Billie Eilish - BIRDS OF A FEATHER (Story of My Song)

Summary

In this video, the artist discusses the creation process of 'Birds of a Feather,' a song from their new album. They delve into the song's unique concept of love and death, sharing how they reversed the typical love song narrative. The artist also talks about the challenges in writing and singing the song, emphasizing the importance of vocal training. They reflect on the song's reception, expressing surprise and joy at its popularity and recent platinum status.

Takeaways

• 🎼 The artist discusses the creation process of the song 'Birds of a Feather' from their album 'Hit Me Hard and Soft'.
• 🖋️ The song's lyrics were crafted to reverse the typical theme of loving someone until they die, instead expressing a willingness to die for love.
• 🎶 The music has a juxtaposition of happy-sounding melodies with darker lyrics, aiming to create a 'toxic love bombing' effect.
• 🗣️ The artist emphasizes the importance of the listener's interpretation of the song, suggesting that the creator's intent is secondary.
• 🎤 The first line of the song, 'I want you to stay,' was particularly challenging to record, reflecting the significance of initial impressions in music.
• 😔 The album was not a happy one, and the artist had to pretend to feel emotions they did not genuinely experience while creating it.
• 🎵 The song's structure was meticulously crafted, with a focus on the transition from the pre-chorus to the chorus.
• 🎹 The outro of the song was a highlight for the artist, feeling both happy and sad, encapsulating the song's emotional complexity.
• 🏆 'Birds of a Feather' achieved platinum status quickly, which was unexpected by the artist who initially thought it might be a flop.
• 🗓️ The song took nearly a year to complete, from its start on February 16, 2023, to its finish in January of the following year.

Q & A

What is the title of the song discussed in the script?

The title of the song is 'Birds of a Feather'.

What album does the song 'Birds of a Feather' belong to?

The song 'Birds of a Feather' is from the album 'Hit Me Hard and Soft'.

What is the unique twist in the song 'Birds of a Feather'?

The unique twist in 'Birds of a Feather' is that it reverses the typical love song theme by expressing a love that endures until death, rather than the爱人 dying.

What was the first lyric written for 'Birds of a Feather'?

The first lyric written for 'Birds of a Feather' was 'I want you to stay'.

What was the most challenging part of the song for the artist to sing?

The most challenging part of the song for the artist to sing was the first line, 'I want you to stay', due to the specificity of the notes and the emotional intensity required.

How does the artist view the interpretation of their music?

The artist believes that music is for the listener to decide what it means, and it doesn't matter what the artist wrote it about.

What was the artist's approach to the lyrics of 'Birds of a Feather'?

The artist's approach was to create a love song without a weird twist, but then they ended up twisting it with dark and toxic elements juxtaposed with love.

What was the significance of the vocal warm-up routine mentioned in the script?

The vocal warm-up routine, including lip trills, was significant as it helped the artist strengthen their voice like an instrument through training and practice.

What was the inspiration behind the lyrics 'I know I should be terrified, what of'?

The inspiration behind the lyrics 'I know I should be terrified, what of' was to express the feeling of self-doubt and the desire to encourage oneself or someone else to not be stupid and to recognize their talent.

Why did the artist and Phineas consider not including 'Birds of a Feather' on the album?

The artist and Phineas considered not including 'Birds of a Feather' on the album because they overthought the song and had a hard time finalizing it, which made them question if it was good enough.

What was the time span of creating 'Birds of a Feather'?

The song 'Birds of a Feather' was started on February 16th, 2023, and finished in January of the following year.

How did the artist feel when 'Birds of a Feather' went platinum?

The artist felt incredibly happy and proud that 'Birds of a Feather' went platinum quickly, as they initially thought it might be a flop song.

Outlines

00:00

🎶 Songwriting Journey and Creative Process

The artist discusses the creation of their song 'Birds of a Feather' from their new album 'Hit Me Hard and Soft.' They explore the concept of reversing the typical love song narrative by expressing a willingness to die for love. The songwriting process involved brainstorming rhymes and creating a juxtaposition of happy-sounding music with darker lyrics. The artist emphasizes the importance of the listener's interpretation and the challenge of recording the first line of a song. They also share their experience with vocal training, which has significantly improved their singing ability, allowing them to perform the song as intended.

05:01

🤔 Overthinking and Simplicity in Songwriting

The artist and their collaborator, Phineas, had difficulty simplifying the song 'Birds of a Feather,' leading to an overthinking process. They initially considered not including the song on the album but are glad they did. The artist expresses their struggle with the emotional depth of the song, particularly the line 'I love you till the day that I die.' They recount rewriting the lyrics multiple times to ensure the line had the desired impact. The discussion also covers the structure of the song, including the pre-chorus and chorus, and the importance of setting up key lines in a song to make them feel meaningful.

