Ocean Eyes (song)

"Ocean Eyes" is a song by American singer Billie Eilish. Originally published on SoundCloud on November 19, 2015,[1] it was released as a single to all streaming services on November 18, 2016, through Darkroom and Interscope Records.[2] The song was written and produced by Eilish's older brother, Finneas O'Connell, and was originally written by Finneas for his band.[3]

"Ocean Eyes"
Single by Billie Eilish
from the EP Don't Smile at Me and the album Everything, Everything (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
ReleasedNovember 18, 2015 (2015-11-18)
FormatDigital download
Genre
Length3:20
Label
Songwriter(s)Finneas O'Connell
Producer(s)Finneas O'Connell
Billie Eilish singles chronology
"Ocean Eyes"
(2015)		 "Six Feet Under"
(2016)
Music video
"Ocean Eyes" on YouTube

Background

The song was recorded for Fred Diaz, Billie Eilish's dance teacher at Revolution Dance Center (Honolulu Avenue, Los Angeles), to choreograph to.[4]

When asked about how the song came about in an early 2017 interview with Teen Vogue's Ariana Marsh, Eilish said:[5]

Aside from singing, I'm also a dancer. I've been dancing since I was eight. Last year, one of my teachers asked if I would either write a song or have my brother write a song to choreograph a dance to. I was like, 'yes, that's such a cool thing to do!' Then, my brother came to me with "Ocean Eyes", which he had originally written for his band. He told me he thought it would sound really good in my voice. He taught me the song and we sang it together along to his guitar and I loved it—it was stuck in my head for weeks. We kind of just decided that that was the song we were going to use for the dance. We put it on SoundCloud with a free download link next to it so my dance teacher could access it. We had no intentions for it, really. But basically overnight a ton of people started hearing it and sharing it. Hillydilly, a music discovery website, found it and posted it and it just got bigger and bigger. It was really sexy. Then, Danny Rukasin, who is now my manager, reached out to my brother and was like, 'dude, this is going to get huge and I think you’re going to need help along the way. I want to help you guys.' We were like, 'that’s swag!'

The origin of the song is somewhat different in another interview given by Billie Eilish on Interview Magazine where she says: “OCEAN EYES”: It was weird, because we didn’t plan for it to do anything really. The reason we put it out when we did was that the whole song was meant to be for my dance teacher, because he wanted to use it for a dance. That’s why the production is dance-esque, contemporary, and lyrical. And then it was done, and we were going to wait till Friday to put it out, and thought, “Screw it. Let’s just put it out now.”

And here's a quote from an August 2016 interview with Vogue:

Before we put out "Ocean Eyes," we’d put out two songs—one that Finneas wrote and one that I wrote. Just to put them out on SoundCloud for fun and for our friends to listen to. We had no intention for them. And then we put out "Ocean Eyes." It kind of just started getting traction. I would hit refresh and it would have a bunch of new plays. We were like, "What the hell is going on?"

Critical reception

Chris DeVille of Stereogum said "the song is pure pop, a ballad about longing for reconciliation with an ex. I can imagine it becoming a major hit, and director Megan Thompson's video will certainly help."[6] Idolator's Mike Wass labeled it a "dreamy ballad".[7] Rebecca Haithcoat of SSENSE called it a "gauzy dream-pop song".[8] Mathias Rosenzweig of Vogue stated "On Billie Eilish's breakthrough track, 'Ocean Eyes', she compares love to falling off a cliff, surrounded by the warlike intensity of napalm skies. It's a profound description for a 14-year-old, and it's led to an enormous amount of interest in her debut song—as well as the singer herself. Like the title suggests, her airy soprano vocals also conjure up thoughts of the ocean washing over the song's mellow percussion and minimalist synths. The song's maturity paired with a few childish ideals—she sings, for example, that love is 'no fair'—struck a chord with an audience much older than Eilish and has racked up a total of more than 556,000,000 streams on Spotify. The Astronomyy Remix of the track is used as the Single Mix in US radio stations.[9] Billboard's Jason Lipshutz called it "understated and heartbreaking".[10] The song has been called "a moody bit of synth-pop".[11]

Music video

A music video for the song, directed by Megan Thompson, was released on March 24, 2016.[12] A dance performance music video was released on November 22, 2016.[13]

Track listing
Digital download[2]
No.TitleLength
1."Ocean Eyes"3:20
Digital download – The Remixes EP[14]
No.TitleLength
1."Ocean Eyes" (Astronomyy Remix)4:56
2."Ocean Eyes" (Blackbear Remix)3:15
3."Ocean Eyes" (Goldhouse Remix)3:33
4."Ocean Eyes" (Cautious Clay Remix)3:11

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Don't Smile at Me.[15]

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (2018–2020) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[16] 58
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[17] 68
Czech Republic (Singles Digitál Top 100)[18] 62
Ireland (IRMA)[19] 50
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[20]
Version with Astronomyy		 38
Portugal (AFP)[21] 92
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[22] 50
Slovakia (Singles Digitál Top 100)[23] 83
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[24] 88
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[25] 72
US Billboard Hot 100[26] 84
US Rolling Stone Top 100[27] 54

