Song Review: Billie Eilish my future

Billie Eilish released a new song for fans to dwell on. The latest single, my future (all lowercase) is a reminder for Eilish’s young audience that their future can be filled with hope.

my future Album Art

Released on July 30, 2020, my future was #1 in the U.S. and Global Spotify charts with over 2 million streams in the United States and over 5 million streams worldwide by July 31, 2020. [X] The animated music video has reached over 22 million views on YouTube as of August 3, 2020, only three days after its initial release.

my future opens with a slow melancholic vibe, melding with Eilish’s past tracks. Eilish laments about a relationship that seems one-sided by both partners. Opening lyrics are I can’t seem to focus / And you don’t seem to notice I’m not here while the pre-chorus lines are Can’t you hear me? / I’m not comin’ home / Do you understand? / I’ve changed my plans.

gif by bela @ nostressing.tumblr.com/

But it’s not a broken-hearted love song. The chorus leads with lines ‘Cause I, I’m in love / With my future / Can’t wait to meet her / And I (I), I’m in love / But not with anybody else / Just wanna get to know myself. After a slight pause after this chorus, as if to take a breath, an upbeat tempo kicks in.

The second half of my future is a lo-fi hip-hop-esque beat accompanied with an uptempo guitar riff and melodic, breezy keyboard chords. Eilish’s jazzy vocals on-top of this new beat create a great balance of delicate and poppy. While the beat is uptempto, there is no lack of dissenting chords that Eilish is famous for, especially in the precursors to the chorus.

Written with her brother at the beginning of quarantine in the United States, Eilish reflected on the meaning of my future by saying, “It’s a song that’s really really personal and special to me. when we wrote this song, it was exactly where my head was at– hopeful, excited and a craaaazy amount of self reflection and self growth.” She continued by saying she hopes fans can bring their own meaning to the song and stay hopeful for their futures.

Billie Eilish never ceases to amaze fans with poetic lyrics and soulful melodies. If this is a glimpse of what fans can expect from her in the future, then it will be a bright one indeed.

Listen to my future Below

Song Review: Panic! At The Disco’s Hallelujah

Panic! At The Disco released the first song since Spencer Smith had resigned and it is awesome. Released on April 19, 2015, Panic!’s song “Hallelujah” is their first single off their fifth upcoming, untitled studio album, rumored to be released later this year. Selling over 71,000 copies and debuting on Bilboard’s Top 100  Hallelujah is opening the golden gates of a new era in the world of Panic! At The Disco.

Panic! At The Disco’s album art for Hallelujah

Hallelujah starts off with a drum riff, some background talking and a fanfare of trumpets, lead singer, Brendon Urie, is laughing and he goes on to say “A moment you’ll never remember, and a night you’ll never forget”, there’s an elongated “oooooh” and the beat drops into a jazzy, soulful and downtempo beat straight into the chorus. (below)

“All you sinners stand up sing hallelujah / show praise with your body, stand up sing hallelujah / and if you can’t stop shaking, lean back let it move right through ya / say your prayers, say your prayers say your prayers”

From the chorus itself, it sounds to be pretty religious. Images of TV ministers and their elaborate religious schemes and over excited audiences fill your head as you take in the chorus. KROQ asked about the meaning behind Hallelujah Brendon said “It’s just, for me, you know, the spirituality of being able to own up to your sins, as they’re called, and take responsibility for your actions really hit me this time around, and so that song really is about that, it’s, you know, taking responsibility for things that you felt guilty for in the past and just owning it, because, now, that’s a piece of you and you can’t get rid of that history, so, that’s really what it was. But it was a chance to, kind of also, you know, there’s a little tagline in there that I throw out to our fans, I like to call them ‘my sinners’, and I’m a fellow sinner, and so I think that’s a little special little throw-out to them.”

gif by Emily @ http://panic-at-the-blog.tumblr.com/

Panic! At The Disco also performed Hallelujah for the first time at the 7th Annual Shorty Awards along with their previous album’s single Miss Jackson. 
It’s always interesting to see what new sound Panic! comes up with with every new album they come out with, and you can never pin it on the first single since with their last album, Too Weird To Live, To Rare To Die their first released single Miss Jackson was vastly different than the electronic synth pop of the rest of the album.

The new era of Panic! At The Disco is upon us, the only original member left is lead singer Brendon Urie, and although fans can probably not expect drastic changes, new experiences will flood the lyrics and new style changes in this upcoming fifth album.

Niana Gutierrez

Listen to Hallelujah Below

Song Review: Kayne West’s Only One ft Paul McCartney

There is none more controversial or outspoken an artist than the likes of Kanye West, but regardless of his antics, you can’t deny the musicality of his work.

With hits like 2012’s Mercy, Ni–as In Paris, and his newest album released in 2013, Yeezus, fans are always excited to see what Kanye will do next. So when word broke out that Kanye was working with famed former Beatle, Paul McCartney, people were left wondering what exactly would come from the somewhat odd pairing.

“Only One” album art featuring Kanye West and daughter, North West taken by Inez and Vinoodh

Released on December 31, 2014 and reaching number 35 on Billboard’s Top 100 by January 17, 2015 , Only One is a tender and heartfelt song sung by Kanye through the perspective of his late mother, Donda West, who passed away in 2007.

The song itself opens with a soft keyboard melody that lasts throughout the whole song, contributed by Paul McCartney. Kanye comes in with autotuned vocals, putting a twist on what would be a simple ballad. The lyrics are incredibly touching, with empowering lines like “Remember who you are, no you’re not perfect but you’re not your mistakes” and “And if you knew how proud I was you’d never shed a tear, have a fear, no you wouldn’t do that. And though I didn’t pick the day to turn the page I know it’s not the end every time I see her face” given the listener some perspective on how Kayne feels about what his late mother would be telling him if she could speak to him in that moment. The track finishes with the repeated phrase “Tell Nori about me”, which we can infer is Kanye’s mother telling him to tell his daughter about her and how much she would have loved her.

Kanye West and Paul McCartney by Inez and Vinoodh

The song doesn’t feature anything elaborate, just soft, smooth keyboard sounds accompanied by autotuned background and main vocals. It would be interesting to know why Kanye chose to have his vocals autotuned, and not fully give a bare bones rendition of the song, personally I feel like it may have taken away from the overall emotion of the message but the lyrics are so beautifully written that it doesn’t really matter in the grand scope of things.

Only One‘s music video was released January 29, 2015 directed by Spike Jonze is simple as well, just featuring Kanye and his daughter, North on a country back road in the rural town of L’Erable, Illinois where Kanye grew up. The song in the video has some minor changes, and is different than the actual studio version of the track. You can hear Kanye singing through the video with the track and not just having the studio audio overlap the video at all.

Overall, this single from Kanye West is incredibly personal, touching and beautifully written. It tugs at all your heartstrings and shows a different side of the artist that we usually don’t get to see, if not at all. This song is definitely worth checking out, and a wonderful precursor to Kanye’s next studio album.

Niana Gutierrez

Check out the song and music video below