10:02

🎵 The Power of Second Verses and Vocal Layering

The artist delves into their love for second verses, believing they often contain the best lyrics. They discuss the emotional authenticity of the second verse of 'Birds of a Feather,' which contrasts with the rest of the song by reflecting the artist's true feelings at the time. The verse addresses the gap between self-perception and how others see us, particularly in terms of beauty and talent. The artist also talks about the musical elements they experimented with, such as vocal harmonies and the emotional impact they aimed to achieve with the song's dynamics.

15:02

🏆 Platinum Success and the Song's Evolution

The artist reflects on the song's journey from its initial creation on February 16, 2023, to its completion in January of the following year. They express pride and happiness in the song's success, which achieved platinum status quickly. Initially concerned it might be a flop, the artist now feels a strong sense of ownership and satisfaction with the song. They also share the emotional duality of the outro, which feels both happy and sad, and thank their audience for their support.

Keywords

💡Signature

A signature is a person's name written in a distinctive and often artistic manner. In the context of the video, the artist refers to the prominence of their signature on an album, indicating a personal touch and creative ownership. It symbolizes the artist's identity and their role as a 'Founding Father' in their work.

💡Sheet Music

Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, and instructions on how to perform a musical piece. In the video, the artist discusses their sheet music for the song 'Birds of a Feather', showing the detailed composition behind the music they create.

💡Album

An album is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. The video mentions a new album, 'Hit Me Hard and Soft', which is a central theme as it represents a compilation of the artist's recent work and creative expression.

💡Lyrics

Lyrics are the words of a song. The artist talks about the first lyric they wrote for the song, 'I want you to stay', and how the lyrics evolved. Lyrics are crucial as they convey the song's message and emotional depth, often resonating with listeners on a personal level.

💡Reverse

To reverse is to turn something in the opposite direction or bring it back to a previous state. The artist discusses reversing the typical theme of love songs by focusing on the idea of dying for someone instead of loving them until they die, adding a unique twist to the song's narrative.

💡Toxic

Toxic refers to something that is poisonous or harmful. In the context of the video, the artist aims to create a feeling of toxicity in the song's verse, juxtaposing it with love to create a complex emotional dynamic. This reflects the artist's intention to explore the darker sides of relationships.

💡Vocal Warm-up

A vocal warm-up is a series of exercises that singers use to prepare their voices for performance. The artist mentions not doing traditional vocal warm-ups before performances, instead relying on techniques like lip trills. This highlights the individual practices of vocalists to maintain and prepare their voice.

💡Chorus

The chorus is the refrain or the main part of a song that repeats after each verse, typically containing the main message or 'hook' of the song. The script discusses the construction and importance of the chorus in 'Birds of a Feather', emphasizing its role in delivering the song's central theme.

💡Platinum

In music, 'platinum' refers to an award given for selling a large number of albums or singles. The artist mentions their song going platinum, indicating significant commercial success and popularity. This achievement underscores the song's impact and reception by the audience.

💡Harmonies

Harmonies are combinations of notes that are sounded simultaneously to produce a pleasing effect. The artist expresses a love for harmonies and discusses the addition of harmonies to the song, which enriches the musical texture and adds depth to the listening experience.

💡Instrumental Coda

An instrumental coda is a concluding passage of music that brings a piece to an end. The artist describes the outro of the song as feeling both happy and sad, creating an emotional culmination. The instrumental coda serves as a memorable and impactful conclusion to the musical piece.

Highlights

Signature is prominently displayed, indicating importance.

Sheet music for 'Birds of a Feather' from the new album is presented.

Songwriting process involves breaking down the song for listeners.

Lyric 'I want you to stay' is the first written, setting the song's theme.

The song reverses the typical love song narrative by focusing on dying for love.

The song's upbeat sound contrasts with its dark lyrics about love and death.

The songwriter emphasizes the listener's interpretation over the author's intent.

The songwriting process is described as collaborative with 'best idea wins'.

The song's creation was challenging, taking nearly a year to complete.

The song's title 'Birds of a Feather' was considered for its linguistic appeal.

The songwriter discusses the importance of vocal training for improving performance.

The song was nearly left off the album due to the creators' dissatisfaction.

The song's popularity and platinum status were unexpected by the artists.

The pre-chorus and chorus are intricately connected in the song's structure.

The song's lyrics were rewritten multiple times to achieve the desired impact.

The outro of the song was a particularly enjoyable part of the creation process.

The song's emotional depth is achieved through a balance of happiness and sadness.

The song's second verse is a personal favorite, reflecting the songwriter's true feelings.

The song's message is one of encouragement and self-belief.

The songwriting process involved a lot of trial and error with different melodies and rhythms.

