- [Off-camera Person]
Are we okay with that? (Billie whistles) - Yeah, is this stupid if I sit like this? Hi, I'm Billie Eilish, and I am going to be talking
about some of my lyrics. (upbeat music) Things I once enjoyed
just keep me employed now. Things I'm longing for
someday, I'll be bored of. This is from Getting Older. ♪ Things I once enjoyed ♪ Good one, good choice. I think about this line a lot in my life. It's funny, this line bums
me out so bad. (laughs) Like anytime I'm excited about something or like really like just
feeling any kind of excitement or like, Wow, I can't wait for whatever. I always think about this line. And it's like, it's just
in my head being like, Things you're longing
for, you'll be bored of.

And not even necessarily bored of, but like everything we long for and crave and are excited for, one day will be like either bored of or used
to, or it'll be over. Or (sighs) it bums me out. Like a motherfucker, a lot. But it's also what's so fun about life is that we change, and we keep changing, and then we keep getting
excited about the next thing, and then that thing happens, and we keep being excited
about the next thing. And that's, we should embrace that. But it's also a huge bummer. Oh, yeah, a classic. When did it end? All the enjoyment. That's from What Was I Made For? ♪ When did it end ♪ ♪ All the enjoyment. ♪ It's just the epitome of like what the song represents
and what it's about. And just like everything
that the song means, I feel like is all wrapped
up in that sentence.

And it's like a question
that I think everyone has or can ask themselves. I don't know. I love that song so much. I feel very, very connected
to it and very proud of it. I feel very, very proud of it. I somehow maybe naively didn't think about how many people would resonate
with it and relate to it. The fact that it has
resonated with so many women is probably I'd say, my favorite
part of the whole process. I've spent my life loving
girls and being really worried that they hate me for some reason and wanting to impress
them and whatever else. And I felt like one with the girls. I don't know, I've never
like felt like a girl really. I feel like there was
so much on social media of like mother-daughter
things and videos and stories and sister relationships
and just like best friends. And it was all to my song
and it made me so happy.

Like I want to be a girl's girl so bad. Girls are amazing, man, in so many ways. Ooh. Ooh, You say it to me like it's something I have any choice in. If I wasn't important, then why would you waste all your poison? That is from my song with Rosalia
called Los Vas a Olivar. ♪ If I wasn't important ♪ ♪ Then why would you
waste all your poison ♪ So I'm pretty sure in 2018, I was like somewhere in Asia on tour and I had been a big fan of hers. She had put out Malamente. I just thought it was like the
sickest thing in the world. And then, I don't know who hit who up, but we ended up talking. I remember she sent me this
video of her and she was like, I have an intuition that we
should do music together. And I was like, Stop.

I screen recorded that
shit, saved it, hearted it, and I showed everybody. I
was so excited about it. Many months later, I
just got into the studio and had a couple days in there, and we made a couple little ideas, and then this song kind of happened. What was nice is like
neither of us were like, No, we need to make a hit
because it's dah, dah, dah, dah. We were just like, Let's
make something weird and like maybe people won't like it, but I think it's tight. She's got such a vision, man,
and it's gotta be her vision, which I appreciate. As much as it's a lot, I
appreciate it. (laughs) I'm the same, I'm the same. Like I get it. I want things to be a certain way. And she's kinda the same
way, so definitely together, it was a bit explosive,
but it was also tight.

She's the best. I love her. She is like truly like maybe the best performer in the world, for real. And what's fun about this line is the whole song was done, and then there was this like outro where she does it ♪ Dah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah ♪ and I wanted to say something at the end and maybe say something in English. I was sitting in the studio with my mom, my dad, and my brother, and like maybe a friend. I don't even know. It was like the whole family for some reason in the studio. And Finneas and I were like trying to show them something, I don't even know. And we were like, Oh, should we write that line? And we were all sitting together as me and Finneas wrote that line. And I think like my mom came up with the word poison. It was just like a fun, like family time.

Oh wow, it's so funny to see these. They called me weak like I'm
not just somebody's daughter. Everything I Wanted. ♪ They called me weak ♪ ♪ Like I'm not just somebody's daughter. ♪ We wrote the first verse in, I wanna say like fall 2018 or something. And then we wrote like the
chorus in like April of 2019. And then we wrote the rest of
the song in September of 2019. And then we recorded it in
November of 2019 or October. I don't know. But it was like over
a very, very different like periods of my life
and states of mind. I feel like 2018 and 2019 was a blur. God, so long ago now. I didn't realize how
much the song meant to me until like way, way into making
it, which was interesting. Like I don't... I remember writing it, but I remember like not
caring about it at all.

and my brother and I kind of were like, Eh, whatever, we'll work on other stuff. And then, when we kind of honed in on it and started to really work on it again, I grew to have such a connection to it, which was so interesting 'cause
we had already written it, but I didn't have like a
connection to it until way later, which was fascinating. It's about my brother and my relationship, and I think that that's really special. Every time I like sing the
song and think about the song, it just like makes my heart very warm because it's my brother and I don't know. It's very sweet to me. I hold it very close to my heart. And, oh my God, I forgot the main thing. I had a dream that I died and
everyone was like, Ha ha. It messed me up, to say the least. It was so vivid, and I remember it so well.

