HALLOWEEN COME EARLY: REVIEW OF BILLIE EILISH'S 'WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?'

Billie Eilish's hugely hyped debut album is finally here in all it's creepy glory.

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is clearly a feat of almost entirely made from experimentation. It's almost as if the album has been made to see how weird a song can get before it becomes uncomfortable to listen to, and Eilish seems to be right on the cusp. From her vocals which present like unsettling yet alluring ASMR, to the increasingly random sound effects and post-production editing techniques, it makes the album have the same feel as an alternative low-budget thriller film but one of the ones you just can't seem to stop watching.

Each track has is based around a solid bassline and Eilish's haunting whispery vocals, but any other aspect of the track is completely unpredictable from one song to the next. Some feature clips of various people talking and others feature almost alien-like sounds, so you well and truly don't know what you're getting. However, then towards the end of the album, you get the track 'i love you' which somehow stands out because doesn't have any of these odd quirks, and is just a genuinely sad and quite beautiful song. This simultaneous predictability and unpredictability is difficult to achieve and leaves the listener a little confused but there is no doubt that confusion is part of Eilish's goal.

The album brings forwards the dark and dingy side of growing up as Generation Z, and the clear impact that the internet and pop culture has on adolescence. With social media making access to the demons of the world all the more easier, it's no surprise that so many teenagers identify with Eilish's music. 'listen before i go' is a particularly poignant track which shows this sadness that people are often surprised to see is so prevalent among young people nowadays.  However, Eilish has created this album in a way where it presents this idea as an ongoing theme but without it being at the forefront of lyrics, and that is what makes this album accessible to all generations.

The standard for debut albums in this day and age is so unbelievably high that we forget that debut albums are often an artist's first time writing, recording and compiling a group of songs together and it's no easy task. It is far more interesting to listen to a debut album full of experimentation than one that has simply played it safe in order to guarantee that it gains good reviews off the bat. Hats off to Eilish for being incredibly risky at such a young age with her album, and quite frankly, hats off to the industry people around her allowing it to do it.

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is by no means a perfect album, but it is an interesting one and certainly leaves us completely unable to predict where Eilish will go with future releases. I'd say that it is a debut well done, and leaves a lot of room for growth in the future.

RATING: 4/5

Listen on Spotify HERE
Listen on Apple Music HERE
Billie Eilish official website HERE

Written by Ruby Crowhurst