At midnight last night, the 17-year-old who has taken the alternative music industry by storm, Billie Eilish, released her debut album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? This album has been teased since just after the release of her EP, dont smile at me.

Eilish has previously released four singles to promote the album, which consists of 14 tracks in total. Multiple of the songs reflect on the recent death of her friend, rapper XXXTentacion.

“!!!!!!” is the first track on the album. It’s about 14 seconds long and is just Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell. At first, I found it odd to include this on the album by itself, but considering her age, this makes sense.

The next song is “bad guy,” which starts off with a booming beat and Eilish humming. Snapping in the background adds even more to the beat. The chorus rhymes and has an excellent rhythm to it. After this, a haunting melody plays over occasional vocals. This song is really catchy, but the last 45 seconds have a completely different sound and do nothing for me.

The third track is “xanny.” Here, Eilish describes her feelings against the epidemic of rising recreational drug use. The song is really mellow, and for a large portion of the song, her voice has a scratchy effect over it. What really made me love this song is the display of Eilish’s uninterrupted voice at the end of the track. By the time there is one minute remaining of the song, the instruments have faded out, which really allows listeners to fully appreciate Eilish.

On July 18, 2018, Eilish released “you should see me in a crown” as the first single from the album. After my initial listen to this song, I was intrigued by the unique sounds in this track such as the knife scraping, intense bass and robotic background voice, but I couldn’t tell if I liked it. The more I listen to it, though, the more I like it. One of my favorite aspects of this track is how in the first verse, Eilish claims that a boy “fell for these ocean eyes.” The song “ocean eyes” was a track from dont smile at me, and I thought this was a really cool feature to include.

“all the good girls go to hell” is the fifth song on the album, and it depicts Eilish’s nihilistic beliefs about life. The song has a smooth rhythm that reminds me of an early 2000s rap song. The lyrics are really powerful in this song. A similar instrument used to play the melody in “bad guy” is used near the end of this song, and it really contributes to the sound. The only negative aspect to this song is how repetitive it is; for such a produced song, there isn’t much going.

The sixth track, “wish you were gay,” was released on Mar. 4, 2019 as the final single for the album. This song is about Eilish’s unreturned affection for a boy. The song is a look into her thought process: if he doesn’t want me, he must not be into girls. This is a message we can all relate to after having a crush who doesn’t like us back. Adding to my love for the track even more, it is played in a simple style, with a piano serving as the main instrument.

If you need a good cry, “when the party’s over” is the song for you. On Oct. 17, 2018, this song, the second single of the album, was dropped. As if it was a child of Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games,” this ethereal song is sung in a slow, high-pitched voice with a soft echo throughout most of the track. A lovely piano is playing in the background, which the touching lyrics and graceful voice complement beautifully.

Fittingly, “8” is the eighth track of the album. This song alternates between Eilish’s normal voice and a high-pitched version of it. The sound resembles the song “party favor” from dont smile at me. The primary instrument is a guitar, which makes sense following “when the party’s over,” but this is a major change in sound for the album.

“my strange addiction” is easily one of my favorite songs on the album. It’s the ninth song and it samples the popular TV show, The Office. In one episode of this show, a dance called “the Scarn” is introduced. In her song, Eilish uses the same beat from the song used to dance “the Scarn.” Additionally, Eilish includes voices from some of The Office characters during the scene about “the Scarn.” To make the song even better, her voice sounds so raw in this and it’s beautiful.

The tenth song on the album, “bury a friend,” was the third single for the album and was released on Jan. 30, 2019. This rhythmic song is chilling, emotional, and terrifying altogether. Amongst other distinctive sounds, crunching glass, a clicking staple, a coffin slamming, a drill whirring, and a clock ringing are repeated throughout. In my opinion, this song is the epitome of Billie Eilish. Although all of Eilish’s songs are better enjoyed with headphones, “bury a friend” becomes much more enjoyable this way.

The instrumentals from “bury a friend” perfectly transition into the eleventh song, “ilomilo.” The title is shared with a puzzle game from 2010 because the song is about Eilish’s fear of separation. This is another one of my favorite songs on the album due to her chilling voice and moving lyrics. From this song and the last song, I could really feel the sadness that Eilish felt about the death of XXXTentacion.

“listen before i go” comes next on the album and is a really slow song. It picks up slightly, but remains slow for its entire duration. If I had to choose, this would probably be my least favorite song on the album. The lyrics are probably really meaningful, but for the most part, they went over my head and this was just another sad song.

Next is “i love you,” the thirteenth track. In the beginning, I thought this song would be a repeat of “listen before i go,” but her brother joined in on this track and it really completed the sound. Throughout this track, Eilish sings about her struggling relationship. The second verse in this song is by far one of my favorite parts of this song—it’s so different. While Eilish sings about being on a red-eye flight, you can hear the seatbelt warning sign, a flight attendant talking and a plane taking off.

Finally, “goodbye” is the closing track of the album. Eilish sings, “please, please, don’t leave me be,” then sings one line from each of the previous songs in the album in reverse order. I thought this was a really smart way to wrap up the album and it definitely left me with an overall pleasant feeling.

In conclusion, this new album is a bop, and it has just earned a home on my playlist. However, I do wish that there were more songs like “bad guy” and “my strange addiction” because those are more upbeat than other songs on the album. Still, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? was exactly what I expected from Billie Eilish, and I can’t wait to see what else she’s working on.

Rating: A-