Billie Eilish's new album will tackle abuse, trauma, and secret relationships. Here are all the details we have so far.

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Billie Eilish's new album will tackle abuse, trauma, and secret relationships. Here are all the details we have so far.
Billie Eilish in a promotional photo for "Lost Cause." @billieeilish/Twitter
  • Billie Eilish's sophomore studio album, "Happier Than Ever," will be released on July 30.
  • She told Rolling Stone that its lyrics are more honest than her debut, which was largely fictional.
  • Eilish has already released four of the album's 16 songs, including "Your Power" and "Lost Cause."
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Billie Eilish's highly anticipated sophomore album is fast approaching.

"Happier Than Ever" is the follow-up to Eilish's 2019 debut - the Grammy-winning, chart-topping "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" - and scheduled for arrival on July 30.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the 19-year-old singer said her new album is more honest than her debut, which she described as "almost all fictional."

Here are all the details we have so far about the forthcoming release.

A post shared by BILLIE EILISH (@billieeilish)

Eilish has already released four of the album's 16 songs

The lead single, "My Future," was released in July 2020. It was the first song Eilish and her brother-slash-producer, Finneas O'Connell, wrote during lockdown after the postponement (and eventual cancellation) of her world tour.

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"As much as I wished that I had been able to have the year I was planning on having... we would never have made this album," she told Apple Music. "I can't wait to have the world hear. I'm very excited and hopeful about the future."

Next came "Therefore I Am" in November. Then, after performing an old standalone single at the 2021 Grammy Awards, Eilish signaled a shift by ditching her signature black-and-green hair for a blond-bombshell cut.

She previously told fans she would dye her hair after the February release of her documentary, "Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry," and that it would be the launch of a "new era."

Shortly after, Eilish released "Your Power" and "Lost Cause," both pared-down tracks that address disappointing relationships. Eilish has said the former - a chilling look at toxic dynamics in romance, particularly between older men and younger women - is her favorite song she's ever written.

The album tackles themes like abuse and trauma, as well as romance and lust

Eilish told Rolling Stone that she's been in two clandestine relationships since entering the public eye as a tween, and songwriting has helped her process those experiences.

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"Almost none of the songs on this album are joyful," Eilish told Rolling Stone. "I went through some crazy s---, and it really affected me and made me not want to go near anyone ever."

Indeed, according to Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos, "Happier Than Ever" is full of stories about "emotional abuse, power struggles, and mistrust... alongside musings on fame and fantasies of secret romantic rendezvous."

The first of the album's 16 songs, titled "Getting Older," was described by Eilish as "revealing" and painfully raw.

"Wasn't my decision to be abused," she sings. "I've had some trauma / Did things I didn't wanna / Was too afraid to tell ya / But now I think it's time."

Songs like "Billie Bossa Nova" and "NDA" explore the concept of dating "through the lens of a very famous person," while "Oxytocin" and "Male Fantasy" address themes like lust, sex, and pornography.

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The ninth track is titled "Not My Responsibility," presumably referencing Eilish's short film that criticizes body-shaming and beauty standards.

"It's her life. It's all her world. I'm helping her articulate that, but it's really her experiences that she lived through, and on this album she let me into it a lot," O'Connell told Spanos. "Billie making this album was her working through a lot of this stuff."

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