Billie Eilish Premiers "WHEN I WAS OLDER" Inspired by 'Roma' Movie (Lyrics/Song Meaning)

Billie Eilish’s contribution to new year 2019 starts off with an absolutely thrilling and haunting new song inspired by the award-winning motion picture ‘Roma.’ The new song is titled “WHEN I WAS OLDER” and uses electric synthesizers uncharacteristic to Billie’s music.

The Finneas-produced track takes a low-humming beat over which some electronic drums are played. Billie Eilish tunes into her usual creepy person to perform the song. “When I Was Older” follow’s Billie’s 2018 hit “When The Party’s Over” talking about how messy millennial relationships are. Both songs are expected to feature in Billie’s upcoming debut studio album, expected to drop in early 2019. She also released a single for the holidays 2018 named “come out and play.”

The 17-year-old vocal sensation previewed “When I Was Older” yesterday on her Instagram handle, where she announced the inspiration for the song was drawn from the Golden Globe winning movie ‘Roma’ directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The story of ‘Roma’ follows the life of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a maid in the house of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s.

Listen to “When I Was Older” by Billie Eilish

Download “When I Was Older” Single on iTunes and Amazon

The title of this song is based off on a line by a character in The Film Roma;

“When I was older I used to be a sailor, but I drowned in a storm…”
Roma

In the first verse, Billie Eilish reminesces of a relationship that was good to her. For unexplained reasons, the couple bent the relationship strings so far that it snapped at one point. Now all she has left are memories of a time when she had a best friend and a lover.

Billie Eilish also talks about getting “caught in the middle of it” in this song. This suggests us that she would have been an intruder into another relationship. Or simply, she could be talking about getting caught in the emotional feelings of a relationship.

In the second verse of “When I Was Older,” Billie confesses that she is having a hard time moving on from this love. She has flasbacks of their relationship like a black-and-white film strip. She says she is overdue for “new endeavors” which suggests us that she wants to move on.

What do you think about this new song by Billie Eilish? Somewhat different from her previous songs? Drop down your thoughts in the comments below, and share this article with your friends.