Year-end charts
Chart (2019) Position
US Rolling Stone Top 100[28] 66

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[29] 4× Platinum 280,000
Austria (IFPI Austria)[30] Gold 15,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[31] 3× Platinum 240,000
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[32] Gold 45,000
France (SNEP)[33] Gold 100,000
Italy (FIMI)[34] Gold 25,000
Mexico (AMPROFON)[35] 2× Platinum 120,000*
New Zealand (RMNZ)[36] Platinum 30,000*
Portugal (AFP)[37] Platinum 20,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[38] Platinum 600,000
United States (RIAA)[39] 3× Platinum 3,000,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

Release history
Region Date Format Label Ref.
Various November 18, 2016 Digital download
[2]
January 13, 2017 Digital download
(The Remixes EP)		 [14]

References
  1. Ocean Eyes – Billie Eilish SoundCloud. November 18, 2016. From source code of Soundcloud page: "published on 2015-11-19T03:18:57Z", which corresponds to November 18, 2016 Pacific Time (visible with JavaScript disabled).
  2. Worldwide digital release of "Ocean Eyes":
  3. Ariana Marsh (February 24, 2017). "How Billie Eilish's 'Ocean Eyes' Turned Her Into an Overnight Sensation - Teen Vogue". Teen Vogue. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  4. Mary McNamara (2020-01-24). "Billie Eilish and Finneas got their start at Revolution Dance Center". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  5. "Meet Billie Eilish, the 15-Year-Old Musician Who's an Overnight Sensation". Teen Vogue. 2017-02-24. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  6. Chris DeVille (March 23, 2016). "Billie Eilish - 'Ocean Eyes' Video (Stereogum Premiere) - Stereogum". Stereogum. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  7. Mike Wass (November 22, 2016). "Billie Eilish Drops 'Ocean Eyes' Dance Video - Idolator". Idolator. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  8. Haithcoat, Rebecca (October 4, 2019). "Don't Ask Billie Eilish to Smile". SSENSE. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  9. Mathias Rosenzweig (August 9, 2016). "Meet Billie Eilish, Pop's Next It Girl - Vogue". Vogue. Archived from the original on July 21, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  10. Jason Lipshutz (March 23, 2017). "Billie Eilish Is Pop's Most Impressive 15-Year-Old". Billboard. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  11. Thompson, Stephen (October 14, 2019). "Billie Eilish: 'All I Can Say Is, Be Patient'". NPR. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  12. "Billie Eilish - Ocean Eyes (Official Music Video) - YouTube". March 24, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2017 – via YouTube.
  13. "Billie Eilish - Ocean Eyes (Dance Performance Video) - YouTube". November 22, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2017 – via YouTube.
  14. Worldwide digital release of "Ocean Eyes" (The Remixes) EP:
  15. Don't Smile at Me (booklet). Billie Eilish. Darkroom/Interscope Records. 2019. B0030752-02.CS1 maint: others (link)
  16. "ARIA Chart Watch #482". auspOp. July 21, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  17. "Billie Eilish Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  18. "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 201935 into search. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  19. "Irish-charts.com – Discography Billie Eilish". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  20. "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. May 6, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  21. "Portuguesecharts.com – Billie Eilish – Ocean Eyes". AFP Top 100 Singles. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  22. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  23. "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 202002 into search. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  24. "Swedishcharts.com – Billie Eilish – Ocean Eyes". Singles Top 100. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  25. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  26. "Billie Eilish Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  27. "Top 100 Songs". Rolling Stone. January 30, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  28. "Top 100 Songs of 2019". Rolling Stone. January 10, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  29. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2020 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  30. "Austrian single certifications – Billie Eilsih – Ocean Eyes" (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  31. "Canadian single certifications – Billie Eilsih – Ocean Eyes". Music Canada.
  32. "Danish single certifications – Billie Eilsih – Ocean Eyes". IFPI Denmark. Scroll through the page-list below until year 2019 to obtain certification.
  33. "French single certifications – Billie Eilsih – Ocean Eyes" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  34. "Italian single certifications – Billie Eilish – Ocean Eyes" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved December 2, 2019. Select "2019" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Ocean Eyes" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli online" under "Sezione".
  35. "Certificaciones" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Retrieved November 19, 2019. Type Billie Eilsih in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and Ocean Eyes in the box under TÍTULO
  36. "New Zealand single certifications – Billie Eilish and Astronomyy – Ocean Eyes". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  37. "Top AFP/Audigest - Semana 20 de 2020" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. p. 4. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  38. "British single certifications – Billie Eilish – Ocean Eyes". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved March 26, 2020. Select singles in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Ocean Eyes in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  39. "American single certifications – Billie Eilish – Ocean Eyes". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 4, 2020. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
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