Stream: Billie Eilish, ‘Bury a Friend’

Kevin Bronson on January 30th, 2019

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Billie Eilish and her sibling collaborator Finneas O’Connell continue to use the tools of modern pop as their personal Play-Doh, molding beats, effects and melodies into weird and weirdly cool shapes, all reflecting the thrills and spills of being 17 years old.

Today, Eilish announced that her debut album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” will arrive on March 29 via Darkroom/Interscope Records. The album was made in her brother’s bedroom opposite Eilish’s in their Highland Park home. The announcement follows the tease of the song “When I Was Older” — which appears alongside tunes by Beck, Patti Smith, Ibeyi and more on the compilation “Music Inspired by the Film Roma” (out Feb. 8) — and her 2017 EP “Don’t Smile at Me” and ensuing singles. All have amassed bazillions of streams online.

“Bury a Friend” starts with a throbbing beat and a vocoded, sing-songy chorus that asks the album’s titular question. The song breaks down, as if to allow time to consider that question. It revs back up with chanted verses (Finneas in the background) and some sleek, EDM-lite swashes of synth. What to make of it all? Best just to bop.

Eilish backgrounds the song: “When we made ‘Bury a Friend,’ the whole album clicked in my head. 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. It inspired what the album is about. ‘Bury a Friend’ is literally from the perspective of the monster under my bed. If you put yourself in that mindset, what is this creature doing or feeling?

“I also confess,” she adds, “that I’m this monster, because I’m my own worst enemy. I might be the monster under your bed, too.”

And we thought kids might still be scared to look under their beds.

||| Stream: “Bury a Friend”