Billie Eilish opens Happier Than Ever by one-upping Nirvana
"Getting Older" comments on musical fame in a manner so acid, it doesn't just match "Serve The Servants"—it does it one better by calling out the fans

After weeks of promotion (and some excellent singles), Billie Eilish’s sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, was released last night, and the early responses to it have been largely positive. Initial spins of the record quickly demonstrate why: This is a sharp, multilayered collection of pop songs, delivered in Eilish’s signature underplayed and quiet-but-intense style. But there’s no wisecracking opening bit here, no playful “I have taken out my Invisalign” from When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? to goose the listener before jumping into the music. Instead, the album kicks off with one of the slyest, most acid-tongued commentaries on the transition from pre- to post-superstardom life since “Serve The Servants” served as the lead-in to Nirvana’s In Utero back in 1993.
Most pop stars intentionally shy away from directly confronting the cost of fame in their music, for fear of coming across as unrelatable or losing the “I’m just like you” accessibility that brought them fame in the first place, preferring to address concerns of success more indirectly or thematically. From the Eagles’ “After The Thrill Is Gone” to Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi,” a lot of the music that comments on the price of fame is deliberately crafted to allow listeners to substitute relationship woes or existential drama, the vagueness allowing anyone to swap in their own concerns. Ironically, that’s the very reason why songs like “Serve The Servants” feel so vital and true—the unvarnished reminder that this person is not like you, and has experienced something you will probably never go through, ends up more honest and confessional than the watered-down alternative.