Billie Eilish “Bird of a feather” is one of those songs that I fell in love with from the first listen. Lush background vocals, infectious melody, and rhythm, very well-written lyrics, basically one beautiful song. let’s analyze the lyrics of the song.
Billie Eilish “Birds of a Feather” analysis
Tempo
- The song is at 105 BPM
- This tempo is a great fit for the lyrics. There is enough energy to get us moving yet not too fast so we can still enjoy the lyrics and vocals.
Chords
- The song is in the key of D major
- A simple version of chords are D – Bm7 – Em7 – A7sus / A7
- Take a listen to the chord progression on www.chordchord.com
- Take a look at the official music sheet for all the chords on www.musicnotes.com
Arrangement
- A spacious arrangement with a good amount of repeats for the song to be easily memorable
Line placement
- All the phrases of the song are placed after the strong beat of the bars, or before (Strong beat is 1)
- The effect of this placement is to give the song motion, continuously making it want to move forward
Verse
- The verse is 16 bars, with two 4-line patterns repeated twice, each pattern is 8 bars
- The patterns are made of even lines, stop the motion of the song, and give the sincerity and conviction of the lyrics
- The AABB rhyme scheme of both patterns further supports the above emotions
- The length of the phrases that are the same also continues to support the emotions
Refrain / Chorus 2
- This is very interesting. This 4 line pattern first appears in the song as a refrain and then becomes a chorus the second time. This is a perfect example of there being no rules, only tools
- This chorus refrain is 8 bars
- The patterns are made of even lines, stop the motion of the song, and give the sincerity and conviction of the lyrics
- The AABB rhyme scheme of both patterns further supports the above emotions
- The length of the phrases that are the same also continues to support the emotions
Pre-chorus
- The first pre-chorus has an odd number of lines, and combined with the phrase placement that is off the strong beat, it pushes the song forward, rushing us to the chorus and building excitement
- The second pre-chorus has an even number of lines. However, the 4th line “Don’t wanna say goodbye” is placed on the strong beat of the bar, putting the spotlight on the phrase
- The second pre-chorus keeps the AABB rhyme scheme
Chorus 1
- This chorus only appears once in the song
- There is an even number of lines
- The first line is longer than the other three, which once again puts the line in the spotlight
- Even lines support sincerity and conviction
Post-chorus
- One of my favorite techniques as a songwriter. If you have a good melody and still have something to say, add lines while keeping the melody and melodic rhythm of the pre-chorus intact
- This post-chorus has an odd number of lines, pushing the song forward. Although this is the end of the song, it leaves a sense of longing in the listener
Billie Eilish “Bird of a feather” is an awesome example of a well-written song, with a good balance between songwriting tools. Pushing the song forward, using different vowel sounds, alternating the number of lines between 3 and 4, length. Keep in mind that songwriting is one of the parts of a good song. Composition, production, mixing, Billie’s expression, and sincerity on the vocals all play a role. However I believe this is one of Billie Eilish’s best song.
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