Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Aubrey Saturno
Professor A. Granillo
English 103
10 April 2019
With closed eyes, rocked by the smooth sway of the train, a euphony surges into ears,
emanating from white buds. Music has accompanied individuals in various scenarios for longer
than can be remembered. It has been used to express emotions and connect with one another by
molding different elements into one. Being a big part of the media, music has allowed
individuals to understand different aspects of their lives and has allowed for multiple
interpretations through an analysis of the lyrics that may or may not be a reflection of issues in
this world that are commonly experienced by people. Through critical theory, people can learn
more about themselves and their world, which can help them view media with careful evaluation.
Billie Eilish’s song “idontwannabeyouanymore” shows familiarity through its obvious self-
deprecating words, but through careful inspection, it serves as a reminder of how people’s
behaviors and thinking are governed by their defenses. Using Psychoanalytic concepts such as
the unconscious, defenses, and core issues, the song exemplifies the destructive thinking that
people possess; thus, “idontwannabeyouanymore” connects its audience to one another and the
artist while simultaneously encouraging fans to explore the deeper part of themselves.
Being a teenager herself, Billie Eilish’s song is mostly geared towards an audience of
teenagers through relatable lyrics that is rhetorically packed with pathos. Through consideration
of the social climate amongst teens nowadays, there is a huge emphasis on mental health. Part of
this emphasis is urging others to share the ways in which they express their repressed feelings
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through media, in forms of songs, artworks, and many more. By starting with the words, “Don’t
be that way / Fall apart twice a day / I just wish you could feel what you say,” Billie Eilish
establishes that she is talking to herself, which showcases the dynamics of her thinking to the
audience and creates a relatable situation (Eilish 00:00:16-31). The relatable situation is created
as an emotional appeal is established towards the audience, directly hitting them the comfortable
nature of self-criticization, which also reflects the self-deprecating feeling that many teenagers
experience.
On the first listen, it is apparent that the song consists mostly of the artists’ self-
deprecation, an obvious underlying theme throughout. In fact, this theme is present in most
music, as again, songs are forms of expressions for many artists. It understandable how the
audience might view the song as only something Eilish created as a form of expressing herself.
However, having an initial view of the song being about only criticizing one’s self prevents the
audience from recognizing that it exhibits Billie Eilish’s process of discovering her unconscious,
repressed thoughts and acknowledging its effect on her own behavior. In fact, the song starts to
explore the understanding one’s unconscious, which is “the storehouse of those painful
experiences and emotions, those wounds, fears, guilty desires, and unresolved conflicts” (Tyson
12). Billie expressed the things she is learning about herself towards her audience and highlights
these same characteristics that indicate her destructive way of thinking towards herself. She
slowly begins to learn how to uncover her repressed feelings, which have controlled her
experiences that have “hung onto [her] in disguised, distorted, and self-defeating ways” (Tyson
13). Exploring her unconscious, Eilish demonstrates examples of her defenses and core issues in
the song.
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In understanding one’s defenses and core issues, understanding anxiety must come first.
[which] includes feelings of fear, guilt, and shame” (“Psychoanalysis”). In order to be aware that
one is influenced by their defense mechanisms and their core issues, there must be a conflict that
would break the defenses. Experiencing anxiety is beneficial in a way that it allows people to
explore themselves and confront themselves of their repressed feelings. Thus, it can be implied
that in order for Billie to showcase some of her defenses, there should be signs of anxiety present
in the lyrics. The song addresses the presence of anxiety in some lines when Billie Eilish sings:
00:01:42-48). Anxiety lives off the people’s intense worrying. Addressing that her hand is
turning cold and that she is losing feeling can be viewed upon as side effects of worrying. Both
can qualify as symptoms of anxiety. Simply talking about simple physiological effects that can
be attributed to anxiety, Billie Eilish shows how much she is aware of her own circumstances.
Showing how her self-deprecation affects her, the song displays the process of understanding
one’s own unconscious. It also shows the artist getting anxiety and also hints at her own
awareness of her problem with herself. Recognizing this process can help the audience to be
aware of their anxiousness and then their defenses. Having awareness of said things gives the
audience the chance to open themselves up more easily and the opportunity to better change their
minds into thinking that defenses do not make them weak but rather strong.
