Billie Eilish joins Zane Lowe on New Music Daily on Apple Music today to chat about her brand new song 'my future'.
She tells Zane that the song is about growth and learning how to be alone and that it was written in just two days. She says she’s working more than ever during quarantine and that she's “loving it for the first time in my life…I just feel in such a good spot.” She also talks about the importance of maintaining hope in a hopeless time, why she stylises her songs in lowercase, and the importance of taking a loud stance on social issues.
On new song 'my future' & how it’s about growth & learning to be ok being alone
It's just that growth. It's growth. I feel like, at least for me, I spent years and years relying on having someone. And as soon as I didn't have someone, I got somebody else. And I'm not talking about relationships. I'm talking about everything. I could never be alone. I couldn't take my own company for so long. And I don't know, I just felt like I needed that growth. I needed a moment to myself, and I got it. And it was really hard. It's really, it's so much harder than you think, to not rely on people, to just have yourself to rely on. And just, like, it's weird. It's not something you'd think about being hard. But when you're in that alone zone, it's a new feeling. And I really wanted to talk about it. Everything is about love…there’s nothing that talks about how being alone is really powerful and you grow a lot and you learn a lot and it's not bad.
As much 'my future' is a song about personal growth and being content, it's now, more than ever, I listen to it, I'm like, "Wow, this is actually super relevant to right now.” And our future as a world and as a people, it's crazy when you can get to a point in life where hope itself feels hopeless. It feels hopeless to hope for stuff. Should you even be wishing? Should you even be hopeful? It's like, is it even worth it? That's insane, but that's where we are at this point. We need the music. We need the hope.
On making 'my future'…
This was such a satisfying process. It was so, so satisfying. We wrote the song in two days. That's crazy fast for us. I mean, to be honest with you, lately, it’s kind of been like that. We just going, so it's been great. It's like, this is the most we've ever worked in one period of time. But we record, we wrote it like a month into quarantine probably. And it was pouring rain. Oh, it was such a perfect setting. Then we recorded the vocal in Finneas' studio, which is just in his basement in his house. And I don't know, there was... It actually took a lot... For me, I'm sure you know, I take forever to get a vocal take that I like, and I do different takes.
And this one... I just, I don't know, there was something about this one take that I did, and I was like, "This is the only way that it can be." And then, you know what was funny? It was, we were kind of stuck for like a day. We were like, "What the f-k do we do here? What do we... Where does this go?" And we were actually... This is so crazy. But we were actually like, I was about to leave. I was like, "I don't think we're going to get anything done." We had the song recorded, but we didn't know what to do with it. We popped in the pool. We got out of the pool, and I was literally going to go home. I was like, "Let's just f-k around with it a little more." And we finished the song that night, like finished completely. It was crazy. It was so satisfying.
On developing as an artist and loving her work...
We are really working more than ever. It's insane. And not only that, I'm loving it for the first time in my life. I don't know. I just feel in such a spot. I don't know. I think also the fact that Finneas and I, we've just gotten so much better, and better at working with each other, and better at working in general, and better at writing, and know more about it, and know what we like, and know what we like performing, and know what... It's really interesting the things that you learn through touring and through ages. We forget that, what was I, like 15, when we made When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Like 15, 16. Think about that. Think about you at 15. And then you at 18. So, it's crazy what changes and how much you learn and the things that you don't like you do like, and the things you did like you don't like. It's weird, dude. Time is weird.
On her favourite lyric in 'my future'…
I really liked the second pre-chorus of, "I like to be your answer because you're so handsome, but I know better than to drive you home because you'd invite me in."
On finding hope in a hopeless time...
I mean, it's hard to do it right now because time feels very hopeless, but there's still hope in it. We will get out of this. You know what I mean? Eventually, it might take years, but we'll be okay eventually. I remember getting home from tour and being like, "Yeah, we'll probably be back out in two weeks.” So weird. So, it's just, it's like, we should have hope because there's stuff to look forward to in the future, even if it's far as hell, even if it's tomorrow. We don't know what's to come.
On taking a loud stance on social issues…
It takes a minute. And that's why you shouldn't jump to conclusions when somebody doesn't say something immediately there. I mean, it depends. I was like, "Oh, what do I say? Am I going to..." And I just got pissed off. I just read too many comments from stupid a-- bigheads. And I was like, "You know what? I'm tired of this. I'm not going to pull my words together in a polite, whatever the f-king way. I'm going to shout at these motherf-kers because they needed to be shouted at." I could have done it way more. But yeah, I just think it's like, at a certain point, you just got to yell.
On her fondness for using lowercase in her music titles…
I've been doing lowercase for like years. Every project I've made is all lowercase. I don't know why. I think it makes it more... It's pleasing to the eye, I feel like. And less professional, which I always liked. But I am thinking that for the next album cycle or whatever, whenever it comes, I think I'll change it up. I kind of am wanting to do just regular sh-t. And I've always loved that. It's something that I've always used as a tactic to put myself at ease, when you're overwhelmed or you're not liking your current situation. If you just think about "What is my life going to look like in like five months?" Perspective and it's like, think about it. And it's like, I don't know. I love thinking about that. It makes me hopeful and it makes me excited. I love the idea of not knowing what's in my future. And I love the idea that I'm going to meet somebody, something...I'm going to do something and it's going to change my life. You don't know. It's exciting.
