Grammys flashback: Billie Eilish made a stunning awards debut in 2020
Billie Eilish has quickly become an awards favorite with many, many accolades including wins at the Oscars, American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and Grammys. But it was her historic 2020 Grammys sweep that made us sure that the young star was here to stay.
Eilish’s debut album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?,” was set to be released in spring 2019. The album was preceded by the singles “You Should See Me in a Crown,” “When the Party’s Over,” “Wish You Were Gay” and “Bury a Friend.” It was with “Bury a Friend” that Eilish racked up a lot of tangible hype, with the song debuting in the top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Before the album release it was already the most pre-saved album ever on Apple Music, so chart watchers were anticipating a big debut for it. The record indeed launched at number-one with over 300,000 equivalent album units, a huge feat for an artist who hadn’t even had a top-10 single prior to the album’s release. At the end of the year it would end up ranked as Billboard’s number-one album of 2019. It was also acclaimed, earning an 82 on Metacritic. And the single “Bad Guy,” which dropped the same day the album was released, became an immediate smash, going all the way to the top of the Hot 100.
So as Grammy nominations approached, everyone was expecting big things for Eilish. And her big package of nominations, including important ones for Producer of the Year and Best Engineered Album for her brother and collaborator Finneas, pretty much confirmed that “When We All Fall Asleep” was the album to beat.
The record did face strong competition though. Nominated alongside it was the acclaimed and commercially successful “Thank U, Next” by Ariana Grande, which a lot of people had thought was going to win partially due to Grande being a more established act. However, Grande ended up going zero-for-five, an event not unlike Mariah Carey’s “Daydream” shutout. Looking back, it’s weird that “Thank U, Next,” which was easily Grande’s biggest era, went away empty-handed. Another major competitor, who might’ve ended up second for Album of the Year, was Lizzo. Her “Cuz I Love You” was highly acclaimed and successful, and just like Eilish, she had a lot of industry hype. She also likely monopolized the R&B and rap votes too, with little competition from those genres.
In the end, Eilish won five of her six nominations, only losing to Lizzo for Best Pop Solo Performance, which was actually quite the upset. A significant factor in her wins was narrative. It had been a while since a young ingenue singer-songwriter made such a splash with critics and audiences alike — arguably not since Norah Jones at the start of the millennium. As such, and with a bold new sound that would become the standard for Gen-Z pop, Eilish represented the next musical genius, so many in the industry were excited to reward her.
It helped that Eilish probably had support beyond pop voters; her music also frequently played on rock and alternative radio, and it had a lot of hip-hop musical nuances too. As such, Eilish likely took votes from a lot of genre musicians in the academy, and even voters who simply liked a good old-fashioned success story. After all, “When We All Fall Asleep” was made by two people in a bedroom studio, quite a story to appeal to a group of musicians who likely started out making music in their bedrooms too.
Four years later Billie Eilish is a bona fide Grammy darling. She has won several more times, including two more general field awards: Record of the Year (“Everything I Wanted”) and Song of the Year (“What Was I Made For?”). Will Eilish win her second Album of the Year trophy as well in the near future? I guess time will tell.
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