Transcripts

[Music]

I can't imagine I've ever seen my

signature bigger yeah you're like a

Founding

Father here we

go we have our sheet music to our song

birds of a feather from our new album

hit me hard and soft and we're going to

break it down for you a little

bit I want you to stay

[Music]

till I'm in the

brave till I ride away dead and bu till

I'm in the C skin you

car there's a lot of songs about dying

for somebody and loving them till they

die and I thought it was really fun to

leave like reverse it no literally

though till I die for real and I'm in

the grave

and and I'm and I'm rotting away there's

a line I don't know if you should use

this or whatever but like the first

lyric we wrote was I want you to stay

and then I have some lyrics in here

which are like all kind of just loving

we were like oh we'll make a love song

for the first time that's like doesn't

have some sort of weird twist to it and

then we were like we Twisted it we

Twisted it we were coming up with all

these Rhymes and Grave came up so it

kind of was already this like happy

sounding thing and then we just always

love the ju deposition of that with the

lyrics here's the thing with music my my

whole thing is that it's for the

listener to decide what it means and

doesn't matter what I wrote it about

what Phineas wrote it about it's like it

really doesn't matter as long as you

interpret it however you need to that's

all you need to know so don't take what

I say to hard but it's almost like

someone like slamming you into a wall

and being like you look really pretty

and you're like wow that's really a lot

that's what I wanted the verse to do I

wanted it to feel like toxic and a

little bit like love

[Music]

bombing I have a hard time with the

first lyrics or like the first time I am

heard in a song because it's like the

most important part to me so I will

spend like days and days and days trying

to get the right take of the first line

this was probably the most challenging

out of the entire album to sing I'm so

specific about what notes I'm doing and

so even though they feel like I'm just

going I want you to stay I'm

like I want stay and it has to be those

it's not it's not like a like little

slide it's like two notes this was not a

happy album like literally at all this

is how I wished that I was feeling and I

wasn't really but I was like I'm just

going to try to

pretend OFA

should sck together I know I said i'

never think I wasn't better alone can't

change the weather might not be forever

but if it's forever it's even

better two notes y'all actually there's

like a couple that are not there hold

on birds of a feather wow careful this

precour so tough such a darn

disaster might be a good time for me to

pop this open for a

[Music]

second alone so the thing that's really

cool about that is over top of that

second chord in the progression which is

the B minor we had her do this like real

Jazz does like a

minor alone when I was touring I would I

never did a singing lesson I would never

never even did a vocal warm I never

really did a vocal warm I would do like

five minutes of like lip trills you know

your voice is truly like an instrument

and if you work on it and you train and

you practice you actually can strengthen

it and actually get better and I can't

even tell you how big of a difference

like training has done for me it's been

really incredible and this song I

wouldn't have been able to sing it how I

did and sing it on stage how I do

without the training that I've been

doing it's really

[Music]

awesome this is an awesome sentence to

say we should stick together we kind of

played with like we should stay together

we should play together or fly together

feather FL together and stick together

just rolls off the tongue in a very

satisfying way so this was another like

whoever is Right wins with me and

Phineas what I love about the way that

we work is it's not really like how yeah

we're not really competitive like that

like it's really like best idea wins and

with this I wanted it to be my not be

forever but if it's forever is even

better and I don't know what I'm crying

and Phineas was like it's better if it

goes it's even better I forgot all about

that one we overthought this sort of

simple song so hard hard yeah we kept

getting lost in the maze on this song

this I've never we I don't think we've

ever overthought another song more so

glad it's popular God it's such a pain I

was there was like a period where we

were considering not putting it on the

album but thank God we didn't do

that don't know what I'm crying for I

don't think I could love you more it

might not be long but baby I

I love you till the day that

I O I see a place I want to mark

up might not belong those are two

different words might not belong this

was our big long lyrical puzzle we

rewrote that so many times we had

different

rhythms we had this whole other part

yeah it's true this we didn't get that

for 7 months I'll love you till the day

that I die when we hadn't set it up

right made no sense to us and then it

was about setting up that line right

right we kept saying it's like how do

you make I love you till the day that I

die a punchline not just sort of like

sacon and meaningless I know that I I'll

love you till the day that I die

shouldn't be meaningless but it felt a

little meaningless before we got might

not be long like not necessarily going

to live another 80 years but I'll love

you till the day that I die even if

that's a few days so that was our big

setup we had like different rhythms

different melodies for a while it was I

know I should be terrified

what of what we had like some like I

don't this the way it

was and those also didn't feel truthful

and they didn't feel like they were

building to anything and we also wanted

to set up the I love you till the day

that I die cuz it did feel kind of empty

so yeah let's do the chor let's see what

happens e oh beautiful look at

that I love doing that you guys killed

that fixing stuff

immediately I just want context cuz

that's technically even though it's the

last line of the pre- chorus it's the

start of the chorus so okay sorry now

you can play

[Music]

