What are critics saying about Billie Eilish's new single 'my future'?

Billie Eilish released her new single ‘my future’ on Thursday, July 30th. It’s the American musician’s first single since the 007 theme ‘No Time to Die’.

While it might feel like aeons, Billie Eilish’s debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? came out fewer than 18 months ago. The record saw Eilish become the youngest solo artist to win the Grammy award for Album of the Year. She picked up a total of six Grammys, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for ‘bad guy’, which also topped the ARIA charts and came in at #1 in triple j’s Hottest 100.

But even before the Grammy ceremony rolled around, Eilish and her brother Finneas had started work on new music. In November 2019, the siblings brought us ‘everything i wanted’, which was added to the reissue of When We All Fall Asleep. And in February 2020, they teamed up with Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr on the Bond theme, ‘No Time to Die’.

This means Eilish’s new single ‘my future’ is her first proper release post-When We All Fall Asleep. So what do critics have to say about the track? Nick McCormick from The Telegraph (UK) awarded the song four stars out of five and described it as a “gorgeous, solipsistic little ode to self-care.”

The Needle Drop‘s Anthony Fantano commented that after the song’s jazzy opening, it transitions into a “bass heavy and groovy piece of pop-soul that almost feels like a ’90s throwback.” He noted that the homage was “executed with Billie’s trademark very low-key, very moody vocals.” Despite noting the track’s familiarity, the review was positive overall. “Finneas and Billie continue to know exactly how to empower Billie vocally in terms of their writing and also the production.”

triple j’s Al Newstead said that while the song’s “got a classic songwriting sensibility,” what’s really significant is its message. The review describes Eilish as singing “passionately about all the potentially great things coming her way – a tender optimism that hits different at a time when things are looking especially bleak.”

Pitchfork’s Noah Yoo writes of how the song finds Eilish in a “contemplative headspace” and represents an emotional breakthrough for her and Finneas. “Billie stretches her wings, lifted up by lush background coos. She doesn’t know where she’s going, but then again, neither do any of us.”