Billie Eilish - BIRDS OF A FEATHER (Story of My Song)
Summary
TLDRIn 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
🎶 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.
🤔 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.
🎵 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.
🏆 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Signature
💡Sheet Music
💡Album
💡Lyrics
💡Reverse
💡Toxic
💡Vocal Warm-up
💡Chorus
💡Platinum
💡Harmonies
💡Instrumental Coda
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]
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