By: Daisy Bhatt, 2028 and Charlotte Quinn, 2028
For the first installment of the Lookout’s musical exchange, BHS social studies teacher Mr. Donnelly and sophomores Daisy and Charlotte swapped favorite albums and gave their opinions. Mr. Donnelly listened to Hit Me Hard and Soft by Billie Eilish, while Daisy and Charlotte listened to Say It Out Loud by The Interrupters. Below are their reviews of three songs from each album.
Donnelly review –
I want to start by noting that Billie Eilish is clearly a very talented singer and that she writes music that fits her vocal talents well. However, I would say that her music does not really speak to me (not really a surprise to anyone). That said, after listening to these songs (and the whole album) I can understand why many people would like her and feel touched by her lyrics and music. I am glad that this exercise got me to take a little time to listen to her music and broaden my horizons.
Here is a breakdown on the specific songs – I am separating Lunch from Skinny and Chihiro because Lunch is so different from the other songs.
I thought Lunch was a fun dance song with good bass lines and switch-ups that punctuated the song and made Eilish’s voice and vocals more effective. I thought it was interesting how it started as a clear song with a clever lyrical refrain that turned into a less structured and distorted song as it reached the end – almost like the song was saying “time to move on.” Hearing the song as part of the album was interesting because of the way this structured dance song jumps out of the previous song and disintegrates into the song after it makes sense on the album. This was my favorite of the three songs.
The songs Skinny and Chihiro are distinctively different from Lunch, which is interesting because Lunch is sandwiched between Skinny and Chihiro on the album. Both of these songs are much more atmospheric, with minimalist music and a more whispery voice. Eilish shows a much wider vocal range in these songs, but the lyrics, which are often repetitive, float in and out of the music. Sometimes they are above the music and clear and other times the music drowns out the lyrics. It seems like Eilish’s lyrics are floating on the music, like it was water, and sometimes they go underwater. In these songs, it seemed to me that Eilish’s voice was more of a musical instrument affecting the feel of the song than as a way of delivering a message through the lyrics. But, that is this reviewer’s thought, which I am sure many Billie Eilish fans might choose to disagree with. I do not think I would actively listen to these songs, but I think they would be good background music – actually, a really good soundtrack to the right movie.
Daisy and Charlotte review-
Overall, I quite enjoyed listening to all three of these songs. While they are atypical of my usual taste in music, they were still pretty good. I would definitely be willing to listen to this type of music again.
Family was both a funny, yet wonderful song. Though the lyrics are what some would call “basic” most would agree that the vibes were immaculate. I want to make it very well known that this is not a song I would normally listen to however I quite enjoyed it. The song itself is characterized by upbeat tempos, and a prominent baseline, a prime example of modern Ska-punk. The energetic and bright feel, shown through the specific key and tempo, something I’ve learned is typical of the genre.
Gave You Everything was, I think, by far my favorite. It had a deeper theme in my opinion. The first verse describes the initial shock of and pain of being left, but as the song progresses and the ex-partner returns, the singer realizes a newfound independence, shown through the lyrics “I don’t care anymore”. The song also maintains the high energy sound with a strong guitar solo (which I love in a song).
The lyrics and beat in By My Side were very peppy and gave off a nice, positive vibe. Even though it was very repetitive, the song was still good and I didn’t get bored of it at all. This song was definitely something new and unusual for me, but I quite enjoyed it. However, while the song appears to be upbeat and happy at the first listen, when you listen to it more and take a look at the lyrics, there is a ton of hidden meaning. The singer seems to be regretful about what he did in his youth / regrets his past foolishness. He mentions multiple times instances where he did bad things, even getting involved with the police once. The words “I don’t wanna die” are repeated over and over again in the chorus of the song, leading me to think that the singer has found himself in a rough situation and is trying to save himself before it’s too late. The fact that this song has lots of meaning in its lyrics makes me like it even more, considering lyrics are one of the most important parts of a song for me.
