Proof: Seven gold and two platinum singles and two songs currently in the Top 25 on Top 40 radio, one of which, “bury a friend,” has been #1 on the Alternative chart for three weeks.
Some of her lyrics are more literal than others:
What do you want from me? Why don’t you run from me?
What are you wondering? What do you know?
Why aren’t you scared of me? Why do you care for me?
When we all fall asleep, where do we go?
vs.
Step on the glass, staple your tongue (ahh)
Bury a friend, try to wake up (ah ahh)
Cannibal class, killing the son (ahh)
Bury a friend, I wanna end me
and the refrain is gruesome…(as is the video)
I wanna end me
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna end me
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna
When listening to “bury a friend” we hear wisps of “People Are Strange” by The Doors–both songs draw you in with a breathy, mesmerizing sound–and both written and performed by “outsiders” who are also poets whose stars ascended early: Jim Morrison was 24 when “People Are Strange” was a hit, in 1967.
Billie Eilish is a sensation, a cultural happening: she’s from Los Angeles, CA, was home schooled her whole life, has never done drugs, collaborates with her musician brother.