Maps of Music

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019)

Where the lyrics of When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? take you, and where it was really made.

The title comes from a line in a song written from the point of view of a monster under a bed.

Key places

Recorded in a bedroom in Highland Park (2019)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — The album was recorded in Finneas O'Connell's small bedroom studio in Highland Park, Los Angeles. The pair chose the bedroom over a professional studio for its intimate and homely feel. The map point is set at the Los Angeles city level. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish
• Released March 29, 2019 by Darkroom and Interscope Records in the US and Polydor Records in the UK
• Eilish was 17 at the time of release
• Largely written by Eilish with her brother Finneas O'Connell, who produced it
• Musically electropop, avant-pop, alt-pop and art pop, with influences from hip-hop and industrial music
• Themes include modern youth, drug addiction, heartbreak, suicide and mental health, with humor and horror in the lyrics
• Title comes from a line in the song Bury a Friend

Background

• Seven singles were released to promote the album
• Four singles received multi-platinum certifications in the US
• Eilish toured in support of the album on the When We All Fall Asleep Tour and the Where Do We Go? World Tour
• The album topped record charts in many countries during its first week
• Eilish was inspired in part by lucid dreaming and night terrors

Recording

• Recorded in O'Connell's small bedroom studio in Highland Park, Los Angeles
• The pair chose the bedroom over a professional studio for its intimate and homely feel
• Audio mixing was handled by Rob Kinelski
• Work began in May 2016 with the track Listen Before I Go
• Album was mastered and finished in January 2019

Cover

• Photographed by Kenneth Cappello, who had worked with Eilish on her 2017 EP Don't Smile at Me
• Cover reflects the album's themes of night terrors and lucid dreaming

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born December 18, 2001, in Los Angeles, California, to musician parents Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell.
• Homeschooled by her mother; began playing ukulele at age six and joined the Los Angeles Children's Chorus at age eight.
• Wrote her first "real" song at age 11 for her mother's songwriting class.

Career

• Released "Ocean Eyes" in 2015, written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell; the song drew attention on SoundCloud and led to a deal with Darkroom and Interscope Records in 2016.
• Debut EP Don't Smile at Me (2017) reached number 14 on the US Billboard 200.
• Debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019) debuted atop the US Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart; "Bad Guy" became the first song by an artist born in the 21st century to top the US Billboard Hot 100.
• Second album Happier Than Ever (2021) also debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
• Third album Hit Me Hard and Soft (2024) featured the number-one Billboard Global 200 single "Birds of a Feather".
• Won Academy Awards for "No Time to Die" (2022) and "What Was I Made For?" (2024).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: average score 82 out of 100, based on 21 professional reviews
• AnyDecentMusic?: 7.5 out of 10, based on its assessment of the critical consensus
• The Daily Telegraph (Neil McCormick): praised the lyrical content and wide range of musical influences, saying it sounds modern and old fashioned at the same time
• NME (Thomas Smith): said it ticks all the boxes for a memorable and game-changing debut album
• Pitchfork (Stacey Anderson): credited the album's success to Eilish's creepy eccentricity
• The Guardian (Laura Snapes): characterized O'Connell's production as compellingly nasty
• Billboard (Jason Lipshutz): called the album often thrilling despite its flaws
• The Independent (Roisin O'Connor): panned the production as subpar and the record as dull and bloated

Reappraisal

• Robert Christgau named it one of the top albums of 2019 and the fourth-best album of the 2010s
• Recording Academy listed the cover among the most iconic album covers of the 2010s
• Spotify listed it among the 30 classic pop albums of the streaming era

Records

• US Billboard 200 debut at number one, April 7, 2019, with 313,000 album-equivalent units
• UK Official Album Chart at number one, making Eilish the youngest ever solo female act to top the chart
• ARIA Albums Chart at number one in Australia
• Best-selling record of 2019 in Canada
• 62nd Annual Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
• More than 1.2 million pure copies sold worldwide by December 2019

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title comes from a line in the song Bury a Friend, which is written from the perspective of a monster under a bed
• The cover shoot took place on Eilish's birthday in December at a studio in Los Angeles and lasted 12 hours
• Eilish wore contacts to fill in her eyes completely with white for the cover
• The album's opening track features Eilish slurping saliva from her Invisalign aligners before the siblings descend into laughter
• The track My Strange Addiction samples audio from the Office episode Threat Level Midnight, with approval from the cast members featured in the audio

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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