Billie Eilish has opened up about what’s changed in the creative process as she works on her third album.
The singer was speaking on the new episode of Dua Lipa‘s At Your Service podcast when she explained the “big jump” between the ages of 18 and 21, and how she had to convince herself she hadn’t “lost it”.
Eilish’s debut album ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?‘ came out in 2019, followed up by ‘Happier Than Ever‘ in 2021. She’s now working on her third, confirming back in November that she and her brother/collaborator Finneas had recently “started the process of making an album”.
“Everything is different about it,” she said of the music making process. “I’ve been trying to compare recently, just because I’m getting used to doing it in a different way. And trying to be like, ‘It’s OK to do that. I’m OK. I’m still able to do that; I’m capable still.’”
The singer also reflected on the shift from making music in her childhood home to working out of Finneas’ basement studio for ‘Happier Than Ever’, feeling like they had “figured out” their process after the last album.
“We were like, ‘We’ve got it all figured out, this is how we’re going to do it from now on, and it works really well’,” Eilish said. “And, you know, touring for a year-and-a-half, then coming back to it, and being way older – and not even much older, but again, the jump between 18 and 21 is a big jump. Just mentally and physically, and realistically. It’s just been completely different.”
The singer went on that she had been trying to “convince myself that it’s OK and that I haven’t lost it, it’s just different”.
She elaborated on exactly what’s changed, explaining: “The way that I exist in the room is different, my voice has completely changed since then…The voice-changing thing is a trip! It’s all kind of shocking.”
“I’ve gotten a little bit more like, ‘OK, it’s just change and I’m figuring that out.’ It’s hard to accept change, it’s hard to get over, ‘But I did it this way for so long, and it worked so well!’ Well, you can’t anymore.”
Eilish also said she appreciated the “fearlessness” of her younger self, adding: “When you’re a teenager and so much of your career is based around the fact that you’re young, and then you get older and people are used to you being young, it’s hard for you even.”
“But nobody told me that when you grow up you stop recognising your younger self.”
The singer’s most recent release was ‘What Was I Made For?’ from the Barbie soundtrack, which she debuted live at Lollapalooza this month.
This week, she announced that her OVERHEATED climate action event is returning to London.