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Post by Just Somebody on Sept 1, 2019 0:31:43 GMT -5
In case anyone is curious about Billie Eilish, and is adventurous enough to immerse, this video is a fair representation of her live. Good (BBC) production and sound. I find so much art in what she does, I 'let her in' through the gates that normally keep out all but the most original pop artists. This is not elevator music, so get young.. |
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Post by Just Somebody on Sept 1, 2019 2:09:17 GMT -5
If the above concert is too much, but you're still interested in her, I thought this pro (20k subscriber FBE) reaction video was educational. Mostly 30-somethings reacting to clips, but their insights are interesting. I was surprised at how nonjudgmental they all were, and how healthy their attitudes about the shock aspects of her videos are. Toward the end, there's a Q&A in which the reactors talk about the relevance of popularity to artistic merit – it brings to mind the discussions about other artists' popularity that go on in the main forum.
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Post by Just Somebody on Sept 1, 2019 2:54:02 GMT -5
In case anyone is curious about Billie Eilish, and is adventurous enough to immerse, this video is a fair representation of her live. Good (BBC) production and sound. I find so much art in what she does, I 'let her in' through the gates that normally keep out all but the most original pop artists. This is not elevator music, so get young.. [Repost] Billie Eilish - Live At Glastonbury 2019 (Full Set) |
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Post by amg1977 on Oct 11, 2021 10:56:19 GMT -5
Among young female singers, Billie Eilish is still the 800 pound gorilla of the marketplace but she may be getting some competition as she nears the legal drinking age. Her career began as an alt/pop act when she was 14 with a song she wrote and since then has either written or co-written (with her brother Finneas – he also doubles as her producer) every song since. She began going viral and soon got the attention of UMG who made plans on how to get her offbeat music to a mainstream audience.
Obviously whatever she did worked as her peculiar blend of soft vocals, alt/pop, bass, and bizarre videos (see below) made her the monster act of 2019.
On Spotify alone, she has over 50 million followers along with 43.2 million on YouTube, 93.6 million on Instagram, and 34.8 million on Tik Tok.
Her album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? so dominated the charts that many imagined she cane out of nowhere rather than having been working hard towards this success for years. She had recorded numerous singles, an EP, had toured as both a headliner and a supporting act (including opening for Florence and the Machine) constantly and has numerous gold and platinum records without any airplay whatsoever. Once she got airplay, she went through the roof and hasn't looked back having now snagged over half a dozen Grammys, doing the theme for a Bond movie, and getting paid $125 million dollars by Apple for the rights to film one of her concerts. You know you're hot when someone pays you over $100 million to do something you are already getting paid to do and you're still a teenager.
Those of us who are a bit long in the tooth can remember when another alt/pop queen who had worked for years seemed to be everywhere: Alanis Morissette. When Jagged Little Pill broke out in 1995, she was literally everywhere. The album racked up enormous sales (it currently stands at over 30 million copies) numerous Grammys, and its lead single “You Oughta Know” became the era's ultimate nasty breakup song. The problem was that Alanis recovered from her mental breakdown and in future albums she seemed to be in a much better place. However, her fans wanted the crazy Alanis who would show up and harass her ex having dinner with his new girlfriend and, although she continued to be successful for years afterward (she a #1 album in 2012), she never again reached the dizzying heights she did in 1995-96. The same thing could be said for Avril Lavigne who was the breakout star of 2002.
I see the same thing happening to Billie. Much of that WWAFA,WDWG was about alienation, depression, and generally being a psychological mess. Since then, she has become far more comfortable with her body and dresses like a woman instead of a teenage boy. The songs on her new album Happier Than Ever, while not dancing in the streets happy, give an overall feeling of contentment with how life is going these days. I guess it's hard to be that depressed when people are paying you $125 million for a night's work.
Billie has received backlash for some of the changes and some social justice warriors have tried to cancel her for imagined infractions but those seemed to have had little effect on her popularity. She is not, however, exploding at the rate she did a year ago. It was simply impossible to keep expanding your audience at that pace. Anyone who wanted to be a Billie Eilish fan already is one. The bus is full.
I expect her to be a major star for the foreseeable future but it is not fair to expect her to repeat what happened a year ago. Like Alanis and other similar alt/pop teen sensations, she will cool off somewhat but it will be at least a decade before she might have to worry about not being a superstar. |
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Post by eulenspiegel on Apr 20, 2024 11:13:16 GMT -5
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