also won the trophies for Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year at the 2020 Grammy Awards”.
I will move onto an article from NME gave their take on an extraordinary song from a then-new artist. A teen prodigy who was shaking up the world of Pop. If it is a track that many fans might not put in their top ten Billi Eilish songs, I think it is one of the standouts from WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? A track that is distinctly the work of one of the world’s greatest songwriters:
“Billie Eilish doesn’t like making things easy for herself. When we met her last year to discuss ‘When The Party’s Over’, she made a confession: “I bring the most miserable things onto myself.” She was talking about the single’s accompanying video which sees the 17-year-old cry gloopy black ink, inspired by a picture fan drew her on tour. That creepy concept is what elevated the track and visual into a viral sensation. While she whispers about loneliness, the raw emotion on show in the bleak, but staggering video proved that she’s one of our most formidable artists.
Fitting, then, that nothing has really changed for her in her latest video for ‘Bury A Friend’. It’s the first single from her now-announced debut album ‘When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ out on March 28. Utilising similar horror aesthetics as ‘When The Party’s Over’, a tortured Billie is pushed, pulled and possessed in the haunting clip. At one point, gloved hands continuously enter and exit the frame, grabbing and prodding her face, all while she poses questions faster than an unforgiving game-show host.
Then again, her career hasn’t been a complete easy ride. Sure, the 17-year-old had her debut single ‘Ocean Eyes’ go viral and landed a record deal with a major label, but she’s since dealt with unparalleled pressure and scrutiny. “I just don’t wanna see all the horrible things people say,” she said about social media to NME. “I don’t wanna see that I should have died instead of this artist. It takes not looking at my phone to stop myself from engaging.”
‘Bury A Friend’ throws down the gauntlet early on. After rapper Crooks’ booming voice introduces “Billie”, a galloping beat that keeps pace with Kanye West’s ‘Black Skinhead’ emerges, as haunting yelps lurk around every beat. “What do you want from me?” she asks, at once inquisitive, pained, frustrated and prepared before she muses on mortality and asks the haters once more to just “say it, spit out”.
It’s a sizeable middle finger to anyone who expected a twinkly ballad befitting to her lone EP, 2017’s ‘don’t smile at me’. Instead, it’s a even progression from recent brooding singles ‘You Should See Me In A Crown’ and ‘Lovely’, but with some necessary tweaks. ‘Bury A Friend’, co-produced with writing partner and older brother Finneas O’Connell, is drowning in layers of vocal effects and there’s a playful trickery in each hook. Those looking for a glittery chorus will be sorely disappointed.
Instead, ‘Bury A Friend’ is a statement song from an artist who is currently tearing up the rulebook of what young fans want from their pop stars. Instead of faux-happy bops, much like her contemporary Post Malone, Billie is looking inwards and vocalising the uncertainties and inquisitions of a generation ready to make their mark. She doesn’t make things easy for herself, but sometimes the hardest road and most terrifying steps turn out to be the most rewarding”.
I am going to wrap up soon. The Mix Review were among to have their say about a hypotonic and truly engrossing song. I remember when bury a friend came out on 30th January, 2019. I was new to the work of Billie Eilish and I was instantly stunned and intrigued. This was an artist that sounded like nobody else. Following you should see me in a crown and when the party’s over, bury a friend got so many talking about this phenomenal and hugely talented young artist. Five years since its release, I am still playing bury a friend and helpless to resist its power:
“The vocal production is mind-boggling in the variety of vocal deliveries, as well as various cool spot-effects and layers. It’s so densely detailed and inventive that it’s hard to know what to single out for praise, but personal highlights include the spoken double-tracks at 0:30-0:40 and 1:34-1:44, which progressively increase in intensity; the many claustrophobically dry spoken phrases, such as “come here” (0:24) and “I wanna end me” (0:55); the backing vocals at 0:43, which are then reversed at 0:47; the ominous rattle in the male vocal timbre on “dead by now” (1:50), as well as the purring chorused female “wow” that follows it; and the subtle pitch-dropped layers under “what is it exactly” (0:27) and “what had you expected” (1:31).
Another thing that slays me is how well the rest of the production supports the vocal creepiness. The Foley and atmospheric effects are particularly rich, favourites of mine being the spooky door-hinge squeak at 1:53 and the unnerving dentist-drill whirr at 1:55. Is that a blade swishing through the air at 0:47? Cybernetic rats skittering across the stereo image at 1:05? Some hideous alien tearing through rusty metal at 1:48? A paranoid ringing in our ears at 0:55? The sound-design is so beautifully targeted, fastidiously nuanced, and restlessly mixed that the song comes across as much like a teaser-trailer to some kind of horror-game franchise as it does like a chart single — and I mean that as a compliment, given the extraordinarily high production values you’ll frequently find in that part of the audio industry.
