Tuesday (May 9) was a big day for O.G. Billie Eilish fans. After her five-year-old SoundCloud cover of Drake‘s “Hotline Bling” started gaining traction on TikTok last month, the singer has now released an official version that’s available for the first time ever on streaming services.
Simply titled “Hotline (edit),” the new cover is just one minute long. Eilish’s original take, produced by Finneas and posted in June 2018 to SoundCloud, is double that length, but the new release only includes its second half.
The 21-year-old pop star slows down Drake’s uptempo 2015 smash, singing the song’s hook through waves of far-off reverb over relaxed ukulele strums and a bright synth countermelody. Fans who want to hear her perform the song’s full chorus and first verse, though, will have to stick with the SoundCloud version.
Prior to Tuesday, Eilish’s cover was a lot harder to come by. Other than SoundCloud, one of the few other places fans could find it was on a special two-song Record Store Day vinyl, which also featured the Grammy winner’s 2017 track “party favor.” Fan videos show that Eilish also used to perform “Hotline” at her concerts in 2017, using it as a segue into “Party Favor.”
Now that it’s finally out, fans couldn’t be happier. “I’VE WAITED YEARS FOR BILLIE TO UPLOAD THIS COVER,” wrote one in the song’s comments on YouTube.
“my heart !!! i’m so happy this is trending on tiktok…,” commented another. “it reminds me of the time when billie was our little secret. so proud of all her and finneas’s accomplishments !!!”
Check out Billie Eilish’s “Hotline (edit)” below:
