Billie Eilish | All the Good Girls go to Hell | The Break Down

Welcome

Hello readers! Welcome to my public journal. I come to you in peace, love, and humility and before I began this article I would like to state that I am unapologetically and unashamedly a believer in Jesus Christ whom I accepted into my heart at the age of eight in a small church in Compton, California where my father played the organ. However, before this decision, when I was a toddler I always felt the presence of a spiritual friend or shall I say friends around me. I always believed it was God and His angels. I was born with spiritual gifts which include the gifts of wisdom, understanding, supernatural and revelation knowledge, dreams, visions, and prophecy. With that being said, I believe my life long mission to seek understanding of the Bible and the deeper mysteries of life has helped me become fairly knowledgeable in spiritual matters, human character, and our purpose for being here. Often times I find my perspectives unique to others yet, I am only putting out into the world what I have sought after and the truths I have discovered.

Approaching Art

When reading a book, watching a movie or music video, or staring at a piece of artwork displayed in a museum it is important to allow for processing time. A person in no way can look at an entity once and say, 'Oh I get it!' For some it is possible, but if given more time new details show up that makes the immediate getting more solid. I have found that when watching movies I need at least a minimum of three viewings to notice things I did not see the first and second time. So, in analyzing ATGGGTH I wanted to allow enough time to process the visuals and also, ask God to show me what was clear and true based on what Billie herself has stated in interviews about the song's theme and lyrics. I do this for almost everything in my life (Proverbs 3:5) and this same approach was used for all my english courses in college.

A few notes about visual and literary works: Most use symbolism to create themes, which means that you must pay attention to details like colors, objects, particular words and names used within the story, then go research them to find out how the symbols are being revealed.

Also, I write as a fan which means that I know Billie from the viewpoint of a true supporter. This includes me having my own private Billie Eilish playlist on YT, magazine purchases, seeking out as many articles and interviews I can find to learn more, staying with her Instagram, her mom's, dad's, brother's, and their surround team and artists friends and collaborators. Determined by my faith and I showed up to the Shrine in Los Angeles with no ticket, with gifts in hand which I got through to security. I literally stood on my feet all day from 12:30pm to the time I got back to my car around 11:45pm at night. I approached that day with a humble and hopeful heart. I was NEVER sly and NEVER begged any of her people for anything. I was willing to just listen to the concert from the outside, because all I wanted was to be in the energy of the music and people attending. Eventually one of her gracious crew people slid me a ticket. I dashed to the concert, waited for her afterward, saw her!, held her hand, AND she told me I was pretty. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Where there is fire within, miracles happen. In two weeks I will be going to iheartradio Music Festival in Las Vegas. I do not know what will happen but I will be excited to see her in concert again.

The Video

My synopsis of this music video comes from what I like to call the "first popping" of initial themes. From there I watch again to gauge what other details come up and then I look at as many elements within the video to see what is there, then I go and do some research on those elements.

All the Good Girls go to Hell begins with a clip from a previous video, Bury a Friend, which starts a thread connecting the story lines together. It was exciting because some of us had the notion a while back that this particular scene where Billie's character is being injected with black liquid-filled evaporated collection tubes, would be a precursor to something else. In the next scene the skin starts to rise and tear open where angel wings are now growing and are revealed. Suddenly, the angel is rapidly falling from heaven then lands into a pit of tar. What I see here is an obvious re-enactment of the fall of Lucifer which can be found in various places in the Bible; Isaiah, Ezekiel, and other referenced scriptures. Because the first line of the lyrics say, "My Lucifer is Lonely", this makes the most sense to me. (I will break the lyrics down a little later.) So, it is possible that the tubes filled with black liquid represent the pride and darkness that got Lucifer thrown out of heaven in the first place. If you take notice, in the Bury a Friend music video, the room and clothing of the character are all white which represents light and purity.  The first upward point of view shows a beautiful heavenly place and as the angel is falling the switch to the downward point of view shows a dark and destroyed place the angel is falling into. This is two fold for me and says that even though Lucifer has fallen, so has mankind, which is under his dark control, which in turn causes our actions towards the planet to be harmful and destructive. I feel those two specific point of views clearly show the difference between light and dark, where we started and where we are ending, where we've come from and the terrible place we are headed too.

Moving on to the next scene, this character, Lucifer, is now stuck in the pool of tar and working his way out. What was once white, pure, and beautiful is now covered in complete blackness, which coincides with the biblical story where Lucifer, once a beautiful angel becomes dark. The coal tar pit is significant because Billie could have had this character fall to the ground or in water, or on a tree, but an oily coal tar pit was chosen. So, lets look at this.

Tar is one of the most significant elements in this video. By definition coal tar is a black or deep brown oily substance created by destructive distillation of natural materials like wood, coal, and peat. According to Google:

Destructive distillation of wood produces hundreds of compounds including tar, terpenes, turpentine and methanol together with a solid residue of charcoal. Destructive distillation of a ton of coal can produce 700 kg of coke, 100 liters of liquor ammonia, 50 liters of coal tar and 400 m3 of coal gas.

