“NEW MUSIC FROM BILLIE EILISH,” the 17-year-old singer tweeted on Nov. 10, giving her 2.9 million Twitter and 41.8 million Instagram followers a reason to look forward to Wednesday. As the hours counted down, Billie’s followers eagerly anticipated the new song, and it was literally “everything I wanted.”
A day before the release, Billie gave fans a preview…by playing the last fifteen seconds of the song. The electrobeat outro was similar to the sounds from her smash hit studio album (a record that will be topping many of the “Best of 2019” lists), When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go. The reception to this snipped was, as expected, overwhelming positive. “Crying already.” “Omg not gonna sleep till it’s coming.” “so ready” “About time Queen Billie,” one fan said, ignoring that When We All Fall Asleep came out in March of this year.
Billie blew up in 2016 after releasing her single “Ocean Eyes” on SoundCloud. Her debut EP, 2017’s Don’t Smile at Me, hit the Top 15 in four countries. However, 2019 will be remembered as her year. When We All Fall Asleep debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, has contained four US Billboard Hot 100 top 40 singles, including her first No. 1, “Bad Guy.” She’s performed on Saturday Night Live, won countless awards, and is on the path of being one of the biggest music stars of a generation.
In the wake of all this success, Billie opened up about her battle with depression at a young age. After an injury forced Billie to give up dancing, she told Rolling Stone that she went down “a hole. I went through a whole self-harming phase — we don’t have to go into it. But the gist of it was, I felt like I deserved to be in pain. Sometimes I see girls at my shows with scars on their arms, and it breaks my heart. I don’t have scars anymore because it was so long ago. But I’ve said to a couple of them, ‘Just be nice to yourself.’ Because I know. I was there.”
“I haven’t been depressed in a minute, which is great. Seventeen has probably been the best year of my life. I’ve liked 17,” she told Rolling Stone. She also revealed that she’s relied on therapy to help with her mental health and the pressures of being one of the biggest pop stars in the world. “have a job that doesn’t allow me to break down. I can’t go cry somewhere, I can’t go scream and be mad. I have to work.”