“Don’t Smile at Me” is the debut album by American singer and songwriter Billie Eilish. It was released on Aug. 11, 2017 through Interscope Records. It took two years to finish the album, as it was Eilish’s first actual released album.
The genre of this album wrapped up into one word is indie. It seems to have a taste of many other genres, such as hip-hop, RnB and even a little bit of soul.
The producer is Finneas O’Connel, who happens to be Billie’s older brother. All tracks on the album were written by Finneas and Eilish, together. In different interviews, they have explained that the majority of the songs were written and produced in their bedroom, at home. A place where they began writing and never plan to leave.
There are a total of nine tracks, making the total length of the album a solid 29 minutes. It contains several of her previously released singles, including “Bellyache,” “Ocean Eyes,” “idontwannabeyouanymore,” and “My Boy”.
The track “My Boy,” was used in the fourth episode of the third season of the American television series, Shadowhunters. As we go into 2019, she has six music videos for the nine tracks. Eilish says each track off “Dont Smile at Me” will follow a distinct plot.
The only tie-together? “I’m pretty sure I don’t have any songs that are about how much I love someone,” she stated. “They’re all either about like, ‘I hate you,’ or ‘you make me hate me.’” As for the EP’s intimidating title, anyone who follows Eilish on Instagram is aware that the singer absolutely hates to smile in photos.
But like most things Billie Eilish, it goes deeper than that. “I like to be in control of how I look and how I feel and how I act and the obligation is to smile back at someone if they smile at you,” she has stated in several interviews. “Therefore, don’t smile at me.
Eilish is only 16 years old, so this music career and success is still extremely new for her. Even as the hype surrounding her name (and youth) continues to build, Eilish says she feels little anxiety over living up to expectations with her EP. In fact, it’s still settling in for Eilish that she has listeners at all.
It is known that she is incredibly humble about her talents and just loves what she does. 2019 will be a big year for Eilish and her brother, as well as her music.