THIS IS DISTURBING.

Tar is on the US Government list of toxic and harmful goods. It is flammable at various combustion levels and emits harmful gases. There is even a form of heroin called black tar heroine that is one of the most impure forms of addictive drugs. I also discovered that tar is contained in cigarettes and is deposited in the lungs when smoked! How crazy is that. So not only is the planet being harmed by toxicity, we are harming ourselves with toxicity by smoking and eating meats which contain carcinogens too. The thing is, the planet as well as the human body is regenerative which allows us to heal. If we change our diet and feed ourselves the right foods, we can heal. It is the same with the earth. If it is taken care of, reversal can happen. But if mankind continues to take away what is needed for the health of the earth and ourselves, like burning the Amazon and natural treading and grazing lands for animals, there is no balance. The destruction outweighs the healing.

Once the devil is out of the pit he begins walking slowly, carrying the weight of his blackened wings which create a trail of tar behind him. The trail is so important because once evil, darkness, and destruction latches on it is carried every place it goes, symbolizing a trail of destruction. In the background there are abandoned buildings, barren trees and combusting fires. I make the assumption that there are more tar pits unseen because random combustion takes place, so due to the heating of the earth, eventually it will get so hot that sporadic fires will happen thus releasing more harmful gases and carcinogens into the environment.

Suddenly the trail of tar made by the wings catches fire and rapidly consumes the feathers and engulf the character in flames but somehow the character is able to not be completely consumed by the fire but wards it off. What is left are damaged wings. I can insert here that I feel we are now dealing with a multi-character idea. This is where I feel we dealing with the character of Lucifer as well a few other themes. One of the themes is about choice. My main notion includes of course the fall of Lucifer. My second smaller notion includes an angel being sent down to save but becomes affected by the conditions of the environment due to the nature of mankind, thus representing the many flying animals that have been damaged by oil spills in the ocean. At this juncture, I also see this scene being about mankind and the choice to do something. The ultimatum is to either be consumed by the fire and do as everyone else, or ward off the fire and be the change, because, at this point in the background sexy silhouettes of women dancing show up in the midst of the flames. Where do we usually find these kinds of women? Strip clubs, night clubs, private services, particular kinds of nightlife. It is about being consumed by the pleasures of life, partying and living on with no thought or regard for what is happening to the planet and living creatures.

At the end of the video the frame begins to close in onto the face of what I see goes back to the character of Lucifer. Here is where we see the pride and spite for God exhibited when the last words, "My God is gonna owe me", are spoken. The character then makes an about face and starts walking slowly back toward the scene. The camera then pans out to show all that is happening and what we see is a state of a condition that is to come in the future if we don't do something about it now. It is an end time vision. Overall, I see this ending as a cliff hanger which will lead to another music video. As we say in music I was left on the five chord with no resolve.

After viewing the premiere I browsed through the comments and found one that stuck with me. Someone asked, "well, if this video and song is about climate change, what do angels and the devil have to do with anything?".  Here is how I understand it. The current state of our planet today has everything to do with how we as humans are harming it. We are the only species given free will by God to choose light or darkness. I call Him a generous God. All other species live and reproduce according to their natural process. They do not have free choice but because we as humans were given dominion over all living things we have made many bad choices with that power. Those bad choices are connected to our darker, selfish, carnal nature, and the greediness for more consumption and money, which comes from the influences of the devil. However, we have both a carnality and a divinity and if we feed our divinity more, greater light emanates from us. If we purify our hearts, then the desire to make choices of servitude toward ourselves and the planet take precedence in our lives. So the re-enactment of the fall of Lucifer connects to the state of our earth today. In the beginning God created a couple that he literally blessed with a beautiful and luscious paradise garden to live in, naked! And then gave the first order of business and that was to have sex all day and make people! I call that a good God! The question is, can we return as close as possible to this early state? It is possible, but I will honestly say that it can ONLY happen by choosing God first. When God is chosen, we begin to transform our hearts and our minds. We become more purified, and with purification happening on the inside, our secondary and outer environments become purified as well, thus leading to better decision of care and well-being.


The Lyrics

My Lucifer is lonely

(Billie has stated that this song is from the perspective of the devil so it should be looked as the narrative being given by the devil himself. She has also stated that it is about global warming and climate change. So when looking at the lyrics to this song, the line, "My Lucifer is lonely", is being said in the third person as Lucifer speaking of himself which also ties into the last line, "There's nothing left to save", because that there are no animals and people left on the earth, due to it has been completely destroyed.) 

