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Billie Eilish‘s songs and Frank Sinatra‘s songs sound very different. Despite this, Sinatra managed to influence one of Eilish’s songs. During an interview, Eilish revealed she wanted the hit to feel miserable. 

Frank Sinatra playing one of his songs at a piano
Frank Sinatra | Bettmann / Contributor

Billie EIlish said Frank Sinatra and Johnny Mathis inspired 1 of her ‘sexy’ and ‘smooth’ songs

During a 2019 interview with MTV Push, Eilish discussed her song “Xanny.” She said it was inspired by old jazz music. She compared the verses of “Xanny” to the music of Sinatra and Johnny Mathis. Eilish specifically said the “brush” on the drums sounded like Sinatra’s music. She called the instrumentation of “Xanny” “sexy” and “smooth.”

Eilish also revealed Feist’s “cute” song “So Sorry” inspired “Xanny.” She wanted the song to feel like “So Sorry.” Eilish described the bass line of the song as sounding “broken” on the chorus.

Billie Eilish wanted ‘Xanny’ to feel like breathing ‘poisonous breath’

Eilish felt “Xanny” could have a huge impact on listeners. “If you’re just sitting in a room and you listen to this song, the chorus kind of, like, throws itself at you,” she opined. “Like ‘I’m in their secondhand smoke.'” 

She wanted listening to part of the song to feel like breathing. “I just wanted it to sound the way that it feels to breathe in recycled breath,” she revealed. “Recycled, poisonous breath, I may add. I just wanted it to feel miserable.”

Eilish had something interesting to say about the lyrics of “Xanny.” “A lot of this album I really want to be up for interpretation, because I will say, every single line in that song has a certain meaning to me,” she said. “There’s so many lines that sound like something else, or they mean what they don’t mean, and they don’t mean what they mean.”

Eilish wanted “Xanny” to have ambiguous lyrics. “And I just like the idea that people aren’t gonna know what it’s about,” she continued. “Or people are. Or they’re gonna have a complete different idea. It’s up to you to decide.”

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The way listeners in the United States and the United Kingdom reacted to the song and its parent album

“Xanny” became a minor hit in the United States. It reached No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for four weeks. The song appeared on Eilish’s debut album, When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? became a huge hit. It peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for three weeks. The album remained on the chart for 154 weeks altogether.

On the other hand, The Official Charts Company reports the track did not chart in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was No. 1 for three of its 154 weeks on the chart. When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was a hit album and it wouldn’t be the same without Sinatra’s influence.

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