The defenses that are prominent in the song are selective perception and avoidance. In
Psychoanalytic theory, defenses are “represented against the conscious acknowledgment of a[n]
[anxiously driven] thought” (Freud 8). They govern the way people act by allowing repressed
feelings to stay hidden because of the fear of confrontation with oneself. The first defense
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evident in the song is selective perception, which is “hearing and seeing only what we feel we
can handle” (Tyson 15). In the song, Billie Eilish displays selective perception when she sings:
“Don’t be that way / Fall apart twice a day / I just wish you could feel what you say”
criticization, it can be viewed upon as a form of selective perception because Eilish only
expresses the things that she can handle—one that she has already internalized—which is falling
apart most of the time and being numb. Being her own critic creates a safe zone for herself and
demonstrates that she must have the upper hand in calling herself out on her own terms so that
A second identifiable defense that is seen in the song is avoidance. Avoidance allows for
people to “stay away from people or situations that are liable to make [them] anxious by stirring
up… repressed experience[s] or emotion[s]” (Tyson 15). Billie’s avoidance is very prominent
when she sings: “Show, never tell / But I know you too well” (“idontwannabeyouanymore”
00:00:35-40). Her words are obvious signs of avoidance as she talks about refraining herself
from talking about her problems and only making them noticeable through her actions and
behavior. Additionally, saying that she knows herself too well shows that she is self-aware of her
unconscious, which is the idea behind psychoanalysis. Afterward, she continues with: “Got a
mood that you wish you could sell” (“idontwannabeyouanymore” 00:00:43-47). The specific
lyrics further exemplifies avoidance because Eilish is saying that she wants to get rid of a mood
that bothers her. Since she is already in the process of uncovering her unconscious, it becomes
more overwhelming for her to be confronted with her long-held repressed feelings. She tries to
place the overwhelming feeling somewhere else where she cannot hide it and wishes that she
could sell it instead. Showing the struggle of handling one’s own unconscious emotions inspires
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the audience to face their repressed feelings by aiming to understand their own unconscious mind
By understanding the core issues that they have, the audience are given the opportunity to
explore feelings that they might have been afraid of exploring in the past. When the audience
members are inspired by the artist to work towards the same goal of understanding themselves,
then they will slowly start to learn how to build themselves up without relying on anyone.
Furthermore, they are more in check with their emotions which allows them to work through
The song also displays the concept of core issues by using Billie’s words to highlight her
own. Core issues are “the deeply rooted, psychological problems that are the source of our self-
destructive behavior” (Tyson 16). In the song, Eilish hints at her own low-self esteem, fear of
intimacy, fear of abandonment, and an insecure sense of self, which are interconnected and can
be caused by one another. The lyrics: “If ‘I love you’ was a promise / Would you break it if
(“idontwannabeyouanymore” 00:01:08-14). She fears to get close to people because she does not
believe that she is worthy of love. She thinks that anyone who tries to “love” her will just break
their promises of loving her. The line also shows her fear of abandonment as she “breaking” the
promise, to her, signifies that a broken promise means leaving. Lastly, all of her displayed core
issues in the song are ultimately connected to her low self-esteem. She sings: “Tell the mirror
what you know she’s heard before / I don’t wanna be you anymore”
(“idontwannabeyouanymore” 00:01:16-35). The words tell the audience that she is sick of
herself and does not want to be herself anymore. She reveals that it is a persistent thought. She
low self-esteem, Eilish tries to find justification for her core issues. The words “broken” and
“mold” resonates with the audience’s emotions as well because those are two words that people
tend to associate themselves with as well. They want a perfect “mold” for themselves but are not
able to succeed because of the mold being “broken”. Connecting all of it, the fear of intimacy
and fear of abandonment might have emerged from Billie’s lack of self-esteem. People might
love and adore her, but in reality, she fears that her fans’ love and adoration for her are
temporary because she does not believe that she is worthy of it. Additionally, the song actually
addresses some people’s insecure sense of self that is prominent through her. The title itself
exemplifies this core issue. Even though the song is about Billie Eilish hating herself, it is
actually an underlying question for everyone who tries to be like her. She questions why people
would aspire to be like her when she does not like herself in the first place. This shows that the
people who are trying to be like Billie, have an unstable sense of themselves.
The media has become an important aspect of people’s lives for many years, directly
influencing them in ways that can be tangible and intangible. Being a big part of the media,
performing, or even exercising. It has been used to express emotions and connect with one
another by molding different elements into one. Billie Eilish’s song “idontwannabeyouanymore,”
is one of the many songs out there that impacts people in many ways. Its elements showcasing
the artist’s discovery of the Psychoanalytic concepts of the unconscious, defenses, and core
issues, further encourages the audience to explore their own unconscious thoughts, defenses, and
core issues as well. Instead of being a song that everyone can relate to or be mainstream,
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Works Cited
Music.
www.britannica.com/science/psychoanalysis.