Billie Eilish is an artist I only knew by name until an ex-girlfriend introduced me to ‘Bellyache.’ However, I only listened to her briefly and didn’t really explore her discography until earlier this year, and after giving her another chance, she’s actually become one of my favourite artists. And when exploring, Happier Than Ever has grown to be my favourite Billie LP, but I was surprised to see many people (mainly some friends and random articles on the internet) disregard this album. This might be because HTE lies in between her other two albums: not as mainstream as HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, but also not as experimental as the debut. So, I wanted to dive into this album because I do believe it deserves more love than it often receives.
The most noticeable feature of HTE is that, with sixteen tracks and a duration of 56 minutes, it’s her longest piece. In many cases, longer-running LPs suffer from a lack of cohesion, with many tracks feeling like filler. Although HMHaS has a better flow, HTE is still a consistent LP without filler. All the tracks contribute to the heart of the album with their themes, which, although (like other Billie records) aren’t particularly varied or profound, reflect her as a person: a 19-year-old woman with the burden of 21st-century fame on her shoulders.
The album starts with ‘Getting Older’ which tackles the looming pressure most of us feel at our age: thriving in the adult world on our own. The line “Can’t shake the feeling that I’m just bad at healing” is a relatable take on our mental health interacting with novel barriers presented by this new stage in life. She approaches this from her perspective as a musical artist in the lines “Things I once enjoyed just keep me employed now” and “Things I’m longing for, someday I’ll be bored of” but they reflect the doubt and soul-searching so intrinsic to youth. She expresses this beautifully on ‘my future’ with lines like “I’m in love but not with anybody else/Just wanna get to know myself.” What I think makes this line so beautiful is the greater context of the song. Billie famously writes a lot about love, so seeing her explore the pressures behind being in a relationship and standing up to them by focusing on self-love and self-worth is empowering.
A slightly less relatable theme she covers throughout the record is the pressure behind her public image, but they are concerns that are applicable to the pressures women face in general. In ‘OverHeated’, she expresses anger towards a specific moment in which she was photographed in a tank top in 2020 and objectified, insulted and judged. On this track, she retaliates with “I’m not about to redesign myself now am I?” and “don’t you get sick of posing for pictures with that plastic body?” One of the qualities I personally (as do many, I’m sure) value in Billie as an artist is her authenticity, and this is on full display here and in the spoken word track ‘Not My Responsibility’. This is undoubtedly the most bizarre track on the album, where Billie isn’t even singing, but rather speaking, over a barren melody with her words occasionally echoing. The track mainly focuses on combatting objectification and contains very powerful lines: “If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman/If I shed the layers, I’m a slut.” The second half of the song is comprised almost entirely of questions, all of which ask who she is as a woman, and the final line (and question) of the song is “Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?” As a man, this track is not relatable to me, but I think it is very important simply through how direct and sincere it is on such a significant topic.
And of course, it wouldn’t be a Billie Eilish album if relationships weren’t a central theme. However, the way in which she engages with relationships is fiercer, which is likely due to her own reflections on her relationship and breakup with rapper 7:AMP. While she typically approaches this theme in a ‘mopey-er’ way in other albums, on HTE she’s sharper, more confident and angrier. The best example is the convergence between the tracks ‘NDA’ and ‘Therefore I Am’. ‘NDA’ ends with a heartbroken Billie wailing out lyrics like “How’d it get so dark? I saw stars” and after a hopeless moan, the beat switches to the more upbeat ‘Therefore I Am’ and Billie’s voice becomes deadpan, serious. Now we hear lyrics along the lines of “Get my pretty name outta your mouth” and “You can give them my best but just know I’m not your friend.” This convergence of pain and anger surfaces several other times throughout the album, like in the title track, which starts quite calmly reflecting on a happier life after the breakup and ends with Billie shouting in rage. The raw anger is unique to this album, and I find it to be a key moment in Billie’s emotional journey as an artist.
Another side of the album to love is some of the experimentation. ‘Billie Bossa Nova’ is unique within the album itself and is captivatingly sensual with its catchy blend of pop and Brazilian new wave. ‘Oxytocin’ is quite sexually strange and, while ‘Billie Bossa Nova’ is charming, ‘Oxytocin’ is dirty where even God would “wanna get involved.” But also, sex aside, ‘GOLDWING’ is a divinely alluring take on the mistreatment of well-meaning people to which Billie advises to “keep [their] head down.” So, although I wouldn’t say HTE is as experimental as her debut, there is a strong variety of experimentation to enjoy on this record.
Now, I do understand why many people prefer her other two records since it is quite a relatively long album and, as aforementioned, sits in a weird grey area between catchy tunes and odd experiments. However, my favourite side to this album is how genuine, raw and powerful it feels in comparison to some of her other work, and I would definitely recommend this album to anyone who enjoys any form of pop or experimental music. There are a bunch of tracks that I haven’t mentioned, which are also great, so you should check them out!
“Billie Eilish MTV Canvas 01” by MTV UK is licensed under CC BY 3.0.