Pretty much everybody knows Billie Eilish in 2019. However, this was not the case just four years ago. One stroke of luck and a ton of talent later, Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell is one of the hottest acts today. And she is just 18-years-old now.
“ocen eyes” is Billie Eilish’s debut single and the song that made her an overnight sensation. According to Billie, she posted the song on SoundCloud, with a free download link, meant for her dance teacher. The song managed gather over a million plays overnight and her music career was paved.
“We put it on SoundCloud with a free download link next to it so my dance teacher could access it. We had no intentions for it, really. But basically overnight a ton of people started hearing it and sharing it. Hillydilly, a music discovery website, found it and posted it and it just got bigger and bigger. It was really surreal.”
Billie Eilish on TeenVogue
What inspired the song? Well, Billie Eilish’s brother FINNEAS is credited for composing the lyrics to the song. According to Billie, her brother wrote this song for his band to perform. When she heard the band play the song, she loved it and wanted to try it out herself. Thus began the start of one stellar career for both Billie and FINNEAS.
Speaking in an interview with Genius, Billie talked about her feelings about the song;
“Even though my brother had written it, it was still mine. You know, it was still exactly like, coming from me. I took it as mine, and the thing is, it wasn’t at all artificial… He (FINNEAS) had written this song, it was about what he was going through. And he just wanted to hear me sing it, and I just loved it.”
Billie Eilish with Genius
“ocean eyes” was included in Billie Eilish’s debut EP ‘don’t smile at me’ released in 2017, which also included some mesmerizing tracks such as “bellyache,” “idontwantyouanymore,” “party favor,” “hostage” and more.
Watch “ocean eyes” Music Video by Billie Eilish
Download “ocean eyes” Single on iTunes and Amazon
Buy ‘idontwantyouanymore’ Album on iTunes and Amazon
“ocean eyes” is a song of love, comparing her love for a guy to the ocean. Why the ocean? Because the ocean is blue, deep, calm at times and cruel other times. Billie Eilish does sing of her affection for this guy, but also says that he can easily make him cry. So, it would seem an ideal comparison to call his personality to an ocean.
In the first verse of “ocean eyes,” Billie Eilish speaks about his fiery personality. She draws comparison of his personality to ‘napalm skies,’ ‘burning cities’ and ‘flares.’ However, all of those instruments of destruction are hidden perfectly in calm inside his calm eyes like an ocean.
In the chorus, Billie admits to being so weak infront of her lover, that she is almost angry at herself. He seems to have quite a bit of control on her–not physically, but emotionally. Only one strong tidal in his calm ocean eyes and she is in tears.
The second verse of “ocean eyes” brings in a beautiful metaphor with ‘diamond mind.’ At a glance, we perceive this phrase as something beautiful, as diamonds are quite precious and they shine. But FINNEAS and Billie Eilish have a whole different meaning for this phrase in mind. Diamonds are some of the toughest naturally occurring materials on Earth. Hence, this phrase is used to mean that his fiery love left Billie with a diamond mind i.e. a strong mind–unbreakable.
Billie Eilish assumes an angelic voice to perform this song and the melodious tune is such a relaxing sensation to sway to. What do you think about this song? What do you think these lyrics mean? Drop a comment below and share this article with your friends.
Can someone tell me what careful creature made friends with time means?
Listening to d song makes me cry, n hv a deep reflection of my life 😊
I love u Billie ❤️
My first instinct was to say that the “diamond mind” belongs to the ocean-eyed lover, not the singer. Beautiful on the surface, but hard inside. But then I doubt myself because the next phrase changes from “I” and “you” to “he” and “her”. Is this is to avoid identifying who left who and why, or is there a third party in this story? (or both?) Enigmatic . . .
Billie Eilish is an amazing artist. The song Ocean Eyes is the most beautiful song I have ever heard. It symbolizes the love of my life Victor Steban. This song went straight to my heart and both of our eyes. Billie’s voice made this song even more personal for me. Forever in my heart.
I may be wrong, but I think Billie once said that she doesn’t like to say the exact meaning of the song, because she doesn’t want anyone to say “you’re wrong, this is the true meaning of the song”, she wants to leave each one to interpret it your way (again, I may be wrong, but I think I saw it in some interview). Anyway, I have a different way of interpreting this song: Finneas wrote it, the song was released in 2016, when Billie was 15, and she has blue eyes, so “Fifteen flares inside those ocean eyes”, for example, it would be Finneas talking about Billie, referring to her age, “Fifteen flares”, and referring to her blue eyes “Your ocean eyes”. This is just my opinion, don’t take it for granted, just reflect.
Of course, I don’t think anybody can deny any interpretation of the song, except the writer himself.
Your theory does have some merit. It is very possible that this song could be about sibling love. However, there is a slight undertone of ‘romance’ in the tone of the song which makes us tilt towards the song being about a crush.
i loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Billie Eilish music and her like she is so young and inspirational