the till the day that

die till the light is my

eyes till the day that I die

I've never thought about how the end of

the pre is the beginning of the chorus

Billy and I spend a lot of time in stud

being like like I'll go I think you

should resing that Chorus Line Billy

goes okay and then I play it she goes

this is what you think the chorus is

that's a big part of like big thing

birds of a feather is the pre chorus and

then I don't know what I'm is the chorus

and this is kind of like this like the

post chorus second half of the chorus

it's the same deal but it is it doesn't

really matter does it we literally hated

so much when we made it didn't we also I

was singing it like like

D I was like very it was very um

guttural I we have the demo of that

version and it's really tough it's tough

I listen to it recently and I was like

it sounds like a horn but she did a

bunch of beautiful harmonies on those

dyes

too the

day till the light my

the

[Music]

I I love me some harmonies so funny we

play you these things we're like yeah

there's a little bit of that 7

[Music]

hours how you to

me you would believe if I told you you

would be the

I you but you're so

[Music]

full

me so you don't see it your

mind's

quit

[Music]

be a I love that verse I have like such

a love for second verses I feel like

second verses especially for us all the

best lyrics all the best lyrics we've

ever written are in the second verse

weirdly I added that sound bite if you

like yeah hang on it's so awesome yeah

we pull that there's a there's a

vocal it

[Music]

actually that's awesome do you have the

original

sound that's the original sound I mean

what am I saying cuz cuz cuz the Str

wait that's amazing that's from getting

older yeah guys who's the

stranger we didn't even know that that's

awesome so that's the vocal from getting

older from happier than ever that came

out our second album came out in

2021 but but who would ever know

part of my year of of

Crisis I was going to say I really loved

the second verse at the time because

different from I think the rest of the

song where I said it was kind of like I

was writing what I wanted to feel this

verse was really how I did feel you know

I want you to see how you look to me you

wouldn't believe if I told you like

you're so obsessed with the idea that

you're this you know

unaccomplished ugly you know whatever

somebody might talk down about

themselves and think and it's like you

don't even know how you look to me like

in my mind you are

beautiful special talented it's not

actually possible to see ourselves how

somebody else sees us but if it was you

literally wouldn't believe it like you

if I could give you my view of yourself

view of you you would you would be so

shocked and so stoked cuz it's awesome

you would keep the compliments I throw

you instead instead of discarding them

discarding them and and just keeping

this wall around you would take them in

and agree with them and then tell me

it's a bit that one's interesting to me

because I feel like people kind of hear

it in a different way for me that's me

being like tell me you're joking like

tell me that it's a bit that you don't

see how amazing you are say you want to

quit don't be stupid that I wasn't

referring to a relationship I was

referring to like one's you know career

and job and someone who's just really

doubtful of themselves when they have so

much talent I think there's like a note

here uhm yeah it's super small I love I

actually love this little part Pretend

This is here probably

yeah this one goes down a half step

which is really

[Music]

cool I think it's no

no this I tried a lot of different stuff

with because I didn't know if it was

good enough to just hold it so I tried

lot of like don't be

stupid or like

stupid or and none of that it was kind

of like so it was kind of

performative

[Music]

tobye there's lots of new lyrics to to

write I is

forever even better

[Music]

you this is Sister

fried these are the lyrics that we

rewrote when we rewrote the whole chorus

the entire chorus because we were

freaking out really freaking out so we

rewrote the chorus and that was the part

we heard before so the I don't know what

I'm crying for and now we go to the Belt

you want to go for it right now try to

do it absolutely not but you could play

the isolated vocal

[Music]

oh I remember like coming home and

playing it for my parents at the time

both of them were like

was so loud I mean it's literally

shouting I'm shouting but that second to

last note was all I was aiming for and

then as I was doing it I was like it

would be really cool if I went one more

and I did it and it was

[Music]

awesome instrumental coda

[Music]

there were various moments of this song

that felt really good the whole time and

one of them was that outro that outro it

feels very happy it feels like and sad

feels both we started this song on I

think February 16th of 2023 we didn't

finish it until like literally January

of the next year so long really a long

time I think sometimes you feel more

ownership over something if it took you

a long time times when stuff happens

really quickly you're like wow I feel

grateful for that but you might not feel

like the sort of sweat that went into

it well I am incredibly happy and proud

of this song we figured it out and we

like it and people are understanding it

really understanding it and loving it

and it makes me really really happy it

just went platinum which is so fast and

insane I thought this was my flop song I

we we we thought maybe this was the Flop

album but we loved

it here I

[Music]

go

[Music]

alone thanks everybody

[Music]