Yeah, and then like the next day, I was telling my brother about it, and I was like, Dude, it was so real. Oh gosh. I'm that bad type. Make your mom a sad type. This is from Bad Guy. ♪ I'm that bad type ♪ ♪ Make your mom a sad type ♪ Oh my God, yeah, the Grammys man. It was so chaotic and insane and ridiculous and surreal and scary and amazing, and I don't know. I think very fondly of that night. It's funny, like, I'm that bad type. Make your mom a sad type. Like my little ass was 15 years old. Those Grammys, I mean it was like the most crazy life experiences all in like a few months. There's no forgetting it. It was so special and insane. I keep my Grammys? Oh God, where do I keep them? They're on a shelf in my house.

Two shelves, two shelves. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Like I'm not trying to
be like extra with them. That's how many there are. It's not my fault. (laughs) It's not my fault. When we all fall asleep, where do we go? That is from Bury A Friend. ♪ When we all fall
asleep, where do we go ♪ Currently in the making of the next album, I've been writing in a notebook, but I've pretty much been only... I kind of went into it
only like planning on just writing all the lyrics down. But then, I always end up
drawing some weird little thing. I love to draw. I just love to draw and I always have. And it's much easier for me
to listen when I'm drawing. Like I just have a lot of
auditory processing issues and so when I draw, I can
hear a lot better somehow.

Okay, so the thing with
the sleeping stuff. I never had night terrors. I didn't know what that was. And so I would just say it, 'cause it sounded like what I had. But what I had was like sleep paralysis and horrible nightmares. I thought night terrors
was just like bad dreams. No, it's like screaming
in your sleep. (laughs) I'm like, No, I don't have that. Kind of this whole album
was very inspired by that. Like it was inspired by sleep
and like the weirdness of it. And the title of the
album and the album cover. And kind of the theme of the album was a big inspiration
for me. The Babadook, which I loved so, so much. Finneas came up with this lyric. I had just been talking
nonsense for months about like, When we fall asleep, like why... Like, What are even dreams? And like, Why do we sleep?

And like, Why do we wake up? And like, I was just
asking dumb questions. But then of course he's like, Well, this is some shit
that you would say. When we all fall asleep, where do we go? It was just so perfect
right then in that song. And we were just like, you know what? This is like such a perfect encapsulation of the album and named it that. Oh. I put on Survivor just
to watch somebody suffer. Maybe I should get some sleep. - This is from TV. ♪ I put on Survivor just
to watch somebody suffer ♪ I do be watching some Survivor. 'Cause I only started watching it, kind of around writing this song, and I had never seen it before. And I kind of had this
idea that it was this like, Oh, you jump through a hoop and you like run through a thing. And it's not. It is like people almost dying and shit.

I don't know. I kinda wanna go on it. (Billie laughs) Like I'm like, what is it? What's his name? Mike White? Yeah, who went on. Amazing. That was actually the
season I was watching when I wrote that line. I think that the physical
stuff I'd be great at, but you have to like do math and shit. And I would not be good at that. I've never fallen from quite this high. And this is from Ocean Eyes. ♪ I've never fallen from quite this high ♪ It's so wild to think back. So 2015, I was 13. My brother wrote this song
and he wrote it for his band. And then one time he was like, Do you wanna sing this song because I feel like it would
sound better in your voice? And I was like, I guess. And then I did. Simultaneously, I was a dancer and I was dancing all the time

and that was like what I
planned on doing forever. And my dance teacher was like, I know you like to make songs. Would you wanna make like a song, and we can like make a dance to it? I don't know, it might be fun. And I was like so excited about that. ♪ Burning cities and napalm skies ♪ And Finneas had written this
song called Ocean Eyes. We were not even gonna put it out. We were just gonna like
send it to my teacher. But we were like, Yeah, it's good. We might as well put it
on SoundCloud or whatever. We'll put like a free download link, 'cause you know like 10 people will hear it probably, maybe not. Honestly, like within the week, it was just like skyrocketing. I was sitting in a Starbucks. Finneas called me and he was like, Dude, 'Ocean Eyes' hit a thousand plays. (Billie laughs)

And I was like, You're lying. And it was the biggest moment. And I remember standing
there and thinking, Wow, like this is my moment. Nothing like this is
ever gonna happen again, and this is my moment, and
I'm gonna just take it in, and I'm so grateful for this. It's so cool. And then like the next
week, it was on the radio, and then here we are. I don't know, guys. Things happened. If it weren't for that song, I don't think I would
be sitting here at all. So it's really bittersweet. (no audio)

Does Billie Eilish Know Her Lyrics From Her Most Popular Songs?

Variety is the leading daily source of entertainment news and analysis, with premiere series like Actors on Actors, access to the most influential events, top film festivals and unmatched awards season coverage.