Standing there, killing time 
Can't commit to anything but a crime 

(Nothing is being done. No commitment to anything good is happening. Crimes are considered offenses, trespasses, sins basically. The only thing that is happening is the commitment to our carnal nature)

Peter's on vacation, an open invitation
Animals, evidence
Pearly gates look more like a picket fence
Once you get inside 'em
Got friends but can't invite them

(Peter in the Bible was a fisherman who gathered fish daily, but when Jesus first saw Peter and his brother Andrew, He said, "Come, I will make you fishers of men". To be fishers of men is about saving souls. Peter became known as the father of the Christian faith, a leader who had one of the most powerful ministries spreading the Gospel of Jesus and adding to God's kingdom. According to Matthew 16:19, Peter is said to be the keeper of the gates and decides who makes it in. So, with this verse, Lucifer is basically say, Peter is no where around and the evidence shows. There is nothing to save, no animals, nothing beautiful, so here's an open invitation to come my way. I am the only choice. Even heaven is not so beautiful. Those pearly gates really look like a picket fence and if you want to go there you can but you can't take your friends. Peter may say no to them. With me you can bring all the friends you want. Wow. We know that satan is the father of lies and this narrative about persuading mankind to go to the dark side is about manipulation)

Hills burn in California

My turn to ignore ya
Don't say I didn't warn ya

( This section is pretty evident. Wild fires are happening but are being ignored. Although there are warnings, nothing is being done.)

All the good girls go to hell
'Cause even God herself has enemies
And once the water starts to rise
And heaven's out of sight
She'll want the devil on her team

(Again the devil is speaking in a spiteful and manipulative nature toward God and mankind trying to convince those who want to do good to do otherwise. If a person says, "well I am a good person. I want to do good",  he is basically saying there is no need to be good because we all go to hell anyway. Remember that satan is the father of lies and this is not true. The idea is that the earth is warming up so rapidly that there will be hell on earth which then causes melting glaciers and icecaps. The more rising water there is, eventually more land will be covered. The devil is saying that the water will rise so much that eventually heaven will be out of sight and even Mother nature will want me on her team. A note about this: I do not personally know what Billie and Finneas's faith system is but because I've watched over 300 music videos and interviews of Billie and Finneas, including their podcasts, I've never once heard Billie or Finneas refer to God as a women. Billie has referred to male and female artists as gods when showing them praise. I am going to assume that with the reference to "God herself" Mother nature is being spoken of which makes a better connection to the earth and it's environment.)

Look at you needing me
You know I'm not your friend without some greenery
Walk in wearing fetters
Peter should know better
Your cover up is caving in
Man is such a fool
Why are we saving him?
Poisoning themselves now
Begging for our help, wow!

(Here I am getting a visual of a conversation between the devil and another entity. With the reference to Peter I am assuming it is Peter. However, I did not know what the word fetters meant so I looked it up. I do know that Peter was imprisoned and I made the connection between the line in the verse and the reference to Peter again, so I am pretty sure that this is now a dialog between the devil and Peter. So now, the rock of the church, the gate keeper has made a return and still the devil is being sly saying to Peter, "look at you needing me, but you know I am not your friend unless we "smoke" some greenery". This is all about mocking Peter with condescending lies. The devil is attempting to pull Peter to his side by saying join me in "smoking" something. It's like someone being your friend only to use you for the pot you bought with your own money. They are basically using you without making any contribution. But this idea of smoking greenery is really about places like the Amazon and lush green areas being destroyed by fire. Fetters were used starting in Biblical times, as ankle and arm shackles or chains to bind a prisoner. As I mentioned, Peter the Apostle was imprisoned and restrained with fetters that were more than once miraculous unloosed by angels. To this day the chains of St. Peter are on display in a golden shrine in a basilica in Rome. So, when the devil says, "walk in wearing fetters", Peter has now gloriously shown up wearing (according to the article, link referenced below) a symbol of Christian freedom, now offered to mankind again in hopes that they can reverse the destruction already made. Now comes a debate about whether mankind is even worth saving. Satan is trying to convince Peter that they are all poisoning themselves and then asking for "our" help as if he and Peter are on the same team. This is how delusional the devil can be. He is trying to convince Peter that he is doing some saving too. Once again the devil is being persuasive with his side of the argument.)

There's nothing left to save now
My god is gonna owe me
There's nothing left to save now

(In the last lines of the song the devil is basically saying there is nothing left to save and then says my "God is gonna owe me" This is where I believe we have a reference to the one and only true God. The devil is upset for being thrown out of heaven, according to the visual from the video and basically saying there is nothing else to do as he is the only left among the destruction.)

My overall thought, is that mankind is the liaison between God and devil, good and evil, light and dark. So much is riding on us, yet we expect God to just wave a magic wand to make everything better. Really, it is up to us to make things better and as I stated before it starts with choosing God first, then starting the process of purification from within, which will then branch out into every area of our life afterward.

Check out the Youtube Video that goes along with this article


A note from Billie: right now there are millions of people all over the world begging our leaders to pay attention. our earth is warming up at an unprecedented rate, icecaps are melting, our oceans are rising, our wildlife is being poisoned and our forests are burning. on september 23rd, the UN will host the 2019 Climate Action Summit to discuss how to tackle these issues. the clock is ticking. on friday september 20th and friday september 27th you can make your voice be heard. take it to the streets. #climatestrike https://globalclimatestrike.net

Resources:
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/06/08/la-brea-tar-pits/

https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-chains-of-st-peter-in-rome.html