But, above all, the sheer bravado of the producers is breathtaking. At 0:57, for example, they deliver possibly the boldest six seconds of production I’ve ever heard in the charts. That silence between the two low-frequency tones seems like it goes on for ever! In fact, the way pockets of stasis are repeatedly used to generate unease is brilliant, much like those momentary breathless pauses that precede many a cinematic jump scare. In this respect, it’s particularly cool that the very last phrase of the song “where do we go” (3:01) trails to silence just as it did at 0:21 and 1:25, leaving you unsure whether the song’s actually finished, or whether another of those menacingly up-close male vocal phrases is still waiting to pounce…
Overall, despite the lyric’s slightly worrying undertones of glamorising self-harm, I can’t recommend this production highly enough to any student of modern production. The more you listen, the more you’ll find to appreciate, which is pretty much the definition of great art, as far as I’m concerned. Not to be missed”.
I will leave things with one final review. I wanted to get a few different perspectives on the song. Now, most people know about Billie Eilish. At the start of 2019, there was still some mystery and curiosity about the Los Angeles-born artist. With a debut album due that March (2019), eyes were turning her way. She was instantly distinguishing herself from her peers. This year, I think we are going to get a follow-up to her second studio album, Happier Than Ever (2021):
“Billie Eilish is back with the hauntingly honest ‘bury a friend’, this is her second single released this year already and she has certainly set the standard extremely high for her up and coming album ‘WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?’ Which was also announced to be released on the 29th of March this year.
Eilish is becoming somewhat of a voice of her generation with her poetic, heart-on-my-sleeve, unfiltered songs; she is reminiscent of Lorde a few years back when no one could get over the fact that she was just sixteen but writing about issues like misery and heartbreak. Eilish is very similar in the way that she has the ability to turn diary entry ramblings into really current, impressive pop music. ‘bury a friend’ has a bit of a different edge to some of Eilish’s other singles. It has her staple crystalline vocals, but they are paired with a bit of a faster beat. Billie describes ‘bury a friend’ as being in the perspective of the monster under her bed and confesses that she is in fact the monster under her bed and her own worst enemy, which is something I think a lot of us can relate to.
She didn’t stop at just this new song though, it is paired with a brand-new video that uses the idea of her being the monster under the bed in a literal sense and has a creepy, horror movie vibe. The video brings ‘bury a friend’ to life so perfectly and Eilish really takes every aspect of the visuals into consideration with each new release, it all flows together in such a satisfying way.
This song is different than anything that is popular recently, as is the case with a lot of Eilish’s music; she is a breath of fresh air. She must get a bit tired of hearing the whole ‘you’re so young!’ narrative but, to be discussing topics that people a lot older than her are afraid to discuss in their music is a huge power move and she breaking stigmas left right and centre, which is very cool and very needed.
The 29th of March can’t come quick enough and if the rest of ‘WHEN WE SLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?’ is anything like what we have heard so far, we have a lot to be excited for”.
An artist who was evolving and did not want to be pigeon-holed, bury a friend took some by surprised. Think back to her debut E.P., 2017’s dont smile at me, and it was clear that Billie Eilish wanted to move on venture into new sonic ground. I want to wrap up with some further critical reception. Wikipedia collated response to a stunning song:
“Upon release, "Bury a Friend" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Several publications saw the song as her best single, as well as a highlight of When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. It was likened to Lorde's "Royals" (2013), as well as its production to that on West's Yeezus (2013). Thomas Smith of NME saw "Bury a Friend" as "a sizeable middle finger to anyone who expected a twinkly ballad befitting to her lone EP, 2017's Don't Smile at Me", as well as a "statement" for "vocalising the uncertainties and inquisitions of a generation ready to make their mark". DIY's Lisa Wright labelled the song "intoxicating and intriguing – aka exactly what you want from a new star". Chloe Gilke of Uproxx praised the "full of bizarre, screechy flourishes and dips into the nightmarish" and claimed that "somehow the song’s lyrics are just as specific and creepy". Similarly, an editor for The Music Network commented on the song's "sinister [nature] in name and "lyric" and claimed that it is "unsettling", despite there being "something tranquil and thoughtful about it". The Independent's Roisin O'Connor praised "Bury a Friend" as "excellent", and also noted its "imperious" and "anthemic quality". She further commented on the successful use of Eilish's "formula": "murmuring in cool low tones over a pulsing beat". In a lukewarm review, Samantha Cantie of The Michigan Daily saw the song as "slightly disappointing". She wrote: "[A] letdown is her seeming embrace of making an abnormal creation because it’s cool, as opposed to creating something with the beauty of sound as a priority", and elaborated, stating: "The track is choppy, cutting from different melodies quite quickly – these melodies bump, but they’re fleeting". Joe Coscarelli noted an "odd structure" and "nightmare lyrics".
Turning five on 30th January, bury a friend remains one of Billie Eilish’s most memorable and extraordinary song. Four further singles were released from her debut album. Receiving widespread praise when it was released in March 2019, WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? remains one of the most important debut albums of the past decade. I am going to round up now. The sublime and haunting bury a friend is a track from…
A once-in-a-generation talent.