4.5/5
Eilish Has It.
COVID-19, 2020. I vowed...and still have to this day to not listen to what I'm sure is Billie Eilish's incredible Bond theme for Daniel Craig's last 007 movie, 'No Time To Die'. Not until I see it for the first time in cinemas across the credits for the iconic introduction to the spy through the scope. Call me a bad fan for this 'Bad Guy' singer (I mean this review is a week and change late. Because, Olympics...and I work in Tokyo, but still no excuse. How about a mental health episode...because that's real), but I want to resist the need to be first in this binge age of B.S. bragging rights. There will just be something so special this fall about seeing and hearing this all for the first time finally back in cinemas after corona quarantined us to a home movie one. All for a monumental movie that's been pushed back more times than a stirred Martini across the bar for James. Do you know how hard it is to avoid trailers? Anyway, meanwhile Eilish has been shaking up the game. The American teen is the new alternative pop dream like when Del Ray was 'Born To Die'. The rest is just chemtrails for your classic country club. Now with Adele like ascension to being pop's theme as well as queen, we haven't gone Gaga over someone like this since a star was born from a 'Poker Face' to a 'Bad Romance'. Maybe not since we put our hands together for Madonna 'Like A Prayer'. Now Billie on her own holiday is 'Happier Than Ever' beyond a social media curated, cliched catchphrase, on a sensational, soaring sophomore set of magnificent minimalism that proves to all the bad guys that the 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We All Go' debut was no fluke...DUH!
Don't doze on the sleepy smouldering, smoky sound of the acclaimed artist advancing past peers who have decades on her. Downtempo on a sparsely subdued electropop trip, this is subtlety epic through the Darkroom Interscope. Produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell and in reflection to last years socially distant self analysis, the torch songs of 'Happier Than Ever' find peace through the pain of finding true elation in the substance below the surface of our filters. The downsides of fame are explored on this rising stars second act. The outstanding opener, 'Getting Older' brings this all in season, coming of age and stage. "I'm gettin' older, I've got more on my shoulders/But I'm gettin' better at admitting when I'm wrong/I'm happier than ever, at least, that's my endeavour/To keep myself together and prioritize my pleasure/'Cause, to be honest, I just wish that what I promise/Would depend on what I'm given, mmm (Not on his permission)/(Wasn't my decision) To be abused," which sets off this restrained sounds passion perfectly and so compellingly for her new classic. California cool, but so much more below the surface that's cool to touch. The green day dye may be gone young punks, but this is her Marylin 'Blonde On Blonde' as she searches for a great American songbook like Dylan in her Los Angeles residence. Hey, starting as a teenager helps. An onslaught of stellar singles gives more lyrical pages for the songs in her back pocket that are more than that instantly recognisable do-do-do-do beat. The forward thinking 'My Future'. The sure thing 'Therefore I Am', The corruption omens of power dynamics in relationship politics and the abuse and actual rape of sexual coercion are brought to mainstream light and minds on the acoustic, 'Your Power'. The 'Lost Cause' for a role model who is anything but in iconic status for this Insta ignorant age. And the 'NDA' who's signed off subject matter, we can all agree on needs to be addressed. "Had to save my money for security/Got a stalker walkin' up and down the street/Says he's Satan and he'd like to meet/I bought a secret house when I was seventeen (Ha)/Haven't had a party since I got the keys/Had a pretty boy over, but he couldn't stay/On his way out, made him sign an NDA, mm/Yeah, I made him sign an NDA". Full disclosure.
Screen this call to the toxic nature of celebrity...from the fickle fans abuses. Twitter takes have already told us as hot as hell how much men especially think they are entitled to judge, demean and act like everything made in the world of entertainment (let alone the world) was designed and catered towards them (bollocks). But there's an even more dangerous, dark side that lurks behind the shadows of a street that's making it even more unsafe to walk at night, hidden behind all sorts of masks as we are just trying to stay safe. No wonder Billie says, "I didn't change my number/I only changed who I reply to" on the albums second trach that confirms even less than ten minutes in that this is going to be a synth classic. On the purely poetic, spoken word standout 'Not My Responsibility'-that beat burns into the bubbling 'Overheated' like an INXS 'Mediate' to 'Need You Tonight' kick-she addresses the whole world, not just the industry, press, or ex on this perfect breakup record for those long lonely nights with this rain on the window neon dimmed reflective sound. "Would you like me to be smaller, weaker, softer, taller?/Would you like me to be quiet?/Do my shoulders provoke you?/Does my chest?/Am I my stomach?/My hips?/The body I was born with/Is it not what you wanted?/If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman/If I shed the layers, I'm a slut/Though you've never seen my body, you still judge it/And judge me for it/Why?/We make assumptions about people based on their size/We decide who they are/We decide what they're worth." Amen. Word. FACTS. Or whatever expression will make you really feel this word-for-word in heed, beyond a share for your own likes, 100. Because this is gospel for a singer who is displaying not only her vivid vocal range, but her genius introspective one of inspirational against all this ignorance influence. Never playing up to 'Male Fantasy'. This is 'Billie Bossa Nova' and the sound is beautiful, even if the subject matter is brutal. Outstanding like a 'Oxytocin' audio drug that demands another tote for this take two that sings, "Can't take it back once it's been set in motion/You know I love to rub it in like lotion/If you only pray on Sunday, could you come my way on Monday?/'Cause I like to do things God doesn't approve of if She saw us." The out of this audio of 'Halley's Comet' for the young star who burning bright and never out hits NASA stratospheres. The glowing, Goldfrapp would be proud 'Goldwing' that also takes flowing flight at night. And the 'Everybody Dies' introspection live and let die now notion that we have all the opposite of the new James Bond title for. ("Everybody dies, surprise, surprise/We tell each other lies, sometimes, we try/To make it feel like we might be right/We might not be alone/Be alone"). Come to think of it as we rock out to the acoustic strings to heavy like metal title track of bohemian rock operatics and feel 'Happier Than Ever' ourselves, how about a trip to the theatre? Because they're about to play Billie over the Bond before we die and there's no time like right now...ever. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Oxytocin', 'Halley's Comet', 'Not My Responsibility'.
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