Hey, leave a message
[Verse 1]
Hey, call me back when ya get this
Or when you've got a minute
We really need to talk
Wait, you know what?
Maybe just forget it
'Cause by the time you get this
Your number might be blocked
[Pre-Chorus]
"Stay" and "blah blah blah"
You just want what you can't have
No way
I'll call the cops
If you don't stop, I'll call your dad
[Chorus]
And I hate to do this to you on your birthday
Happy birthday, by the way
"It's not you, it's me" and all that other bullshit
You know that's bullshit
Don'tcha, babe?
I'm not your party favor
Look, now I know we coulda done it better
But we can't change the weather
When the weather's come and gone
Books don't make sense if you read 'em backwards
You'll single out the wrong words
Like you mishear all my songs
[Pre-Chorus]
You'll hear "stay" and "blah blah blah"
You just want what you can't have
No way
I'll call the cops
If you don't stop, I'll call your dad
[Chorus]
And I hate to do this to you on your birthday
Happy birthday by the way
"It's not you, it's me" and all that other bullshit
You know that's bullshit
Don'tcha, babe?
I'm not your party favor
About
“party favor” is the fifth song on Billie Eilish’s debut EP, don’t smile at me.
The song is formatted as a voicemail that Billie is leaving for a boy who has become possessive of her and is an attempt at trying to force him out of her life.
The track was included as the A-Side of the exclusive 7" inch vinyl for Record Store Day 2018, along with her studio cover of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” as the B-Side.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
In an interview with Stingray Music, Billie revealed:
Basically, it’s just breaking up with someone in a voicemail on their birthday. That’s hard, that’s fucking hard. It’s so brutal. I remember me and my brother were sitting on a picnic table in our yard. I had my ukulele, he had his guitar and we were just writing, just coming up with random shit. Honestly, I don’t even know it started. I have a recording of us writing it, actually. Basically, there’s this moment where Finneas was like, “Oh my god, bro, what if we wrote, talking about breaking up—what if the whole song was a voicemail? And what if it started with a phone ring?” And then we were like, it should be breaking up with someone on their birthday. We were both so pumped about that.
Yes! Billie combined her song with Drake’s “Hotline Bling”:
- 1.COPYCAT
- 3.my boy
- 4.watch
- 5.party favor
- 6.bellyache
- 7.ocean eyes
- 8.hostage
- 9.&burn
- 10.lovely
