Bury a Friend
"Bury a Friend" (stylized in all lowercase) is a song by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and the third single from her debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
The song was described as synth-pop, electronica, electropop and industrial in press reviews, for which hip hop beats, percussion, and a synthesizer provide minimalist instrumentation.
"Bury a Friend" received generally positive reviews from music critics, several of whom praised its dark nature and lyrics.
Michael Chaves directed the music video for "Bury a Friend", which was uploaded to Eilish's YouTube channel at the same time as the song's first release.
The video depicts Eilish singing under the bed of British rapper Mehki Raine (known as Crooks at the time), who provides uncredited vocals on the song, being pulled by black gloves, and walking through a rundown apartment.
[2][3] "Bury a Friend" was eventually released on the scheduled date,[1] having premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show as the day's World Record.
[4] Eilish further made an appearance on Annie Mac's Future Sounds show on BBC Radio 1 to discuss the track.
They attended a studio with a "shuffle beat" in mind, with Eilish drawing a black monster to show her brother what she wanted the song to sound like.
[9] Eilish credited the song for setting the tone for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, stating: "I immediately knew what it was going to be about, what the visuals were going to be, and everything in terms of how I wanted it to be perceived".
[16] Its minimalist instrumentation features a hip hop and "galloping" beat similar to Kanye West's "Black Skinhead" (2013).
[8][17][18][19] "Rumbling" percussion, "scattered" synth melodies, screams, and a screeching recording of an orthodontist shaving off Eilish's dental brace attachments are also included.
[23] The melody presented during the chorus has been likened to the Doors' "People Are Strange" (1967),[24] and sonically described as "innocuous as a childhood rhyme", contrasting the rest of the song.
Elaborating on the matter in an interview with MTV, O'Connell stated that the two songs were only referencing each other for the purpose of making the album "cohesive", and that they were not linked in any other way.
[26][32][36][37] Thomas Smith of NME saw "Bury a Friend" as "a sizeable middle finger to anyone who expected a twinkly ballad befitting to her lone EP, 2017's Don't Smile at Me", as well as a "statement" for "vocalising the uncertainties and inquisitions of a generation ready to make their mark".
[38] Chloe Gilke of Uproxx praised the "full of bizarre, screechy flourishes and dips into the nightmarish" and claimed that "somehow the song’s lyrics are just as specific and creepy".
[33] Similarly, an editor for The Music Network commented on the song's "sinister [nature] in name and "lyric" and claimed that it is "unsettling", despite there being "something tranquil and thoughtful about it".
This made Eilish only the tenth solo woman in a lead role to reach number one in the chart's three-decade history.
[43] In the United Kingdom, "Bury a Friend" reached number six, making it Eilish's first top ten in the country.
[50] An accompanying music video for "Bury a Friend" was uploaded to Eilish's official YouTube channel on January 30, 2019.
For the latter performance, the singer sang on a dark, smoke-filled stage and "summon[ed] a large cloth that swung behind her, casting a monster-like shadow while she bent over backwards".
[62] In October 2021, a remix of "Bury a Friend" by Chris Avantgarde was used in the Zombies reveal trailer for Call of Duty: Vanguard.
She stated that the remix takes the original song and "runs it through a few sonic filters [while] [m]oody ambience gives way to fat bass synths [...] [,] old-school dubstep wub-dubs [and] [...] drums [which] kick up in a slow-down UK garage style in the later half".
