Song of the Day 1/27: Billie Eilish, “Bad Guy”
Billie Eilish, the 18-year-old pop phenomenon from Los Angeles, swept the four major categories — record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist — at the Grammy Awards last night, so after hearing about her for more than a year now I thought I’d give a listen. This is the recording industry’s choice for both record and song of the year.
Eilish (full name: Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell) is only the second performer to win all four categories in the same year. That’s no guarantee of a long career. The first person to do it was Christopher Cross in 1981.
Eilish, who writes and performs with her older brother Finneas O’Connell, burst on the scene in 2016 with “Ocean Eyes.”
Here’s Eilish and Finneas playing a stripped-down version of Michael Jackson’s “Bad” that demonstrates she doesn’t have to stick to her goth-inspired image and electronic-influenced songs.
‘Bad Guys’ made me feel really old, because for the life of me I cannot understand the appeal of that song. She’s barely singing, more muttering the lyrics. It’s like ASMR set to a beat.
Does this mean I can apply for an AARP card now?
Yeah. You’ve crossed over. Welcome.
No, because you know what ASMR is.
I think Eilish is pretty good and a fairly deserving choice in the major categories. She gets bonus points for writing her own music and not being over-produced.
But I would have chosen Lana Del Rey for best album. I also prefer Bon Iver and Vampire Weekend from that category, but the Grammys don’t like actual bands and I never expected either of them to win. They’re also a little past their sell date. If they wanted to give Lizzo an award for body positivity I’d get on board (I guess). But not for her music.
Only Del Rey would have been a better choice for best song aside from never-in-contention Bon Iver. This was a lousy category. Ariana Grande? Post Malone? None for me, thanks. The “Old Town Road” writers created a cultural phenomenon, but they’re no Kendrick Lamar.
Eilish deserved her record of the year award, but this was yet another weak category (Grammy doesn’t have a reputation for excellence). Well, Bon Iver was there, but it seems clear they were the token rock band. I would have picked Yola for best new artist. In fact, I think she had the album of the year compared with the other best album candidates.
Eilish is good not great (yet anyway) but that was enough to sweep the awards. Now I’m gonna listen to her some more and see if I can get that ASMR thing going.
As someone who follows this, isn’t “best new artist” historically the kiss of death category? Alby mentioned Christopher Cross, but I think there are many more who won it and then nothing.
True. In 1986 it was Sade. 🙂
But honestly, many of the winners have gone on to fame and fortune (Debby Boone notwithstanding).
You truly are a smooth operator.
Best new artist has been a mixed bag. Just looking at the past 20 years, Christine Aguilera, Adele, Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood, John Legend, Bon Iver and Maroon 5 have all had commercially successful careers. Esperanza Spalding is better known for jazz than pop. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have not exactly been a juggernaut. Alessia Cara and Dua Lipa won the past two years, but I still don’t know who they are. Going back farther, it’s safe to say Milli Vanilli, Debby Boone and the Starland Vocal Band didn’t pan out, but there was a group called the Beatles that did pretty well for themselves. Lauryn Hill crashed and burned. Marc Cohn was not the stuff that dream are made of. Paula Cole did not become a star.
Firefly just announced that Billie Eilish will be a headliner for this summer’s festival in Dover.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/firefly-2020-lineup-rage-against-the-machine-blink-182-billie-eilish-david-lee-roth-more/
I’m retired from outdoor festivals, but this is a solid lineup. Also included is Bernie surrogate and frontman for the hip hop act Run the Jewels, Killer Mike. 👉📿👊