While the majority of people know him purely as Billie Eilish’s brother, FINNEAS is also an extremely talented artist. He has many accomplishments in the musical field such as winning the Producer of the Year award, and has won 10 Grammys for songs he wrote with Eilish. FINNEAS certainly has experience in the industry, and it’s been made clear through his increasing recognition that he will continue to gain popularity. Although he isn’t individually considered a major artist yet, I could see him becoming tremendously well-liked, seeing as FINNEAS has been releasing good, catchy music since 2015.
FINNEAS released his newest album, “For Cryin’ Out Loud!,” on Oct. 4. The collection includes 10 songs and a running time of 40 minutes. Throughout the album, the songs are either hit or miss. In songs like “2001,” I appreciate his fetching and rhythmical beats. “Sweet Cherries” and “For Cryin’ Out Loud,”are two of the album’s best songs, as well as “2001,” feature an accelerando. This helps the songs build up to a dramatic chorus. Conversely, there are some slower songs on the album that I wasn’t a huge fan of at first, but some of them are growing on me.
The album commences with a gentle and slow-moving song called “S********r.” In this beyond heart-breaking song, FINNEAS’ voice sounds gorgeous,, and the beautiful piano background adds emotion and great harmony. The song is about his former relationship and FINNEAS sings, “I loved you, against my better judgment, in the evening when you’re leaving, your promises have lost their meaning.” Lyrics like this, inform listeners of a painful past relationship he had where he was used for clout and fame. There are a few other super depressing songs on the album. For example, the song “Little Window” describes his struggle with depression, saying “Tears in your eyes, brush them aside, and have a nice day.” It’s also inferred that the sadness stems from social media, as FINNEAS sings, “Just a little window, shining on your face, used to watch the sunrise, now you’ve lost track of days.” The window symbolizes a phone screen that he pays attention to, making him forget about other things important to him. This song shares an important message and is a great example of another reason I love this album—his relatability.
Prior to the album’s release, FINNEAS dropped two singles, including a song called “Cleats.” The song felt hopelessly romantic as FINNEAS expresses someone young being head-over-heels for someone who may not return the feelings. He writes “You don’t know how to feel, you don’t know how to sleep, like it’ll never heal, your heart’s still in the weeds.” Once again this songs nails the relatability, and I think it’s cute that this song follows a high school love story. “Cleats” is my favorite song on the album because I find the vibes to be adorable, and I could see it show up in a sweet rom-com movie. The other single on the album, “Lotus Eater,” follows a similar theme of unsureness and strong feelings that arise over liking a person; while I do like the song, it doesn’t stand out to me as much as “Cleats.”
Overall, I think the album is solid music, and definitely worth the listen-through. If you are in the mood for a chill album or an album that will make you cry, “For Cryin’ Out Loud” is a great option. I would give this album four out of five stars because I was genuinely entertained and enjoyed the majority of the album. There’s a little something missing that’s keeping me from awarding this album full stars, it’s decent but nothing extraordinary.
“For Cryin’ Out Loud:” ★★★★☆
