I see her as both adorable
and as a serious artist.
Adorable, in that, like Swift,
but perhaps even more-so,
she seems to exude goodness.
And her creative collaboration
with her brother Finneas is
perhaps the most adorable
sibling musical endeavor ever.
They clearly love each other
and are astoundingly well-matched
in their talents and tastes.
Finneas is an enormously skilled
musician, but dedicated himself
to his sister’s project, almost
exclusively, during the prime of
his own musical development.
Only recently, I think, has he
stepped back from touring with
Billie so he could concentrate
on his own work, which is also
spectacularly good. And Billie
is no light-weight pop star.
Her music is compelling, sonically,
emotionally, structurally, and it
evolves. At first I was attracted
to its darkness, those initial horror
movie-inspired videos, but by
the time Happier Than Ever arrives,
she becomes almost like a torch-
song jazz singer, while still holding
on to some, but not all, of that
electronic wizardry. And her
intelligence as a lyricist, as
a humanistic, strong feminist voice
begins to mature. Billie’s got pipes,
as is evidenced sparingly here and there,
but she chooses, for the most part,
to sing in almost a whisper. She
creates a kind of intimacy this way
with the listener, leaves her breathing
in the track, makes it seem like she’s
right there, an inch or two from your ear.
And even quietly, it is clear she is
an objectively strong singer. I hear no
evidence of auto-tune and some of her
riffing around the melody, while far
from the kind of pyrotechnics you hear
from other pop singers who are clearly
just showing off, her moves are tasteful
and groovy. And while I argue for the
seriousness of her artistry, I love it that
she doesn’t take herself too seriously
and can be at times incredibly funny.
I don’t put a lot of stock in
the Grammy awards, but it seems fitting
that she’s won ten of them already by
the time she’s 25. Just as The Cure, after
50 years, won a Grammy this year for
their most recent album, sometimes there
is some justice there, sometimes they get
it right. This year she wins a Grammy for
a song from last year’s album, which is odd,
but again, I think, justified. Hit Me Hard
and Soft is her best record, dense, full,
almost progressive in moments, indicating to
me anyway that she’s on an upward spiral
to even greater heights. I’m here for it.
Notes on the vinyl editions: Happier Than Ever, Darkroom/Interscope Records, 2021, double black vinyl. Hit Me Hard and Soft, Darkroom/Interscope Records, 2024, turquoise vinyl.
Maybe this is an issue with the label and its choice of vinyl replication services, but after buying When We Fall Asleep Where Do Go on vinyl, I took it back to the record store. Too noisy. Too many icky audio artifacts. Similarly, there are places on Happier Than Ever that distort and crackle. This just pisses me off–because I know it’s possible to replicate quiet, virtually noiseless vinyl. It’s been possible since the 80’s! Anyway, for anyone late to the Billie Eilish party, I’d recommend the compact discs. Hit Me Hard and Soft is less noisy in my vinyl edition, thankfully.
In case you don’t already know: I’m listening to almost everything in my vinyl collection, A to Z, and writing at least one, sometimes two or three long skinny poem-like-things in response for each artist, and on a few occasions, writing a long skinny poem-like-thing in response to more than one artist. As a poet and a student of poetry, I understand that these things look like poems, but they don’t really sound much like poetry, hence, I call them “poem-like-things.” I’ll admit that they’re just long, skinny essays that veer every now and then into the poetic or lyric.
michael jarmer 