Billie Eilish Explains the Line ‘Things I Once Enjoyed Just Keep Me Employed Now’ in ‘Getting Older’
Billie Eilish‘s sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, came out on July 30, 2021. Upon the debut, Eilish’s fans couldn’t wait to dive into the lyrics and discuss the meanings behind the words. One line in “Getting Older” has seemed to stop quite a few people in their tracks: “Things I once enjoyed just keep me employed now.” Has Billie’s young music career grown old already? Here’s what Eilish has said about the line in interviews.
Billie Eilish says the line in ‘Getting Older’ isn’t meant to be ‘sad’
Several journalists have asked Eilish about the “Getting Older” line. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the “Oxytocin” singer insisted that the line wasn’t meant to be depressing.
“That line isn’t really, like, ‘Oh, boohoo, I’m sad’ — it’s really just a f****** fact,” she said. “Things that I enjoy can sometimes just turn into things that feel like a burden, and it’s really weird. Like, ‘Oh, this is something I used to love and now it feels like a job.’ It’s not, like, ‘Oh, I hate this now.’ It’s different. It’s changed.”
Singing and making music used to be passions of Eilish’s, now they’re how she makes her money and spends the majority of her time.
‘That’s just how life goes’
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, writer Chris Gardner also asked Eilish about the line.
“That chorus always bums me out when I hear it, especially the second half, because it’s one of the most truthful things I’ve ever said,” she said. “‘Things I’m longing for, someday, I’ll be bored of.’ Really gets to me every time I hear it. I’ve always been a person who focuses on the things in the future to keep me going or to get excited for. Thinking about what’s going to be really fun, but when it’s over, or even when it’s going on or you’re used to it and it’s not as fun anymore, all of these things. That’s just how life goes. It keeps moving and things keep being exciting, then lame, then exciting, then lame. It’s so weird. Life is weird.”
Billie Eilish knows how that sounds
A famous teenage singer and songwriter already bored of the music industry before she turns 20? The “No Time to Die” singer knows how that sounds. But it doesn’t change how she feels.
“I think that’s where a lot of people in my position can get confused, saying, ‘Oh, it’s hard, blah, blah, blah,” she told the LA Times. “I agree that it’s really hard. People that don’t have our lives have no idea how hard it is. It’s f****** horrible. But you have to be respectful of people that have so much less than you and be mindful of your privilege and be polite, I guess.”
