“Birds of a Feather,” the biggest hit from Billie Eilish’s 2024 album HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, was the most-streamed song on Spotify last year. The streaming giant announced the song tallied 1.755 billion global streams in 2024, surpassing Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” at year’s end.
Eilish wrote and produced “Birds of a Feather” with her brother, Finneas. In the United States, the song peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is certified 4x Platinum. The song reached No. 1 in several countries including Australia, Iceland, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore and reached the top of Spotify’s global chart. She performed it on Saturday Night Live in October.
“Birds of a Feather” is nominated for three awards at this year’s Grammys, including song of the year, record of the year, and best pop solo performance. Eilish has won nine Grammys out of 32 nominations, including a 2020 sweep of the general field categories (album of the year, record of the year, song of the year, and best new artist).
In a lengthy video breaking down “Birds of a Feather,” Eilish explained that the song is about her desire for a love so intense that it continues when she’s in the grave. “It’s almost like someone slamming you into a wall and being like, ‘You look really pretty!’ and you’re like, ‘Wow, that’s really a lot!’” she said of the first verse. “That’s what I wanted the verse to do. I wanted it to feel, like, toxic and a little bit love-bomby.”
“There’s a lot of songs about dying for somebody and loving them until they die,” Finneas said in the video, “and I thought it was really fun to lean in.” He later added, “It’s like, how do you make ‘I’ll love you till the day that I die’ a punchline, not, like, saccharine and meaningless.”
Eilish included a disclaimer for listeners who have their own take on the track: “With music, my whole thing is that it’s for the listener to decide what it means. It doesn’t matter what I wrote it about, what Finneas wrote it about, it really doesn’t matter, as long as you interpret however you need to.”
Listen to Billie Eilish’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT now.