STACK #235 May 2024

FEATURE MUSIC

A Murakami Clue The music clip for Billie’s 2018 track You Should See Me in a Crown (the lead single from her 2019 debut album WWAFAWDWG? ) is a 2D and 3D-animated video by Japanese visual artist Takashi Murakami. Known for treading the wire between high and low-brow art - as well as his grinning cartoon flowers - Murakami has worked on fashion campaigns (Louis Vuitton, Supreme), album art (Kanye West, Kids See Ghosts) and other endeavours (Sir Lewis Hamilton’s 2022 Grand Prix racing helmet). At the very beginning of the You Should See Me in a Crown clip, a standard ‘restroom’ figure fades onto the screen. At the track’s opening effect - a long, evil-sounding pass of a knife across a sharpening block - the head of the figure slides to the left, its shoulders and legs angling, until it freezes in the ‘blohsh’ position. Is blohsh a partially decapitated person? It would certainly fit with the body-horror of WWAFAWDWG? .

Billie in the clip for 2023’s What Was I Made For?

“I feel like every time you put anything out, it feels like your nudes leaked, a little bit,” she said, squinting in thought. “And this one, specifically, is like that. Something that Finneas and I said to a couple of people - when we started playing it for people - was, if somebody had said, ‘I want you to make an album ,and no one is going to hear it; you don’t have to worry about anybody else’s ears and their opinion, and anything at all’, we pretty much - with exceptions - made that album. I’ve found myself, when I play it for people, I’m like…” after a pause, Billie made a big-eyed, bashful, nervy face to explain her trepidation. “So I definitely have this feeling… especially when it comes out, it almost feels wrong, but it’s also very right.” IT ’ S ALL ABOUT THE ECO-MIX Two months ago, Eilish caused a stir when she discussed the trend of artists releasing multiple vinyl variants to give a butt-kick to album sales, deeming it “wasteful.” “It’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers, and you care that much about making money,” she said, “and it’s all your favourite artists doing that sh-t.” After some noted backlash about the remarks - including from the Swifty camp, who felt their gal was being targeted for her five-strong variants of 2022 album Midnights - Billie clarified via Instagram stories: “OK so it would be so awesome if people would stop putting words into my mouth and actually read what I said,” she wrote. “I wasn’t singling anyone out. These are industry-wide systemic issues, and when it comes to variants, so many artists release them – including ME! Which I clearly state in the article.” But when it comes to Hit Me Hard and Soft , Billie is leading by example. Enter the Eco-Mix’ vinyl of her new album, which is a JB AU-exclusive variant (next to the regular black colourway). The discs are made from a 100% recycled compound of trimmed flash (excess material attached to a forged vinyl disc) and leftovers from any colour which can’t otherwise be reused. Every disc will look different from its sister, and all vinyl packaging is made from recycled paper completely refashioned from post consumer waste, and recycled pre-consumer fibres. “But what about the ink?” You ask. Well, it’s raw and plant-based - and instead of shrink-wrap, the sleeves are 100% recycled and re-usable.

month, joining Lana Del Rey on stage to perform. On the Friday night, the pair sang each other’s breakthrough songs together: Del Rey’s Video Games and Eilish’s Ocean Eyes . Billie also teased a track from Hit Me Hard and Soft , entitled Lunch , which fans noted has some clear ABOUT LUNCH “It’s a good, new chapter, and I’m ready to go,” Eilish told Zane Lowe just last month. “I’m excited! For the visuals, for the performances, and everything that has to do with the music side, I’m like… I can’t wait.” Eilish made the remarks during a video call to Lowe’s show, while she was on set filming the clip for the second track on the album, Lunch . She told Lowe that she was also directing the clip. Lowe asked whether Lunch was a track which, ahead of all the album’s others, immediately gave her visual ideas. “It’s usually like that,” Eilish explained, “but this one was more, it needs a video. It wasn’t even like, ‘I have a specific vision’. It was just, this is an obvious… not to spoil anything…” she said uncertainly, before laughing, “Um, I’m gonna stop!”, and made a pinching gesture in front of her mouth. “It’s not easy for me,” she added with a grin. Despite the fact that Lunch is getting a music clip, Eilish said she will not be releasing any singles (“I hate singles, oh my God , I hate them,” she told Lowe), which means that every single listener will hit play and hear Hit Me Hard and Soft all the way through - the listening method Eilish has said most suits the album. NUDE BY NATURE In the Zane Lowe interview, Billie offered a particularly insightful analogy for the experience of releasing new music. WLW themes going on in its lyrics. DON ’ T TALK

Stills from Eilish’s 2018 clip You Should See Me in a Crown

18 and 21 is a big jump, mentally, and physically, and realistically,” she said. “I’ve been having to convince myself… that I haven’t lost it. It’s just different. “The way that I exist in the room is different, my voice has completely changed since then… The voice-changing thing is a trip, oh my God !” She continued. “It’s all kind of shocking. I’ve been like, dude, I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s hard to accept change, it’s hard to get over - ‘But I did it this way for so long and it worked so well!’ Well OK, you can’t any more! It’s not how it’s gonna work. You’re gonna have to change it.” It’s certainly worked out for her, having recently won an Oscar for What Was I Made For? , from the soundtrack to 2023’s biggest flick, Barbie . COACHELLA CONFIDENTIAL Billie made a thunderclap appearance at Californian festival institution Coachella last

Billie’s expressions while describing the idea of releasing Hit Me Hard and Soft , 2024 (Credit: Apple Music YouTube)

Hit Me Hard and Soft by Billie Eilish is out May 17 via Universal.

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