Billie Eillish is the poster child of a new kind of misery music. In a music industry where artists are pressurized to stick to stereotypical pop star conventions, Billie is not afraid to be herself. She is known for playing around with genres and expressing her personality through her songs.
And guess what, her grim image works wonders for her brand positioning. At the age of 13, Billie went from being a bedroom singer to reaching overnight virality. Now she has over 13 billion streams on Spotify, 33 million Instagram followers and 18 million YouTube subscribers. Here’s how she does it:
She explores unconventional lyrics that can be interpreted in multiple ways
Billie is the queen of storytelling, she weaves in complex symbolism and hidden metaphors into her songs that leaves room for plenty of interpretation. Her lyrics are controversial and have a serious dark undertone to it. Her fans keep coming back to her songs to unravel its mysterious elements.
Her songs strongly resonate with her target audience on an emotional level
Billie expresses her innermost thoughts in her songs. Her complex and haunting emotions represent what teenagers are going through in their prime years. Fans say that Billie’s songs help them cope with their own struggles and act as a coping mechanism.
She posts her music on viral platforms to boost her visibility
Billie began her music career by posting songs on Soundcloud. She claims that after posting her debut single Ocean Eyes in 2016, she went viral overnight. A music discovery website called Hillydilly posted her song and boosted its virality even further, after which she received a call from her current manager Danny Ruckasin.
Billie’s songs are featured on popular Netflix shows
She marketed herself on platforms that teenagers most frequented. Her songs were featured on some of the most popular Netflix shows like 13 Reasons Why and Shadowhunters.
She released her songs one-by-one
Rather than following the usual cycle of dropping a single before releasing a debut album, Billie released her songs one-by-one and then went on to release her full album. This promotional strategy gave Billie’s fans plenty of time to develop a slow-building crave for her songs.
She promoted individual campaigns with major music streaming services
Billie enlisted the top music streaming services as her allies. She promoted her songs on major platforms like Spotify and Amazon Music as an individual campaign. For example, Spotify users got special access to her song videos and she also made an exclusive video for Amazon Music where she paired products with her songs.
At 17 years old, Billie is redefining the rules of the music industry. Her violent, haunting and terrifying music stands out starkly against the picturesque pop songs in our current era. Billie’s strong promotional campaigns have significantly increased her visibility and made her one of the most popular rising teens today.
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(Header image credit: crommelincklars via Flickr)