I’m sure a site titled Bloody Disgusting is the last place you’d expect to see 18 year old mega-star Billie Eilish being talked about. The singer has recently snagged multiple Grammys, a Vogue cover shoot, and she already has a best-selling album. Fellow horror fans please do not fret. I’m here to introduce you to a side of Billie Eilish you may not even be aware of. 

If one were to simply just listen to a few of her songs they’d hear some interesting lyrics, a funky beat or two, and maybe a song that sounds slightly unnerving. But beyond that, many people are unaware of how far Billie dives into the most terrifying genre of them all.

In an interview with Pop Buzz, Billie Eilish explained her liking of “American Horror Story” (specifically “Murder House’s” Tate character) and on Instagram she even cited Jennifer Kent’s genre powerhouse The Babadook as inspiration for her debut album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” An article in the student newspaper The Vermillion categorized Billie’s music as being a part of the “Horror-pop” genre amongst the likes of “Thriller” and “Monster Mash.”

Everything from Billie’s album art, stage screen animations, music videos, and merchandise evokes the DNA of the Horror genre. Some may even consider some of her music videos to be short horror films. In this article I am going to break down many of the most haunting aspects of Billie’s impressive career thus far.

Music Videos

As I mentioned before, almost all of Billie’s music videos can pass as short films. They often tell haunting and emotional stories, alongside music-based editing. 

Quite possibly the most terrifying of Billie’s creations, “bury a friend” follows the young singer as she is tormented by night terrors and what seems to be demonic possession.

Michael Chaves, who directed The Curse of La Llorona and the upcoming The Conjuring 3, was brought on to direct this project, and his genre skill is extremely evident throughout. There are a plethora of unsettling shots/sequences within including one of Billie eerily singing under a bed with darkened eyes, being injected with several needles, and even floating in a terrifyingly vacant hallway. The song itself is also quite dark and intense with heavy drops in the beat and haunting lyrics. 

At first listen “when the party’s over” doesn’t seem very creepy; if anything it comes off as extremely solemn and angelic. This all changes when paired with the unsettling visuals of the corresponding music video.

In what appears to be a seamless one-take the singer is shown drinking an inky black liquid while sitting in a bright white room. As the song progresses the black liquid begins to ooze from her eyelids, clouding her whites with pitch black darkness. The substance leaks down her face as she sings the somber song. Billie even revealed that the liquid was practical and actually spewed into her eyes. 

In what is visually staged to be a direct continuation of the story in “bury a friend,” the video for “all the good girls go to hell” features Billie growing menacing demon wings while being covered in slick black oil. Winged Billie prowls around an empty street as the suburbia around her catches aflame.

Working with director Rich Lee, Billie sets out to convey a message about the dangers of climate change with the help of nightmarish visuals. Additionally, the haunting song is actually featured in the trailer for the upcoming horror film Saint Maud (you can read BD’s review here).

The song “you should see me in a crown” actually features two visual counterparts, one being animated, and the other featuring Billie in the leading role yet again. The latter is one of Billie’s most notorious videos in which she calmly sits in a chair as several spiders crawl in and around her face. The intense and slightly dark track works beautifully with her stone-cold spider-covered appearance. The spiders are 100% real, making this even more terrifying.

The other video, created by Takashi Murakami, is an animated fever dream featuring a giant Billie dancing amongst a futuristic city. About halfway through the video things get super cool as animated Billie transforms into a giant human/spider/zombie hybrid that proceeds to obliterate the city and its residents. At one point the creature’s neck extends, swaying the fanged skull-like face at the screen. It’s something that looks straight out of a Tim Burton film. This song is also featured in episode 9 of Netflix’s new horror series “Locke and Key.”

The video for “hostage” is more mysterious than frightening, at least in the beginning. What starts as a beautifully choreographed dance between two people dressed in all white (Billie being one of them) eventually results in one of them being attacked by ghostly extensions of the clothed wall and ceiling. The setting of the video is completely basked in white, amplifying the empty isolation the characters are stuck in. In my opinion, the video conveys strong asylum/hospital vibes. They even look as if they are both wearing modifications of a hospital gown.

As Billie turns on the opposing dancer the walls reach out and pull him in all directions. One shot even features him suffocating beneath the fabric in ghostly agony. 

Billie Eilish’s newest music video “everything i wanted,” developed and edited by John Paul Horstmann, is subtle yet deeply unnerving and emotional. Billie has stated that the song itself is an ode to her brother Finneas who has helped her grow her career from the beginning. The video features Billie driving down a street at night with her brother silently sitting beside her. She continues to focus only on the road while singing the eerie track. Towards the end of the video things take a typical Eilish dark turn. Billie drives the car straight onto a beach and continues to accelerate as she approaches the ocean. Without missing a beat the duo’s car plunges into the deep sea. She continues to sing as the car floats deeper into the depths of the ocean.

The final sequence features her and her brother grasping hands as the water pours into the car, sealing their aquatic grave. 

Performances

While there aren’t many high quality videos of Billie’s tour performances (which feature several unsettling video graphics), her professionally recorded TV stage productions have continued to pack a spooky punch. 

In a performance of “bury a friend” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Billie begins the track standing amidst a foggy landscape. As the beat picks up the lights begin to strobe, illuminating the thick fog in quick bursts. As Billie nears the middle of the song a ghostly white sheet is conjured with the flick of her hand. It covers the band behind her as the fog continues to trickle at her feet. As Billie delivers the signature line “I wanna end me” she contorts backward as the beat sharpens. The silhouette of a tall long-armed creature eerily rises on the white sheet behind her.

Skinny claws and a square top hat allude to this creature being heavily inspired by The Babadook.

Billie begins this “Saturday Night Live” performance standing within a small section of a station. Within minutes she already unnerves the audience by slowly walking onto the sides of the wall. She continues the performance as she crawls her way onto the ceiling. The lights flash as the beat drops in a sequence that would fit right at home in Disney’s “Tower of Terror.”

Billie spends the next part of the performance singing upside down as the elevator begins to flash red. It is super unsettling and downright cool. A behind the scenes video reveals the rotating stage and camera process that helped achieve this spooky effect. 

As you can see, the up and coming star certainly has a lot to say, and a lot of nightmares to create. We don’t know much about what’s in store for Eilish although we do know she will be performing the new theme song for the upcoming Bond movie “No Time to Die”.

Hopefully Billie continues to conjure frightful imagery and perhaps one day she can apply her unique vision to a large-scale horror project. It seems only natural. And we’ll be waiting.