Months after releasing her latest album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, Billie Eilish has finally released a music video for the biggest song on the record, “BIRDS OF A FEATHER.” While the pop ballad has soundtracked many TikToks and Instagram carousels this summer, it wasn’t until today that Eilish shared her own official visuals for the track.
It’s directed by Aidan Zamiri, who recently helmed Charli XCX’s “360” and “Guess” videos, the latter of which features Eilish (and about 10,000 sets of underwear). For “BIRDS OF A FEATHER,” however, the visuals are rather sparse—no mountains of undergarments to see here—with Eilish singing solo, seated in an empty room. But as the song progresses, she gets pulled by an invisible force throughout an office, levitating in the air, breaking through rooms, getting dragged across the floor, and pulled up walls. All the while, she continues singing her romantic tune, unperturbed. It’s kind of like the feeling of being so madly in love that it takes over you and pulls you in different directions, but you ultimately don’t care where it takes you.
Eilish cares a great deal about her music videos. In 2021, she told ELLE what it was like directing the visuals for her previous album, Happier Than Ever.
“I am a very visual person, and music videos have always been my favorite form of artistry, ever since I was a kid,” she said. “Since the beginning, almost all of my videos were my own ideas. I just didn’t know that I could direct them. It’s hard to translate an idea that you have in your own head—to make somebody else understand it—and then make it come to life. Sometimes you’ve just got to do it yourself, even if it’s hard.”
The release comes just days before she kicks off her tour on September 29. Find Tickets Here
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.