Billie Eilish has released the music video for her single “my future,” the animation created by Australian artists Andrew Onorato and in a similar style to the Japanese Studio Ghibli. Eilish wrote and recorded the song with her brother Finneas O’Connell while the two were on lockdown at the beginning of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“We wrote this at the very beginning of quarantine,” Eilish said in an email to fans. “It’s a song that’s really really personal and special to me. When we wrote this song, it was exactly where my head was at – hopeful, excited and a crazy amount of self reflection and self growth. But recently it has also taken on a lot of new meaning in the context of what’s happening in the world now. I hope you can all find meaning in it for yourselves.”
The video begins with Eilish sitting in the rain and looking toward the moon. As the video goes on she lays and runs her fingers through a puddle as a lone front looks toward her before she walks alone through the woods. Her whisper stands alone as she sings of reflection and making an effort to grow. “I’m in love with my future/ Can’t wait to meet her/ And I I’m in love/ But not with anybody else/ Just want to get to know myself,” Eilish sings over a soft piano that almost goes unheard. The song picks up pace midway through, color being introduced to the animation as the rain stops and tree branches wrap their way around Eilish in a warm embrace. She continues to sing about where she wants to go as she is greeted by sunlight, drums carrying the change of pace to reflect Eilish’s hopeful movement forward. The vines carry Eilish toward the sky as the track comes to a close, the instruments returning to silence and leaving Eilish singing “And I’m in love/ But not with anybody here/ I’ll see you in a couple years” while the animation fades out.
The animation style is reminiscent of the Japanese Studio Ghibli. Eilish had expressed her admiration for Studio Ghibli in an interview with Vice, saying she felt she owed much of her artistic inspirations to Hayao Miyazaki. Six of the studio’s films are among the 10 highest-grossing anime films, with the studio producing the classics Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo and more.
“my future” is Eilish’s first release after “No Time To Die,” the title song for the latest James Bond movie, No Time To Die. Eilish is the youngest artist to be featured on the James Bond soundtrack, and also won five Grammy’s this past February for her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Eilish had also been the first person born after 2000 to have an album in the number one spot of the Billboard Charts. She had begun her first sold-out arena tour only few days prior to the world-wide coronavirus lockdown, postponing the tour until 2021.
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