Billie Eilish dropped a thunderous new music video Friday (July 30) for her song “Happier Than Ever,” which was released on the same day with the 15 other tracks on the pop star’s new sophomore album of the same name.
“Happier Than Ever” is the second to last song on the tracklist, and is already becoming a favorite among fans, critics and Eilish herself. Posting a clip of the video on Instagram, she wrote in her all-caps caption that “THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONG AND VIDEO EVER ENJOY.”
The reason the song is sticking out to so many people is that it’s divided into two very discernible parts. The first finds Eilish singing in her typical soft-voiced manner, sounding defeated as she sings “when I’m away from you, I’m happier than ever.” But the quiet of the first half is met with the burning rage of the second, as Eilish brings in distorted electric guitars and full-chest screams to send a major “screw you” to the person who hurt her.
“I screamed my lungs out when we recorded this song,” she said of the song in Spotify’s “storyline” feature. “I’ve wanted to get those screams out for a long time.”
Just like the song, the 19-year-0ld’s video is divided into two opposing sections. She sings the gentle first parts of the song into a telephone while pacing around a light, yellow room. The facade of serenity then breaks slowly at first with water beginning to leak into the room, and then all at once when Eilish opens the door to a violent wave of storm water. She swims to the roof of the building she’s in, but instead of cowering there, she embraces the wrath of the storm with arms literally wide open as she screams some of the song’s best lines into the rain. “You made me hate this city,” she belts. “Just f—ing leave me alone!”
Watch Billie become one with Mother Nature below:
