Seasoned Vocal Coach Reacts: “The Greatest”-Billie Eilish

In this video I breakdown what I’m hearing in this amazing song by Billie Eilish.

[@aliciaarias4897]

She personally selects every backing vocal on her songs. It’s all just her and her brother. If I did that, I wouldn’t want someone else’s voice replacing my vocals either. You should watch the Zane Lowe interview with her and her brother. They are such a fascinating pair of gifted artists.

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I definitely can see the point to having artistic control completely locked down on the things you present publicly. I haven’t seen it yet, but yeah, I heard that interview was amazing.

[@akaLids77]

Finneas also sings with her in this song. He usually harmonizes with her. You can see him playing the guitar and singing along side of her.

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Yep, I was talking about the doublings of Billie’s voice.

[@Zelda_Kitty]

Billie doesn't belt often so when she does it's an EVENT.

[@emmakinney9024]

Her brother literally does back up voices for everyone of her performances

[@wendybarefoot5838]

Been a Billie fan for years and Id never want to hear backup singers. The layering is part of her sound and style that fans know and love.

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I hear you, seems lots of others agree with you

[@brokke31t]

ahhhh but she finally did for her acoustic set a few days ago and it was beautifully done! they were all so well matched and masterfully arranged.

[@louannlang7471]

This kid is FANTASTIC...I said it YEARS AGO. I told my (older than ME friends lol) SHE WILL BE A STAR. I appreciate the shout out to ACTUAL musicians and having them present (especially) for recordings and live performances. MANY are grieving losses brought about by the pandemic and the DIGITAL AGE we are experiencing. It's a new age. With new talents and abilities. MUSIC WILL LIVE ON.

[@joanaalves5881]

Actually it’s Finneas on the harmonies on the background. He always does harmonies. Great reaction thanks !

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I was hearing doublings of her voice too.

[@joanaalves5881]

@@TimWelchVocalStudio definitely ! It was her voice in the back on the track and Finneas on the harmonie :)

[@siriuslymeva]

its more of her personal preference to not have background vocalists. she likes to have her live performances capture the essence of her songs - in which case its almost always just her and her brother/producer finneas. there are only a few instances of a choir present with her for a live performance, examples include her 'when the party's over' performance at the grammys and 'goldwing' for her disney+ special. billie is also quite particular about features and doesn't do many with artists. its quite an admirable quality to be honest, she prefers not to rely on other artists' popularity or their vocals and thereby also has a more intimate feel to her shows - its always just her and finneas on stage (accompanied by their drummer andrew)

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Those are all great points about her performing and I agree it’s absolutely personal preference.

[@mouthbreether]

i totally want billie and finneas to do full live band performances of their studio albums. there's so many great examples of this. yeah, it's not gonna sound the same. it might sound even better for the people at the show. maybe someday. billie has spoken about changing the arrangement for live performance, and when when she's seen other people do this and even though it sounds good she was left with the feeling of, "just play the fucking song i came to hear". maybe someday she'll be able to let go of that type of control and maybe her audience will appreciate it if and when she does.

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing.

[@eastonsmith484]

Ive heard her say that but she def does do some things differently with the vocals all the time at concerts. And acoustic performances of the tracks.

[@mouthbreether]

@@eastonsmith484 yeah, for sure. there's a lot of playback but you should be able to tell that live vocals are also in the mix. i struggled with billie's live vocals for a while. the loss of air due to exertion. she's cleaned a lot of that up. you record a breathy vocal sitting cross-legged on your brother's bed, hunched over with dozens of takes and comps and then try to perform it jumping around on stage? of course it's gonna be a mess. i forgive it and the crowds fill in for her when she's struggling.

[@13dma1rz]

Interesting reaction. You might enjoy listening to her isolated vocals on this. She released the iso vocals for the whole album a while back and it's amazing.

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I will check it out, I would like to hear that!

[@chrissiebogendyment5449]

Omg yesss , pulling the mic away is like a good thing when she belts . People were saying that it’s so far away that she’s probably lip syncing but I’m like nah, girl is singing

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Yep, it’s a common vocal technique.

[@Eightfathorses]

Billie Eilish is like a crooner back in the day. You feel like she is whispering just for you. Real backing singers would detract from this. That's also why she saves the chest voice for the climax I think

[@Eightfathorses]

Also she slides her notes beautifully

[@iamlpinthe312]

I’d love to see you react to the 30th. I think that Billie is a really great example of how an artist evolves , especially over such a relatively short period of time. I believe that she said in an interview that up until the Bond song she wasn’t really able to belt - physically. The 30th” is a song which is all about breathing and breathlessness. And speaking of BGV , check out Ren “Back On 74” Retake. And Chalk Outlines & How To Be Me

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I’ll check it out, I’d LOVE to work on her belt with her! :) Sounds great here though.

[@aggeloukoos]

She riffs and runs pretty often, but in a more jazzy way.

[@gigatoob]

Enjoyed ur reaction, u can see Finneas is adding his voice in the early parts but most harmonies are her voice on the backing track. I love her riffs and vocal exploration on this new album.. Thanks!

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Thanks for the comment! ✨🙌🏼

[@builderofdreams1]

Loved the reaction! and loved that you talked about the mic cause the amount of people being like “this is playback/autotune, the mic is not even close to her mouth” is soooo annoying haha As for the background singers, I think she just doesn’t like working with more people lol she’s very particular about her vocals, she comps them herself and all that and even for instruments, she usually only has her brother and a drummer (she had full orchestras a couple times when performing No Time to Die and What Was I Made For at the Oscars or other big Award shows - highly recommend No Time To Die live at the Brit awards if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s beautiful!). And her brother does a lot of the harmonies. On concerts her crowd almost sound like background singers, if you watch videos of her concerts you can her everyone singing every single lyric with her, sounds cool and she seems to like that. But I do think for a performance like this one, background singers would be really nice.

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

All great points! Thanks for the comment! 🙏🏼✨

[@joannesmith7042]

Absolute genus… this is my new favourite song from her.. she is breaking out again into something even better… she is maturing into what I would say, an even better singer. I was an absolute kd lang fan ..but you know what… Billie is beginning to move my needle into someone who just may be better than kd if that is at all,possible.

[@camillasilva6876]

I just discovered your channel and I loved it ❤ how do you react to the group Little Mix, they are incredible, they sing a lot especially live. the video 'Acapella Queens' updated version 2020 or the cover of the song Falling by Harry Styles, are great options for you to react.....🥰👏🏼

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Thanks so much. I’ll check it out! And thanks for the comment! ✨🙏🏼

[@enmalevy]

her brother finneas does the background vocals. you can see him on the far right with the guitar and mic in this video!

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Agreed! I was referring more to the additional doublings of her voice that I was hearing.

[@SofiaNavarro-ll8pr]

great reaction, you should also react to the group Little Mix, they are excellent singers... described as the biggest girl group in the world of this generation!!💙

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Awesome! I will add them to the queue, thanks for the recommendation!

[@nugsefaqmamscandphdstudent8446]

She is only 22 and has been singing since she was 14. Check out her live version (at age 16) of Michael Jackson's Bad on BBC1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqeZg6dorZuehsksi=f-OXhWXsuqyR8b2R

[@amyescobar3171]

She said that Birds of a Feather was the first time she ever belted, so this only her second song she has.

[@robertmaeshiro4435]

No she didn’t 😭 said birds of a feather was the the highest she’s belt

[@dash_inthedark6110]

Finneas was doing the back vocals (even if she had some of her own backing vocals too I think the main back vocals are coming from him). I do agree she could benefit w some real live singers, maybe in the future she will. For now I think she is comfortable using her brother as backing support for now. She has more musicians in this performance which was new to her so she probably will have a bigger band in the future

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Agreed! Would be awesome to see her expanding that way in the future. ✨🙌🏼

[@janavolk5834]

Love the reaction but the insistence of background singers detracted from the art they prefer to give and what a lot of us as her fans appreciate. You saying it once... OK just a preference, but the repeating of it multiple times takes away from the great detail you had been giving about the other nuances that we may not catch.

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I agree with you, thanks for the feedback.

[@anneemull]

I'm pretty sure the backing track is the same as the one used on the album. They released the backing track for the album and it's beautiful! Really interesting to listen to!

[@LarissaSantos-jl8lp]

reacts to the group Little Mix, they do very well, both in live performances, acoustic, acapella and covers....🤩

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I'll check it out!

[@lancedeschenes4046]

Someone was listening. Billie covers songs from the album live with backup singers - Amazon Songline videos available on KZbin. Gorgeous performances.

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

🙌🏼✨

[@ingaxnathi]

Just discovered your channel. I just watched the “birds of a feather” reaction and was really hoping you reacted to this one too!

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Thanks, nice to connect!

[@JoaoVictor-ld1lq]

finneas is backvocaling it

[@rafarodriguez2713]

The long pause to speak on the best part and highest note was sinister

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Sorry! 🙈

[@jesss7300]

i love this reaction! billie and finneas are really so talented. you should react to the singer faouzia

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[@Stinger_tbx]

How do you not see & hear Finneas singing harmony and the band behind the see-through plastic walls. And see the keyboard / bass and guitars players LIVE ! Yes, in this setting, there is definitely a backing track, but Billie & Finneas take pride in being as "live" as possible. I kept waiting for you to say, " Oh, I'm sorry I was wrong about Finneas & the production" But... oh well, nice reaction, I guess 😮

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I was referring to the multiple additional vocal tracks that were added to the backing track. It was not Finneas’s voice I was hearing. And for what it’s worth, I have no problem with artists doing that. I’ve done that lots of times in my own music projects. All I’m saying is that it’s an opportunity to be more innovative with live musicians, but I respect artist taking tight artistic control of their performances like Billie and Finneas do. I just can’t help but feeling like there is some thing a little too ‘phoning it in’ when having your own vocals in a backing track that you sing live with once you get to a certain level of success.

[@MrsApplegateart]

I don’t think she ever uses back up singers … don’t quote me, but I don’t recall it.

[@amora43210]

please react to wildflower live from billie

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Done!

[@MariaCarla-xi3dv]

Sou do Brasil 🇧🇷 acabei de me inscrever no seu canal. Tem como colocar legenda no vídeo por favor, gostaria muito de entender o que vc está falando kkkkk e se puder reaja ao grupo Little Mix, elas são incríveis!!❤

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

@@MariaCarla-xi3dv I’m happy to put them on but doesn’t KZbin generate captions automatically?

[@baemersu]

​@@TimWelchVocalStudio the "auto captions" option is probably disable since I can't turn them on too... thats not a problem to me tho xD loved your reaction

[@pamelaarantes4083]

You should react to Billie Eilish singing live at Amazon music’s songline, she brought backing vocals to sing with her

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Oh awesome thanks! I’ll definitely check it out.

[@karend169]

Her brother, Finneas, produces all of her albums.

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I think he is an innovative genius.

[@kellyemacleod2092]

Yay!!!!

[@yatesy666]

Hi thansk for the analysis, at the beginning is it an acoustic guitar or a ukulele accompanying her? I cant quite tell

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Not sure, sounded like some synthesized plucked instrument to me but I could be completely wrong.

[@Craigy2818]

Finneas sings backing vocals during live performances.

[@horsehollerer]

This was a wonderful performance, but I couldn't agree more about the backing track. They always do this and it always bugs me. For starters it arouses suspicion that she is miming ... and I've seen her a few times live, and I can assure you she is NOT, she is stunning vocally. Whenever they do raw acoustic sessions with just the two of them harmonizing without a click track, it's freaking amazing. I like my live music to sound live , not exactly like the record... using a clicktrack seems to be such a Gen Z thing and I'm prob being old fashioned LOL. One other thing, Billie riffs a lot more live. If you watch their NPR Tiny Desk concert from a few years back you'll see plenty of evidence of that. She's also doing more studio riffing on the new album imho (Skinny, Chihiro, L'Amour de ma Vie, etc). Many thanks!

[@kellyemacleod2092]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKiqlIKlbLmtmbMsi=zt6Oq86P0T-8ZJJa. Here’s a live performance of a different song with no backing track!

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Awesome! I’ll check it out, thanks!

[@Britsbook]

Loved her version of this song!

[@JoaoVictor-ld1lq]

react to her singing No Time To Die theme on the BRIT awards

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I’ll add it to the list, thanks.

[@thenewholistic]

Listen to the studio recording, not sure the band is even playing live... About the mic pull after the drop, it's exactly what is on the studio recording. The outro might be "live" more so than the rest of it all, but man, this is a television, nothing is what it seems on tv. 😢 But the studio recording is phenomenal, so at least THAT exists! So far, until i hear them perform this outside or at a festival, to "hear" it, my ears feel deceived

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Yes, the truth is more and more obscured these days but regardless it’s a great piece of art.

[@akerr5823]

Just found you …love! Please react to Lana Del Rey’s “The Grants” and “Summertime- the Gershwin version” - She brings in the best back up singers in the world !!!

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Oo, she did Summertime. Have to hear that! Thanks.

[@bethanycastillo1362]

Can you please react to Bleeding Me Dry by Alicia Creti when she did the COLORS show!! You’ll be blown away

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Thanks, I’ll check it out!

[@eastonsmith484]

Listen to her entire album… I theres some riffing

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Yep, haven’t gotten through all of it yet but I will. definitely hearing some on there. So good.

[@ingaxnathi]

Kindly consider checking out chloe x halle’s tiny desk performance. Would love to hear your thoughts on their voices. Hearing you talk about the harmonies here made me think of their gorgeous live harmonies. The performance is less than 20 minutes but you could just react to the first song they perform which is about 3-4 minutes long. They have a live band playing with them too, something I think you’ll enjoy.

[@ingaxnathi]

Here’s the link… if you don’t know anything about them, it’s even better that you’d go into the video blindly :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYWxi4VuZ8uJftksi=oMYfbwO9mhv6LGKI

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Thanks I’ll check it out!

[@tinnishajoseph9813]

Please react to L’amour de ma vie video please by Billie eilish

[@ikaroguedes5649]

shades of cool, lana del rey pls

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Thanks! It’s on the list.

[@ranilium]

Brother, great comments but man, how do you stop a song like that, especially the crushendo. Try and find another way to integrate your comments, perhaps give us the things to look out for before certain parts of the song, but man, stopping a song in the crushendo especially in that song is painful brother

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

I’ve improved on this a lot in my later reactions. Check out the one I just did of Chinchilla. I appreciate the comment though, this was one of the first ones I shot and it is definitely maddening to watch a bit!

[@ranilium]

@@TimWelchVocalStudio Yup I see what you mean. Nice one.. keep it up man, and upload more mate, your comments are def insightful

[@benjaminjamesrodda]

i feel like you’re missing the point a lot

[@TimWelchVocalStudio]

Please explain how!