On March 29, 2019, international teen sensation Billie Eilish released her debut album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” to massive success. Instantly, the album was number one in 70 countries on the day of its release.

Eilish broke the mainstream with the release of “Ocean Eyes” in 2016, turning her into a breakthrough artist. Her debut EP “Don’t Smile At Me” came out in 2017 prompting her star to only rise higher with sold-out tours and countless interviews. After all of that success, her debut album was hyped to be one of the best of 2019.

All the hype was absolutely correct.

At its core, this album is sinister to the max, fueled by pounding bass, distortion and dark lyrics. The album cover, Eilish sitting on a bed against a dark background with a wicked grin across her face, is pure nightmare fuel. Yet, the one thing it really does well is that it prepares you for the evil journey you’re about to take.

While the opening 15-second intro “!!!!!” is hilarious and very contradictory to most of the sounds of the album. Any album that opens with someone taking out their Invisalign is automatically perfect.

Yet after a funny start, the bass comes in full force for the real opening track “bad guy,” the most recent single from the album. The constantly pulsating beat makes it the perfect dance song. A perfect dance song with lyrics that reflect Eilish as a dominant and sinister figure, saying she’s the type to break your mom’s heart, set off your girlfriend and my personal favorite, being the “might seduce your dad type.”

If me attempting to flirt with girls was a song, this is what I hope it would sound like.

But if me getting back at the girls who wouldn’t flirt with me was a song, it would be “you should see me in a crown.” The opening knife sounds are cutthroat, literally, and set you up for a revenge type track. Eilish’s lyrical content about making people bow before her and taking thrones sounds like a totalitarian take over backed by hard bass and extremely distorted vocals.

Lead single “bury a friend” suicide and revenge backed by an ultimately perfect backing track. Along with everyone’s favorite bass, electronic snare and kick drums make an easily punctuated beat bonded with the sounds of her lyrics, breaking glass, stapling your tongue and shoveling dirt onto your friend. Yet, the lyrics themselves are extremely dark and twisted, the way we like them

“Your talk’ll be somethin’ that shouldn’t be said out loud/ Honestly, I thought I’d be dead by now/Calling security, keeping my head held down/Bury the hatchet or bury a friend right now.”

From darker lyrics to quotes from “The Office” in “my strange addiction,” this album has a little bit for everyone. The music box chimes in “liomilo,” the classic Billie Eilish uke throughout the cleverly named eighth track “8” and the entire cabaret feel in the truth-telling “xanny.” We haven’t gotten to the best part though.

The stripped down, slower songs will make you burst into tears upon first listen.

“listen before i go” on the surface level is about a broken relationship ruining someone, causing them to completely give up. The diminished piano chords punctuated by sharp bass make Eilish’s raspy vocals seem more like gasps of words between sobs rather than purposeful vocals. This gave more emotion to the song and left me feeling a little more dead inside.

And then “i love you” came on and everything got worse.

While the acoustic guitar sounds like every melody from “The Legend of Zelda,” slight piano and electronics give more prevalence to the words. This song is heartbreak in the 21st century, from the songwriter of my generation. It sounds like an entire generation’s wishes put into two lines.

“You didn’t mean to say ‘I love you.’/I love you and I don’t want to.”

Contrary to popular belief by my friends; however, the most heartbreaking and tear-jerking song was the first single– “when the party’s over.” The opening sounds like a hymn, humming then gradual silence. Eilish’s vocals pierce over piano and hum to completely ache and pain your heart into an endless sadness you won’t be able to escape from.

“Tore my shirt to stop you bleedin’/But nothing ever stops you leavin’/Quiet when I’m coming home and I’m on my own/I could lie, say, ‘I like it like that, like it like that.’”

Overall, this album has both the dance tracks and the uncontrollable sobbing tracks wrapped into a sinister package. In my mind, this album draws a lot of parallels to The Japanese House’s debut “Good At Falling” from earlier this year with structure and lyrical content. Yet, I seem to have never taken this album off of my recent rotating playlists.

Billie Eilish has cemented herself as the biggest artist of 2019 so far and contents to capture audiences all over the country on her upcoming U.S. tour, including two shows at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. If you’re willing to shell out $200 to see the voice of Generation Z that is. And after a debut like this, I might just be willing to.