When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish. It was released on March 29, 2019, by Darkroom and Interscope Records in the US and Polydor Records in the UK. Eilish, aged 17 at the time of release, largely wrote the album with her brother Finneas O'Connell, who produced it at his small bedroom studio in Highland Park, Los Angeles.
For the concerts, see When We All Fall Asleep Tour and Where Do We Go? World Tour.When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
March 29, 2019
May 2018 – January 2019
Finneas' home studio
(Los Angeles, California)
42:55
- Darkroom
- Interscope
Musically, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a pop, electropop, avant-pop, and art pop record, though it also features influences from hip hop and industrial music. Its songs explore themes such as modern youth, drug addiction, heartbreak, suicide, and mental health, with lyrical sensibilities of humor and horror. The album's title comes from a line in the song "Bury a Friend". Eilish said the album was inspired in part by lucid dreaming and night terrors, which are reflected on the cover photo.
The album was marketed with the release of seven singles, four of which received multi-platinum certifications in the US—"You Should See Me in a Crown", "When the Party's Over", "Bury a Friend", and the worldwide hit "Bad Guy". Eilish also embarked on several tours in support of the album, including the When We All Fall Asleep Tour and the Where Do We Go? World Tour. An immediate commercial success, the album topped record charts in many countries during its first week of release. By June 2019, it had sold more than 1.3 million copies in the US and became the year's best-selling album in Canada, while in the UK, it had made Eilish the youngest female solo act to chart at number one.
Upon release, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? received universal acclaim and was one of the year's most acclaimed albums. Many reviewers praised its subject matter, songwriting, cohesiveness, and Eilish's vocal styling. At the 2020 Grammy Awards, it won Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, while "Bad Guy" won Record of the Year and Song of the Year; Finneas also won the award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. In 2020, the album was ranked at 397 on "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.[1]
Artwork and packaging[edit]
The cover artwork for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was photographed by Kenneth Cappello, with whom Eilish had previously collaborated for the artwork of her 2017 EP Don't Smile at Me. After working with the singer on pictures for her. magazine, Cappello was asked to photograph the artwork for her upcoming album. The shoot took place on Eilish's birthday in December at a studio in Los Angeles and lasted 12 hours.[73] The singer had prepared sketches for the album cover which were inspired by the album's themes of night terrors and lucid dreaming, as well as Eilish's interest in horror films,[74][73] specifically The Babadook.[75] Cappello told MTV News that he "knew she wanted it moody". In order for it to "feel real", Cappello added no additional lighting to the end photo so as to give the impression that "a door was opening and that was the light coming into the bedroom." He additionally shot different variations of Eilish sitting on the bed expressing a range of emotions. Eilish wore contacts to fill in her eyes completely with white. She further wished to use a minimum of additional special effects and touch-ups on the end product to retain a sense of "realness and transparency".[73]
Marketing and sales[edit]
In 2018, Eilish released several singles, including "You Should See Me in a Crown" and "When the Party's Over", which would appear on the album.[76][77] On January 29, 2019, the singer teased her debut album on social media for the first time, revealing its artwork and title. She also announced the release of a new single for following day at 9AM PT,[78] which was revealed to be "Bury a Friend", alongside a music video and the album's track listing;[79] the song became a hit for Eilish.[80] On March 3, Eilish posted a snippet of an upcoming single named "Wish You Were Gay" in an Instagram post, alongside an announcement revealing that its release as the album's fourth single the following day at 9AM PT.[81] A live video for the track recorded at a show in London that month was shared at the end of April.[82] On March 16, Eilish performed as a headliner at the South by Southwest festival, singing fourteen songs including the four singles from When We All Fall Asleep accompanied by "elaborate videos" on a rear-end screen. Her performance was well received by critics.[83][84][85]
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was released on March 29, 2019, alongside its fifth single "Bad Guy"[86] and its music video.[87] The song became a worldwide hit[88] and among the four singles from the album to be certified multi-platinum in the US, along with "You Should See Me in a Crown", "When the Party's Over", and "Bury a Friend".[89] "Wish You Were Gay" and "All the Good Girls Go to Hell", released on August 30 as the sixth single,[90] were also certified platinum.[91] "Ilomilo" was released as the seventh single on May 26, 2020.[92] To celebrate the album's release, Eilish launched an immersive experience in partnership with Spotify, featuring several rooms that each symbolize a song from the album, with objects to smell, hear, and feel, reflecting the singer's synesthesia.[93]
On April 7, 2019, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 albums chart with 313,000 album-equivalent units consumed, of which 170,000 were pure album sales. The album also recorded 137,000 SEA units, which translates into 194 million on-demand audio streams for the album's songs in its first week, thus representing the third-biggest streaming week of all-time for an album by a woman.[94] She was the eleventh artist to chart on the Billboard 200 under the age of 18.[95] It was also the first album by a youngest female artist to top the chart in 10 years since Demi Lovato's 2009 album Here We Go Again. It later became the first by a youngest female to spend more than a week on the top of the chart in 20 years since Britney Spears with her 1999 album ...Baby One More Time.[96] By June 20, 2019, When We All Fall Asleep had sold 1,304,000 equivalent album units, of which 343,000 are pure sales.[97]
In Canada, the album debuted atop the national album chart with 46,000 total consumption units.[98] By the end of June 2019, the album had been certified double platinum in Canada and was the best-selling record of the year in the country with 174,000 equivalent album units.[99][100] In Mexico, the album had considerable success reaching number five on the national record chart.[101] All of its singles were certified multi-Platinum while "Wish You Were Gay", "You Should See Me in a Crown" and "Bad Guy" were certified Diamond.[102] It was the fifth best-selling English-language album and fifteenth overall in Mexico of 2019 (physical sales).[103][104] On March 13, 2023, it was certified double Diamond and four-times Platinum by AMPROFON with over 840,000 units sold, making it the 12th best-selling album in Mexico. In the United Kingdom, it also opened at number one on the country's Official Album Chart with 48,000 combined sales, making Eilish the youngest ever solo female act to top the chart.[105] By its fourth week of release, it was certified gold by the BPI, indicating 100,000 sold in the country.[106] It is the sixth best-selling album of the first half of 2019 in the UK, with 200,000 combined sales.[107] In Australia, the album entered the ARIA Albums Chart at number one, with six of its songs occupying places in the top ten of the singles chart. In doing so, Eilish broke Ed Sheeran's record with the most songs with simultaneous placement in this area of the chart.[108] It remained at this position for seven more non-consecutive weeks[109] and has since been certified Platinum.[110] The album returned to number one in Australia following its Album of the Year win at the 62nd Grammy Awards.[111]
Worldwide, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? had sold more than 1.2 million pure copies by December 2019, ranking as the fifth best-selling album of 2019 and third among female artists.[112] Aided by the album's success, Eilish also ranked as the fourth best-selling artist of 2019 and second among female artists after Taylor Swift.[113]
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[178]