WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?

Billie Eilish - WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
Critic Score
Based on 29 reviews
2019 Ratings: #154 / 802
Year End Rank: #4
User Score
2019 Ratings: #184
Liked by 918 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
NME

‘When We All Fall Asleep…’ is a memorable and game-changing debut record, with Billie's disruptive streak front and centre. We'll no doubt see the mainstream scrabbling to replicate it.

91
Consequence of Sound

Whatever missteps there may be, Eilish’s commanding, yet vulnerable, performances easily overcome them to create one of the best debut albums of the young year.

90
DIY

‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ is a supremely exciting, innovative first move from a pop voice that feels utterly fresh and modern.

90
Highsnobiety

It’s rare to hear someone so young have this much fun on their debut record while still crafting something that’s downright game-changing in its bravado.

90
Clash

‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ is a brave and fortuitous debut album from the LA teen, capturing the hopes, fears and vulnerabilities of an entire generation. The genius in this record is its unaffected relatability.

90
Spill Magazine

This album cements her as a force to be reckoned with.

90
Earmilk

She's become rapidly and dangerously famous in a short amount of time, and When We All Fall Asleep, its artistic achievements aside, manages to exist somewhere between critique, honest reflection of the zeitgeist and a progression of the Billie Eilish mystery.

85
The Line of Best Fit

She has created an album so unquestionably true to her quirks and personality traits that fans are offered a true insight into her process and psyche.

80
AllMusic

With When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, she demonstrates that she can do it all, hinting at a bright future that could truly go in any direction, as messy and hopeful as youth can get.

80
musicOMH

Overall, When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go? is a startlingly good introduction to Billie Eilish, an album full of attitude but with the talent to back it up.

80
The Arts Desk

This isn't the “ta-daaaaa” off-Broadway cabaret of, say, Lady Gaga, or the exhausting pantomime of Amanda Palmer, it's real LA noir, smoky dive, mystery theatre.

80
The Young Folks

The siblings are living proof that the most creative works can come from environments where you’re encouraged to create freely, in spite of a world that often tells us the opposite.

80
Exclaim!

Eilish's success is no fluke — When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a debut record that showcases a bold artistic vision and a willingness to move beyond the boundaries of pop conventions.

80
The Guardian

The highs are thrilling, and despite their obvious pedigree, arranged unlike anything else in contemporary pop. They also reveal the lows more starkly.

80
Evening Standard
The music that has captivated her fellow teenagers is anything but pop-by-numbers. It’s strange and brittle, displaying multiple personalities in a single song.
80
The Irish Times
On this debut, Billie Eilish delivers an exceptional body of work. This is a clear portrait of the artist and an in-depth insight into her world. It’s certainly true to say that Billie Eilish doesn’t miss much and she isn’t afraid to commit her experiences to song.
80
Q Magazine
This surprising, haunting album will speak powerfully both to her peers and to anyone who remembers how youth can sometimes feel like an overwhelming weight.
80
The Observer

Fascinatingly ambitious, and often extremely fun, this debut finds pop in safe and thrilling hands.

80
The Telegraph

Eilish is something special, a pop avatar of a Generation Z mood of sensitive disaffection.

80
The Needle Drop

It's a shame that the popularity and promotion behind Billie Eilish has poisoned the well a bit, as When We All Fall Asleep is actually an artful, well-crafted, and unique pop album.

73
Paste

WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? has its faults, not quite hitting its full potential, but it gets damn well close, delivering an infectious record for the post-party hangover.

72
Pitchfork

The debut album from the meteoric pop star lives in a world of its own: gothic, bass-heavy, at turns daring and quite beautiful.

70
The Sydney Morning Herald
Eilish's​ genre-bending pop is a culmination of Gen Z's joyless exploration of the world, and signals a welcome end to the cookie-cutter teenage pop star.
70
Spectrum Culture

It’s exhilarating when pop stars throw caution to the wind like this.

70
Sputnikmusic

The record’s highlights seem to come not when Eilish crafts a huge chorus or a memorable lyric, but rather when the beat dictates the flow of the song.

70
Rolling Stone

It’s an album full of dressed-down avant-pop with D.I.Y. immediacy and intimacy that can still hold its own amid Top 40 maximalists like Ariana Grande and Halsey.

60
NOW Magazine

The album plays like an angsty diary, scribbled with pseudo-depth that rings true to what it’s like growing up. It doesn’t have a definitive narrative, but explores sexuality, drugs and love in a way that doesn’t talk down to the listener.

60
Loud and Quiet

In the end, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a triumph of style over substance; it is lyrically in lockstep with Eilish’s generation and, superficially at least, ticks a more than enough of the requisite sonic boxes, particularly in terms of the production, to meet with the approval of the tastemakers.

40
The Independent

For the most part, When We All Fall Asleep is stiflingly dull and bloated, with subpar production from Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell.

PipePanic
79

You guys ready for one sentence reviews that make penis jokes or jokes based on the album name or artist name that get 50 likes because of that epic funny haha but overall the only thing contributing to the albums discussion is the rating?  Anyway this album is poopoo peepee pretty good.

Ok, this album isn't a classic. Hell no. It's the most accessable and easy to digest 'dist0rted and edgy!!!!1!' album to come of this year, and if you've spent enough time in this genre of emo pop, then ... read more

Space Vacation
39

Whisper singing at it's most inappropriate and annoying.
I had to check my speakers and throw on some other songs just to make sure the awful distortion was this album and not me.
None of the song's length times look bad on paper but listening to them, they feel twice as long as they need to be.

This will definitely be popular but I personally can not figure out why other than everyone on Earth had shitty taste at age 15.
It makes me genuinely uncomfortable to imagine this as a trendsetter.

8 ... read more

Craigold
100

BILLIE EILISH WHAT IN GOD'S NAME That is my beautiful baby boy's bed. You are clearly disturbing my child's peace. Please leave my home, I'm begging you. I love you but you cannot just do this.
Here, please accept my humble 100 rating, just, please leave. My son can hardly sleep as is.

sagweny
47

I used to hate Billie for bad guy but now she has different era and now that she's adult, I changed my opinion about her so I decided to revisit her debut album to check if I still hate it - yes I still do.

At first, for debut album its not bad and understand why world fell in love with Billie, the concept is good, scary-psycho songs but you also get acoustic songs? It kinda doesnt fit the album theme but nevermind.
Idk why but 8 gives me Melanie Martinez vibes.
I'm still confused about this ... read more

Thomasrey
82

Not as much of a fan of the darker vibe and billie's voice is better on happier than ever.
But this album is still produced very well and has some great hits.
One of the better modern artists these days and I'm a big fan.
Solid album.
Wish you were gay and you should see me in a crown are big highlights.

TheRiversSoul
85

I should've listened to this one sooner.

Favourite Track: listen before i go
Least Favourite Track: !!!!!!!

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Track List

1!!!!!!!
0:13
58
2bad guy
3:14
81
3xanny
4:03
80
4you should see me in a crown
3:00
79
5all the good girls go to hell
2:48
78
6wish you were gay
3:41
79
7when the party's over
3:16
87
88
2:53
67
9my strange addiction
2:59
77
10bury a friend
3:13
84
11ilomilo
2:36
81
12listen before i go
4:02
80
13i love you
4:51
84
14goodbye
1:59
73
Total Length: 42 minutes

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Added on: January 30, 2019