“Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish, Wednesday, August 7, 2024

Billie Eilish released “Ocean Eyes” in 2015. The future star was only 13 at the time. Billie and her brother Finneas O’Connell uploaded the song to SoundCloud, intending it to be a simple sharing for Billie’s dance teacher. Unexpectedly, “Ocean Eyes” went viral, garnering significant attention and leading to her eventual rise in the music industry. The song’s success marked the beginning of Billie Eilish’s career as a major recording artist. Following the viral success, Eilish began recording more songs with her brother, culminating in the 2017 EP don’t smile at me and her debut album WHEN WE ALL FALL SLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? in 2019. Her first song, though, “Ocean Eyes,” is a bright and beautiful song with a touch of melancholy. Following the single, Billie Eilish began to adopt a dark, sometimes gothic, pop aesthetic in many of her songs.

I WANT YOU TO STAY. Unlike most teenagers who grow out of phases and only have a few embarrassing yearbook photos we’d all feel like we’d die if they ever leaked, Billie Eilish’s gothic phase is well documented in pop culture history. Eilish rebranded her aesthetic on her second album Happier Than Ever. Musically, Eilish’s sophomore album evolves into a slightly brighter electronic jazz older sister to the angsty WHEN WE ALL GO TO SLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie’s third child, or album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT bears a resemblance to its predecessors especially lyrically. Musically, Eilish’s latest offering emphasizes Billie as a singer, particularly on “THE GREATEST,” “L’AMOUR DE ME VIDA,” and today’s song, “BIRDS OF A FEATHER.” Using a mix of guitar-based and synth-based songs adds a different tone than previous albums. Still, today’s song with its tropical house groove is really the glue that keeps the album cohesive. It’s different from all the others in how straightforward it works as a hit. It’s the happiest-sounding song on the record, even if the lyrics pack a characteristic Billie melancholy. Ultimately, “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” adds versatility to the otherwise sad girl-meets-club-banger album. Because of the fourth track, we can take this album to the beach.

BUT IF IT’S FOREVER, IT’S EVEN BETTER. Musically, “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” is a natural evolution for Billie Eilish if a listener were only familiar with her first song.  But underneath the bright instrumentation, the lyrics hold the dark elements Eilish listeners expect from her recent work. The song is an intentionally misquoted English proverb. The proverb “birds of a feather stick together” means that people with similar interests, values, or characteristics tend to associate with one another. It draws from the natural observation that birds of the same species or similar appearance often flock together. This saying highlights the tendency for like-minded individuals to form social groups, suggesting that common traits or beliefs naturally lead to camaraderie and mutual support. Eilish twists the phrase. Rather than flocking together, Billie suggests “we should stick together” because they may be like birds of a feather, but they are in fact, human. Besides the comparison to birds, the phrase “Till death do us part” from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, commonly read at multiple Christian denominations' weddings and secular weddings as well as one of the tenets of the song, perhaps stronger than the proverb the title bears.  Elish more graphically explores “Till Death Do Us Part” in gory detail that most songwriters would have shied away from. Eilish has been forthright with her mental health struggles, and if the song is autobiographical, it’s unnerving how the context is “until the day that I die,” never presuming the other person may die before the speaker. While listeners may feel worried about Elish--and they have every right to--, the song is ultimately about either catastrophizing about a partner’s possible exit from the relationship or trying to hold onto a dying relationship. If it’s the first case, the anxiety could be rooted in reality or an unfounded worry. So, just like every song on Eilish’s latest offering, the song can hit both hard and soft. It just depends on how deep you want to go into the “BLUE.”

 Read the lyrics on Genius.