Billie Eilish surprised fans last night when she announced two new songs, “The 30th” and “TV,” an hour before they arrived on streaming platforms. The tracks are part of a two-song EP called Guitar Songs and immediately claimed the top two spots on the Genius Top Songs chart upon release.
“The 30th,” which currently sits at No. 1 on our chart, was actually the first song Eilish wrote with her brother and main collaborator FINNEAS after finishing up her last album, Happier Than Ever. The song gets its title from the date it was written (December 30) and the date of the event that inspired it. “That’s why it’s called ‘The 30th,’ because something happened on November 30th,” Eilish explained to Zane Lowe. “It had just been the most indescribable thing to have to witness and experience. I had been writing down all these thoughts that I was having. I was with FINNEAS, and I was like, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what you were planning on doing, but we need to write this song about this right now.’”
On the first verse, we get a good sense of what type of event inspired the song. Someone close to Eilish was in a terrible accident that landed them in the emergency room.
It’s hard to believe you don’t remember it
Woke up in the ambulance
You pieced it all together on the drive
Eilish visits this person in the hospital on the chorus, where she does her best to keep a brave face in front of her loved one, despite being equally terrified.
But I told you even then you looked so pretty
In a hospital bed, I remember you said
You were scared
And so was I
On the second verse, Eilish recalls ignoring signs of the accident before realizing it involved someone she knew.
When I saw the ambulances on the shoulder
I didn’t even think of pullin’ over
I pieced it all together late that night
On the bridge, Eilish’s mind races with “what ifs.” She can’t help but imagine the worst, even though, thankfully, the worst didn’t end up happening.
What if you weren’t alone? There were kids in the car
What if you were remote? No one knows where you are
If you changed anything, would you not have survived?
You’re alive, you’re alive, you’re alive
Eilish says the goal with Guitar Songs was to “go back to the way that it was at the beginning.” “We were just making music, writing songs on FINNEAS’ guitar in our parents’ house and then showing them to people,” she said. “That’s our roots. That’s how FINNEAS and I started writing music—on an instrument with just us.”
You can read all the lyrics to “The 30th” on Genius now.
