The Whisper Defense
Billie Eilish may be an artist for the ages or a flash in the pan, but so far she's at least very interesting—and I'm not talking about her hair color, her music videos, her not-great interviews. (Let's remember she is all of 18! Imagine having your teen thoughts about all of culture broadcast throughout the known world.) I mean that her songs, most of them co-written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, are harmonically and lyrically potent, from the Doors-like "Bury a Friend" to the gorgeous, standard-worthy "I Love You" to the one I find myself most drawn to, the mopey, chiming, mysterious "Ilomilo."
She's not for everyone, certainly, but one criticism I find puzzling is that "whispering is not singing." It's undoubtedly true that the quiet, intent, close-mic way Eilish sings can verge on self-parody. (And not just her somnabulent Oscars take on "Yesterday," which at least started out as a downbeat ballad in the original; check out her cover of Michael Jackson's "Bad" for a case of truly counter-intuitive over-earnestness. I for one think it pays off beautifully, but it takes sustained attention, and I wouldn't rest her rep on it.) For one thing, this is not the only register her voice takes; for another, and I can't believe I need to point this out, but whispering is a valid vocal aesthetic. Just ask Astrud Gilberto, Françoise Hardy, Julie London, or Julee Cruise, or another essential voice of the last century:
And while Suzanne Vega varies in the vocal power she applies to a song, at her quietest she makes Eilish sound like Judy Garland. Indeed I often find Vega's whisper-singing to be her most striking effect, especially when she uses it not on a ballad but on a more upbeat tune. I'd say her refusal to sing full notes here gives the song a palpable aggression:
She's not for everyone, certainly, but one criticism I find puzzling is that "whispering is not singing." It's undoubtedly true that the quiet, intent, close-mic way Eilish sings can verge on self-parody. (And not just her somnabulent Oscars take on "Yesterday," which at least started out as a downbeat ballad in the original; check out her cover of Michael Jackson's "Bad" for a case of truly counter-intuitive over-earnestness. I for one think it pays off beautifully, but it takes sustained attention, and I wouldn't rest her rep on it.) For one thing, this is not the only register her voice takes; for another, and I can't believe I need to point this out, but whispering is a valid vocal aesthetic. Just ask Astrud Gilberto, Françoise Hardy, Julie London, or Julee Cruise, or another essential voice of the last century:
And while Suzanne Vega varies in the vocal power she applies to a song, at her quietest she makes Eilish sound like Judy Garland. Indeed I often find Vega's whisper-singing to be her most striking effect, especially when she uses it not on a ballad but on a more upbeat tune. I'd say her refusal to sing full notes here gives the song a palpable aggression:
On the other hand, I'll admit that this song drives me nuts.
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