Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? REVIEW by Aaron B.

Sticking with how she presents herself, you might be a little frightened of the demonic glare poking from the album cover. A weirdo and thankfully so. But scratching beneath the macabre surface leads to a surfeit of fleeting tricks and quirks, brimming with wit and poise missing from the poppier struts of Don't Smile At Me. 

As teenagers go, she's more than sweet - she's funny, refreshingly direct and brave enough to sacrifice conventional hooks for a more impressionistic getup. But the songs stick with you from the opening retainer skit through 'Bad Guy''s titillating clicks, to 'Xanny''s bloated reverberations and ‘Wish You Were Gay’s’ humming smirk and so on, without a hint of hubris or bare-faced duds. Her trials echo proudly because we all were teenagers once, but with a bad job and better salary we like to forget it. 

Only when the last three cuts play out, solemnly etched as "Listen Before I Go, I Love You, Goodbye', do you realise the depth of ambition - a finale so quiet, so meaningful and hopeful in its pain, winding back to silence without turning grotesque or clenching its fists.


Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, 5/5

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