Obscura: “Don’t Smile At Me”

in Entertainment/Reviews by

Billie Eilish may not be a big name in today’s music industry, but we might want to keep an eye out for her upcoming work. At just 15-years-old, Eilish has already made her own career as a singer/songwriter and has quite a fanbase with over 162,000 followers on Instagram and around 110,000 followers on Spotify.  

In Nov. 2015, she released her debut single, “Ocean Eyes,” a soft and melodic track in collaboration with her older brother, Finneas O’Connell. Since then, the song has had over 17 million plays on Spotify and roughly 6 million views on her music video, lyric video and dance performance video combined. However, her heart is not set on fame.

“I don’t even care if nobody hears it; I just want it out there in the world because it’s really important to me,” Eilish said in an interview with Apple Music.

Even though her music had been under the radar, people began noticing her when hit show “13 Reasons Why” featured her single “Bored.”

Aug. 11, 2017, she released her first album, “don’t smile at me.” The second song on the album is “idontwannabeyouanymore.” It starts out with soft piano chords and the lyrics “Don’t be that way, Fall apart twice a day, I just wish you could feel what you say.” She expresses her feelings about unrequited love while maintaining her vulnerability and innocence throughout the song. As it continues, it turns into more of a jazz-y melody with the bass playing its part. Compared to other songs on the album, “idontwannabeyouanymore” is much slower, and manages to portray her downcast, wistful character.  

Her fourth song, “watch,” like “idontwannabeyouanymore,” is also about love, but more about heartbreak. The track starts out with the ignition of a matchstick and soft piano, and continues with Eilish’s melody.  She sings with a heartbroken, yet reflective tone and conveys honesty. The chorus is both emotional with just the right amount of savagery in it. “Watch my heart burn with the fire that you started in me. But I’ll never let you back to put it out”.  

Her sixth song is “bellyache,” a dark and moody tune. While it is mostly acoustic, it has a dark storyline to it. Eilish pretends that she is a psychopath on the run from police. She goes from admitting her mistake to regretting it, eventually turning herself into the officials. She starts with “Sitting all alone, mouth full of gum, in the driveway…” and goes on to repeat the phrase “Where’s my mind?” Sung with a haunting and emotional voice, Eilish nails the guilty and regretful tone.  

While she does not plan on becoming any of the personas she sings about, Eilish describes it as a part of her imagination.

“A lot of people think you have to go through something to write about it and that’s so not true. You can literally write about anything at all. I mean, I’m just writing about what I feel or the way that I haven’t felt before and I’m gonna.” Eilish said.

As for the future, Eilish is on a worldwide tour, stopping from New Zealand to Las Vegas, but we can definitely expect new releases during upcoming months.

Listen now:

Maia Fernandez Baigun has been on the Patriot Post staff for three years and is the Print Co-Editor-in-Chief. She loves design, photography and everything related to music. Maia is also the historian for National Honor Society and the Vice President for Save the Memories. In her free time, if she has any, Maia can be found on Spotify, making one too many playlists or taking photos.