When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

While she hasn’t quite inherited the pop monarchy from Swift and the other elites, Eilish’s debut makes a strong case that it won’t be long until we see her in a crown.

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a brave and fortuitous debut album from the LA teen, capturing the hopes, fears and vulnerabilities of an entire generation. The genius in this record is its unaffected relatability.

With all its moments of distortion and attitude, tempered by sheer loveliness, and rude and emotional songs about night terrors and daydreams, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? feels like a rock ‘n’ roll album, even if there’s virtually nothing on it that sounds like rock music.

The 17-year-old sensation takes pop iconography and musical status quo and lacerates it, opting out of femme fatale for tomboy cargos and goth macabre, and sleek soundscapes for creepy eccentrics.

She has created an album so unquestionably true to her quirks and personality traits that fans are offered a true insight into her process and psyche. This openness means they will be invested for the long run. Substance over streaming.

When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go? is a startlingly good introduction to Billie Eilish, an album full of attitude but with the talent to back it up. Where she goes from here will be fascinating to see.

This surprising, haunting album will speak powerfully both to her peers and to anyone who remembers how youth can sometimes feel like an overwhelming weight. [Jun 2019, p.110]

Fascinatingly ambitious, and often extremely fun, this debut finds pop in safe and thrilling hands.

It sounds modern and old fashioned at the same time, infused with an adolescant self-absorption that is at once depressive, funny and wise beyond its years.

In some ways the album arrives as a continuation, not an introduction.

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a supremely exciting, innovative first move from a pop voice that feels utterly fresh and modern.

The highs are thrilling, and despite their obvious pedigree, arranged unlike anything else in contemporary pop. They also reveal the lows more starkly: the saccharine, coyly suggestive 8, played on a ukulele, and I Love You, which sounds suspiciously like Hallelujah, are better off left to YouTube ingenues than an artist of Eilish’s otherwise clear vision.

17 year-old Eilish has gone deeper into the weirdo-pop trench. Together with co-collaborator brother and producer Finneas O’Connell, she has drawn on trap and industrial pop to create a darkly humorous record about romance, rejection and addiction.

With When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, she demonstrates that she can do it all, hinting at a bright future that could truly go in any direction, as messy and hopeful as youth can get.

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a debut record that showcases a bold artistic vision and a willingness to move beyond the boundaries of pop conventions.

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? has its faults, not quite hitting its full potential, but it gets damn well close, delivering an infectious record for the post-party hangover.

The best moments of When We All Fall Asleep play firmly into this formula. Inspired by Eilish’s frequent night terrors and lucid dreams, the album juggles dark compulsions with grim eulogies, balancing her feathery vocals with deep, grisly bass.

When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go is a volatile launching pad. This is anything but a safe debut, which could make Eilish a star In her own right--in the realm of dark pop--or alternatively could see her collapse under the weight of her enormous aspirations. It’ll be a wild ride either way, with plenty of dissention along the way.