Billie Eilish Is Learning to Embrace Change as She Makes Her Next Album
It’s only been two years since Billie Eilish released her second album, Happier Than Ever, but as she continues to work on her follow-up, it feels like everything about the music-making process has changed.
“Everything is different about it,” Eilish told Dua Lipa during an interview on the latter’s At Your Service podcast. “I’ve been trying to compare recently, just because I’m getting used to doing it in a different way. And trying to be like, ‘It’s OK to do that. I’m ok. I’m still able to do that; I’m capable still.’”
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Eilish went on to describe some of the ways her process has shifted over the course of her career, from making music in Finneas’ bedroom in their childhood home to working out of the basement studio her brother built up in his own home. Much of Happier Than Ever was made in that basement studio, and Eilish said she and Finneas came out of the album certain they’d finally cracked the code.
“We were like, ‘We’ve got it all figured out, this is how we’re going to do it from now on, and it works really well,’” Eilish said “And, you know, touring for a year-and-a-half, then coming back to it, and being way older — and not even much older, but again, the jump between 18 and 21 is a big jump. Just mentally and physically, and realistically. It’s just been completely different.”
Amidst all these changes, Eilish said she’s been trying to “convince myself that it’s OK and that I haven’t lost it — it’s just different.” As to what’s changed exactly, Eilish said just about everything: “The way that I exist in the room is different, my voice has completely changed since then… The voice-changing thing is a trip! It’s all kind of shocking.”
Eilish went on to say that those changes have been somewhat destabilizing, causing her to question and doubt her artistic inclinations. But recently, she continued, she’s started to find her footing. “I’ve gotten a little bit more like, ‘OK, it’s just change and I’m figuring that out.’ 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, you can’t anymore.”
In the two years since releasing Happier Than Ever, Eilish has largely been busy touring, though she has released a few new songs. Last July, she dropped the two-track Guitar Songs EP, featuring “TV” and “The 30th.” More recently, she contributed “What Was I Made For?” to the Barbie soundtrack.
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