Billie Eilish is a Different Kind of Pop Star (ft. FINNEAS)

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2019

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On a trajectory to be one of the biggest pop stars for this generation, seventeen year old Billie Eilish is not, however, your typical pop star. Her music speaks to the real anxieties of young people without any veneer. She sings from the perspective of monsters and villains. Her hushed voice, baggy style, and direct demeanor subvert the norms of the pop princess. And her music is dark, but still catchy. Billie co-writes and produces her sound with her older brother Finneas O’Connell. Together this family duo have crafted the second biggest selling album of 2019, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” On this episode, we examine how Billie and Finneas crafted a cultural phenomenon, why their message speaks to this generation, and we speak with Finneas about the creation of their hit song “Bad Guy.” Songs Featured: Billie Eilish - Ocean EyesBillie Eilish - BoredBillie Eilish - You Should See Me In A CrownBillie Eilish - Bad GuyBillie Eilish - Bury A FriendMarilyn Manson - The Beautiful PeopleThe Doors - People Are StrangeNine Inch Nails - CloserBillie Eilish - ilomiloBillie Eilish - All Good Girls Go To HellBillie Eilish - XannyFrank Sinatra - Dream A DreamBillie Eilish - I love youJohn Carpenter - Halloween ThemeBillie Eilish - Bellyache Watch Billie Eilish and Finneas break down “Bury A Friend” on The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Sabotage hired Goons and a landfill in Utah.
0:05.0	How Steve Jobs' revolutionary catastrophe of a computer, the Apple Lisa, earned a brief
0:10.7	second life and then was buried for good.
0:14.8	Watch the Verges documentary Lisa's final act now on YouTube.
0:21.8	Nate, have I told you about my superhero theory of pop music?
0:26.0	No, I definitely would have remembered.
0:28.2	What's that?
0:30.2	Okay, so it's basically this idea that super pop stars are like superheroes and they have a similar story arc of superheroes.
0:38.2	First you get like the origin story, the confront some major thing, eventually they team up with other people and featured some kind of big team of other superheroes.
0:49.2	And then eventually like things turn around and you get the anti-hero story, you get like the dark side of them.
0:54.2	You know you could look at someone like Argonne Grande where it's like you get Disney Princess who then like teams up with producer Zed and eventually puts out this dark record.
1:02.2	And thank you next, right?
1:03.2	Like the whole arc of the superhero.
1:05.2	Interesting.
1:06.2	Okay, so in this analogy being bit by a radioactive spider is like kind of equivalent to getting signed to a major label.
1:13.2	Your extension of this analogy is perfect because the other thing that happens in superhero narratives is that every couple of years they get rebooted.
1:21.2	How many spider-mans have we had?
1:23.2	Like 17?
1:24.2	Okay, I'm with you.
1:26.2	Superheroes have to have a narrative that sort of speaks to their time and their generation and eventually they age out and there's a new audience that needs a superhero that speaks to the issues of the moment.
1:38.2	And in pop music I think we're going through a transition and there's no better superhero, super pop star to look at than Billy Eilish.
1:48.2	She just perfectly captures this moment.
	...

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