Five-time Grammy Award winner Billie Eilish has just recently released a documentary detailing the making of her debut album, “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?,” as well as many other milestones in her career. The 19 year old singer-songwriter creates music with her older brother, Finneas (23), in his childhood bedroom in the house where Billie still lives with her parents. The documentary, directed by R.J. Cutler and released on Feb. 26, reveals many aspects of Billie’s personal life that she is known to keep private. Here are five things we’ve learned after watching ‘The World’s a Little Blurry’:
- She draws out her music videos before even creating the song
After showing us a look inside her journal, Billie says, “I actually drew this song. This is the drawing of this song, ‘cause the whole song is about, like, monsters under your bed,” referencing her hit “bury a friend.” She continues, “In the future I want to do something with wings. And I also want to do stuff where I drink black liquid and my eyes turn black and I start bleeding black out of my eyes,” foreshadowing her music videos for “all the good girls go to hell” and “when the party’s over.”
- Finneas hid the label’s request for him and Billie to write a hit song
After the two have an argument where Finneas says that every song they write should be the best song they’ve ever written, he goes into the kitchen in their family home. He tells the camera, “It feels like kind of a minefield to me because…I’ve been like told to write a hit, but I’ve been told to not tell Billie that we have to write a hit.” Maggie, the mother of Finneas and Billie, then tells him that she “doesn’t see how you’re gonna get through this without telling her. You can’t trick her into writing a song.” However, it’s evident that Finneas was able to move past this and release “bad guy,” which won both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 62nd Grammy Awards.
- Billie hates songwriting
In the same scene, we hear Finneas say “Billie hates writing songs in general. And, you know, is…so woke about her own persona on the internet that I think she’s terrified of, like, anything she makes being hated.” Billie then enters the room after hearing this conversation between Finneas and her mother, and proclaims “I like singing songs…I hate writing songs, and I’ve always hated it, and everytime I’ve actually written a song that I like, I’ve hated the process. It really tortures me. Especially with you, because you’re so good at it.” Billie also states that she doesn’t ever want to make a conventional pop song, because every song her and Finneas create has to mean something to her and connect with her, instead of just writing a song that would connect with those who consume generic, conventional music.
- She graduated from high school around 2017
As most people who consume Billie’s music know, Billie and Finneas were homeschooled by their parents. Billie attributes most of her success and musical talent to this, as her parents always encouraged her to learn about things she was passionate about, rather than sending her off to school and possibly having these passions put in the backseat. However, in an interview during the documentary, Billie says that she still graduated from high school and has a high school diploma.
- Billie had a boyfriend while she was making “WHEN WE ALL FALL SLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?”
Billie reveals that she had a boyfriend, a rapper who goes by the name 7:AMP, who she refers to as ‘Q.’ The two dated from seemingly 2018 to some time in 2019, with the breakup coming after Billie recognized that they wanted different things. Backstage before a concert, she says, “I just wasn’t happy. And I didn’t want the same things he wanted and I don’t think that’s fair, for him. I don’t think you should be in a relationship, super excited about certain things that the other person couldn’t care less about…And there was just a lack of effort, I think. I literally was just like, ‘Dude, you don’t even have enough love to love yourself, you can’t love me. And you don’t. Like, you think you do.'” At the same concert, Billie broke down in tears during her song ‘“i love you,” which can be linked back to 7:AMP. It seems as though the two have remained friends, though, as 7:AMP posted a picture on his Instagram story for Billie’s birthday in December of 2019.
‘The World’s a Little Blurry’ is available to stream on Apple TV.
By Audrey Shaev