The Billie Eilish song inspired by 17th Century philosophy
Upon her rise to fame, Billie Eilish swiftly found herself categorised within the realm of teenage bedroom pop by a faction of discontented music enthusiasts who mistakenly perceived her vibrant enthusiasm as a sign of inexperience. However, the reality paints a different picture: alongside her collaborative partner and brother Finneas, Eilish had amassed considerably more years refining her songwriting prowess than many might have assumed.
Beyond her initial fascination with the pop world during her pre-teen years, followed by her acclaimed album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, Eilish has long been dedicated to honing her musical craft. Proficient at capturing the cultural pulse and crafting alternative pop melodies that resonate with an entire generation, she has rapidly established herself as one of the most inspiring luminaries of recent times.
When her single ‘Therefore I Am’ dropped in 2020, lockdown mentality was in full swing. The accompanying video showed an unbothered, carefree Eilish running around an empty shopping centre, singing the lyrics into the camera. At the time, she revealed that the meaning itself was up for interpretation but that she felt a sense of “fucking around” when creating it. “The video is just the way that the song feels to me,” she told Zane Lowe after its release, adding that it felt random and chaotic due to being shot on an iPhone late at night with barely any crew.
At the core of this song lies Eilish’s profound indifference to the opinions others hold about her. She openly exhibits her aversion to the ceaseless media scrutiny and the criticisms directed at her choice of loose-fitting attire and physical appearance. Eilish asserts a firm request for these individuals to refrain from invoking her name as if they possess personal familiarity with her; in essence, she acknowledges this by admitting she doesn’t possess knowledge of their identities either.
Eilish then weaves her critiques of these people seeking social validation with well-known philosophical insights. She draws inspiration for the title and chorus from a philosophical assertion made by the 17th-century French thinker René Descartes as he grappled with the quandaries of scepticism.
In Descartes’ 1637 discourse Discours de la méthode, he engaged in a series of mathematical and metaphysical contemplations, aiming to reconstruct human knowledge based on the premise “I think, therefore I am”. By asserting that our very doubts about existence validate our reality, Descartes laid the groundwork for modern philosophy.
Therefore, Eilish capitalises on Descartes’ work to deliver a pointed rebuke to unfamiliar individuals – like the person she repeatedly refers to as “the man” – who are attempting to exert control over her. Just as our self-awareness affirms its existence through thought, Eilish, as an individual endowed with her unique mind, reinforces her autonomy.
Aside from her musical inspirations, Eilish also pushes boundaries in other ways, like using objects or unusual sounds to add to her music. Eilish has admitted previously that the chorus for ‘Bad Guy’ was first conceptualised on a family holiday in Australia. “My mum and I went for a walk in Sydney,” Eilish explains. “We were like across the street from the hotel and the crosswalk is this little – you press it and it’s like ‘doop, doop’. And I was like, ‘That’s hard!’ That’s the sound that it makes when you have to wait.”
“The hilarious part about all this is,” says Finneas, continuing the story, “We were just in Australia in May, and my dad goes, ‘Have you heard these crosswalks?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s the chorus in Bad Guy.’ And he goes, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘Yeah … never mind man.’”
