Billie Eilish and Finneas Are On Another Level

[Music] man wow this is it's so good this video was brought to you by audible a few days ago billy eilish released her first music in what feels like a minute a brand new single therefore i am and i realized that hey we've never really talked about billy on this channel and uh she's definitely somebody who i'm very interested in talking about because there's a maybe a typical conversation that goes on around her like many other mainstream artists but i really genuinely believe that her music is different and not just different in sound but i just mean fundamentally different i mean the work that she does with her brother phineas and and the way that they put songs together there's some really interesting stuff going on in there and i thought we would take a look into some of her music and just kind of pick bits and pieces apart and talk about what makes them unique and interesting and ultimately what i guess my sort of thoughts are on their music okay so first things first let's take a look at this most recent [Music] video [Music] i really dig this groove um and and part of the reason why is it's very easy to mess up such a simple groove it's very easy to make it totally just lacking of any depth and feel it's easy to program you know a drum beat with a bass drum and a hi-hat and a back beat of some kind and like just sort of make this thing that's that's that's perfectly lined up uh quantized and everything to a grid and like that's no problem anyone can do that right but you can screw that up and make it feel like it's just devoid of any human component and i think that this particular groove has everything that you would want out of a straight ahead uh you know perfectly even groove sometimes it's difficult to point out exactly where that comes from i mean some of it might be instrumentation like literally coming down to what bass drum did they choose what snare drum did they choose producers the very good ones which you know i think phineas is a very very good producer they have a way of just sort of understanding like what sound is going to work here anytime a musician tells you that a producer somebody that makes music with a computer is somehow less of a musician like i fundamentally disagree with that and i think that that is totally unfair because it would be easy to screw this up and they did not [Music] this is the thing that billy has done in a lot of her music that is just so good and here's the thing it's it's more than just saying oh well you know she has good vocal harmonies because that i mean a lot of people have good vocal harmonies that's that's kind of expected on a certain level right but i believe that there are two different components that really make these shine number one her harmonies are not placed way into the back of the mix if you listen to a lot of pop music or more mainstream music there's always vocal harmonies there's always three four-part harmonies going on but they're always like super quiet they're just designed to be kind of like a supplemental layer that you don't really hear well in this it's it's very much in the forefront like it's almost like a balance like it's even it's supposed to be three or four parts singing in unison not a melody with background way way way off in the back of the mix and the other part that i think makes her harmony so uniquely good is just this really i don't know how else to describe the style besides like playful it's just a very it doesn't need to be super locked in like every note is exactly on pitch and then oh we're going to use auto-tune and we're going to like you know which is fine if that's what you're after if you're trying to make it perfectly calculated then okay do all that stuff and it probably is going to sound very good but billy's style is very much this sort of playful loose kind of thing where where she'll there's fluctuations in the pitch that almost sound like they're completely on purpose and i think there's a there's a very close blend like it's almost like she's drawing somewhat of a speaking style into her harmony singing and just her melody singing in general and i really really am a fan of that i think it just it feels really nice it's it's a good groove it fits into the groove very well and it's just relaxed and playful it's such a cool style and it's something that i have not really heard all that much before i love james bond i love the series and i most importantly have always loved the music for james bond when it was announced that billy was going to do the new bond theme and then i heard the song i was like this is just such a brilliant choice i'm sure you've all heard it but there's just a couple things i want to point out about what makes this so unbelievably good i should have known her extremely subtle quiet style of singing i just think is such a great fit for this application [Music] we [Music] that is one of my favorite parts of the whole song i i so so appreciate when things like this draw from the history and the inspiration of these sounds and it's so simple i mean just the the plunger mute trumpet on there playing the line it's so obvious right but like not everybody would make that decision and billy and phineas actually worked together with hans zimmer on this and what a brilliant combination that is because some of these orchestral components to the song are just unbelievable [Music] hmm oh man yeah wow billy has the style of singing that's like we said it's very subtle and very quiet and i think it's such a cool effect and really nice to listen to but she can sing her ass off to hear those times when she will kind of dig into the pipes a little bit and let something ring oh man just really really great and i think that's a fantastic build up to this piece really just beautiful [Music] man wow this is so good okay so this one i actually want to break down uh i want to break down kind of what's going on the chords here as you guys can see it's it's so good and it's so classic and this is what i this is what i appreciate so much about billy and phineas and how they write music it's just like they draw from these influences influences and jazz and r b and blues i can only imagine like you know and i'm sure many other things but so beautifully worked into this you know their style and ah man so this tune has such a gorgeous chord progression it really is kind of a classic chord progression we start out in sort of the uh this two i would say it's you know it's based in e flat so we'd call this e flat we start out with just the one chord drop it into a dominant which implies that we're now moving to the next place and we do we go right up [Music] to the iv chord a flat major but then we flip it to be a minor seventh chord treat it like a two in a two five which will bring us back to [Music] and we call that a backdoor two five because rather than a two five leading back to the one just a normal two five which would be [Music] we're going to come at it from one half or one full step below which is why we call it a back door and it sounds like this right and it's just such a beautiful uh turnaround especially in this particular context so yeah we have that minor seventh a flat minor seven d seven back to one flip it dominant again [Music] four chord [Music] now instead of resolving we're going to go to the next part which is whole thing kind of functions as a five chord going to the minor one at c [Music] climbing down back to the four [Music] uh turn that four minor before letting it resolve back to the one that is such a beautiful sound it's it's weird because it's in some ways i would consider that to be like a sentimental sound you know because it's sad but also not that makes any sense like we have this uh it's not traditionally sad in the sense of it being like a dark minor sound it's just very sweet the other thing that's so great about this too is the melody check this out so good and i think that's something that often is like missing in a lot of modern music where sometimes we rely mostly on like sounds or rhythms or you know a chord progression or a hook instrumentally and sometimes the melody gets neglected we wind up with these sort of uh either just not many notes or just not you know very definitive but this is just so beautiful it just flows really really nicely i heard this for the first time very recently and i was like whoa whoa it's just so incredible absolutely beautiful i you know i guess some people don't maybe don't like billy's music because of the vocal style and and i understand that i mean if it's not your vibe then it's it's not your vibe and that's totally fine but the one thing that i don't think anybody can say is that there isn't a tremendous amount of musical integrity musical intelligence and thoughtfulness and just it's just good you cannot prefer the style and and nobody really can argue with you on that but i will argue with you if you tell me that there's not an insane amount of talent here both on billy's side and as well as you know phineas as a producer and both of them as writers i think they are uniquely good in today's mainstream artist kind of pool and as a musician based in jazz and maybe you know sort of lesser popular forms of music i so much appreciate how in their writing you can hear these influences and they're not watered down they'll straight up write a a what you could basically use in a jazz chord progression or like an r b kind of chord progression that's just the tune it's not like oh we're influenced by jazz so we're gonna stick a saxophone line in the background here no it's genuinely influencing the direction of the music and and i really appreciate that as you know as an artist and i think that that billy and phineas are they're they're on another level and here's the thing i think part of what makes that clear is the fact that they do make music that sounds like mainstream there's like it makes total sense that some of this stuff has become so insanely popular and and she is as big of an artist as she is now like because the music fits it's marketable it's accessible it fits into that into that vein but for me as an artist the thing that i that i pick up on and i'm like that's different is the fact that when somebody can execute music that is marketable that does fall into that accessible vein but yet it still maintains such a high level of musical integrity that's rare and and that is something that i think you know not a lot of people are doing or have the capacity to do at this moment i'm a fan i'm absolutely a fan i i love what they're doing and it's such a unique and interesting style to me i always look forward to seeing the new thing and it's not always going to be necessarily for me personally like oh i'd go and just listen to this all day long every day a lot of stuff absolutely but but what it always is is something that i'm genuinely impressed by and in particular like we said the fact that it is mainstream the fact that it is accessible and marketable but it maintains such a high level of musicality i think they're definitely on another level but i'm really curious to hear your thoughts on what do you like or or if you don't like billy eilish's music like what what about it is it that you don't like because that's a conversation that we all can have and i think everyone can bring bring up valid points but you know these are just some reasons why i'm a fan i think it's uniquely phenomenal i can't wait to see what comes out next just before we wrap this up i am so excited to announce a brand new sponsor to this channel audible and you may be familiar with audible they are without a doubt the best place for spoken word entertainment and audiobooks and i'm excited to be working with audible because for me i i have struggled getting myself to read it's just always been hard for me to kind of maintain that sort of attention but i have always been so much more receptive to listening to things i mean i'm a musician i guess that would make sense beyond just listening to music listening to words listening to books has been such a helpful experience as well with audiobooks through audible you can listen anywhere anytime whether you're in the car at the gym cooking in the kitchen or just whatever you're doing you can be doing this at the same time you don't have to sit down and specifically dedicate time and of course while the main thing that you might be familiar with audible for is audio books that is only one thing of many different things that audible has to offer there are guided wellness programs theatrical performances a-list comedy and exclusive audible originals you won't find anywhere else and now audible is giving members even more with the all-new plus catalog all audible members have access to the growing plus catalog with access to thousands of titles audiobooks podcasts audible originals guided fitness and meditation programs sleep tracks for better rest all included with the membership and right now you can get a free 30-day trial by going to audible.com charles or by texting charles to 500-500 links for that in the description again you can just go to audible.com or text charles to 500 500 and you guys be sure to show audible some love i'm so appreciative of them for sponsoring this channel and helping me create content for you guys every time you click on the link in the description it helps out the channel so much and i really really appreciate it so thank you to you and thank you to audible for sponsoring this video and you guys that's it that's gonna do it again i i'm so curious to hear sort of your thoughts about billy eilish's music and whether you like it or not like it and why um so let's have that conversation in the comments below i'm looking forward to reading that i feel like i don't need to say this with you guys because you're always amazing but obviously respect people's opinions i mean some people that are not going to like it and that's okay but regardless thank you so much for watching and we will see you in the next video [Music] you

Channel: Charles Cornell

Views: 599,323

Keywords: Charles, Charles Cornell, Charles Cornell Studios, Studios, Cornell, Piano, Piano Covers, Piano guy, billie, eilish, billie eilish, fineas, my future, therefore I am, billie eilish and fineas, billie eilish and finneas, finneas, billie eilish therefore I am, billie eilish my future, no time to die, billie eilish no time to die, billie eilish james bond, billie eilish hans zimmer

Id: PS4HcxGxEqE

Length: 16min 2sec (962 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 20 2020