Page 9 - My FlipBook

theme. The lyrics painted a straightforward “end of relationship”
picture to a simple backing track (enhanced by a few production
gimmicks courtesy of Finneas), with Billie providing a sweet and
tuneful vocal. You can certainly tell it is Billie, but there is none
of the ethereal quality or even the candy-coated whispers of her
later hits.
On September 14, Billie has said she
another track appeared intended to write
on SoundCloud. Billie says
that “Fingers Crossed” about the zombie
was the first song she apocalypse, but
wrote and that she didn’t somehow it came out
like it at the time but just
felt like uploading it. In as an anguish-filled
a songwriting class, her love song.
mother had asked her to
watch a TV movie or show and note down any titles, names, or OVERNIGHT SENSATION
dialogue that would sit well in a song. Billie turned to her favorite
show, The Walking Dead, and the zombie drama series provided
lyrics such as “Everybody makes it ’til they don’t” and “Too far
gone,” the title of one episode. Billie has since said she intended
to write about the zombie apocalypse, but somehow it came out
as an anguish-filled love song.
“Fingers Crossed” was different from the first song she had
posted. Billie sings of longing and despair over a portentous
track that’s punctuated by a slow beat, sparse instrumentation,
and drawn-out chords. Now there is an intimacy and poignancy
to the vocals, with that feeling of Billie being incredibly close
and yet so distant at the same time. It’s a vocal style that would
become familiar in the next couple of years, and many fans still
rate the track highly.

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