[HOST] For most artists, becoming a success was a dream that eventually became a reality.
[HOST] But for Billie Eilish sometimes those dreams were nightmares.
BILLIE: Since I was little I always have dreams every single night // a lot of times what’s
happened is like I’ll have a dream about whatever and it’ll happen the next day.
[HOST] In past interviews, Billie shared how things like sleep paralysis defined as quote
[HOST] ...feeling of being conscious but unable to move
[HOST] and lucid dreaming, as in when you know you’re dreaming, have influenced her
work.
[HOST] I mean, her debut album *is* named ‘WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?’
[HOST] And she’s not the only one.
JUICE: When you have sleep paralysis you see things that possibly are there or aren’t
there.
You see like shadows.
CLARE: Sleep paralysis is actually something we all go through every single night.
It's a totally natural physiological phenomenon.
[HOST] That’s Dr. Clare Johnson, an expert on lucid dreaming.
She’s written numerous books on the subject and Genius asked for her take on lyrics that
deal with our dreams.
CLARE: Lucid dreams are dreams where we know that we're dreaming while we're dreaming,
and this conscious awareness enables us to guide and shape the dream if we wanted.
[HOST] She tells us that sleep paralysis is actually good for us.
CLARE: Our bodies do this so that we don't act out our nightmares and end up hitting
our bed partner or jumping from our bed and running away from a nightmare foe.
[HOST] But if you’re not aware of this, sleep paralysis can seem like a terrifying
experience.
BILLIE: Scariest shit I’ve ever fucking experienced. I swear to God.
[HOST] According to Dr. Johnson, sleep paralysis leads to lucid dreams that can help with many
many parts of life.
CARE: Sleep paralysis is a gateway to lucid dreaming.
CLARE: For musicians, you can go into a lucid dream and play the piano and you can sing
amazingly.
Even if you couldn't sing in waking life, you can sing in any voice you like in a lucid
dream.
[HOST] And lucid dreams are a common theme in music - from Travis Scott on 2018’s “Wake
Up”...
[HOST] To pop electronica project, Owl City.
[HOST] The ability to fly and create entire worlds while dreaming is due to our brains’
immense creativity.
CLARE: We can create whole worlds or we can ask to see a deceased loved one that we haven't
seen for a long time and give them a hug, or we can choose to have sex with a movie
star.
We can choose to fly to the moon.
[HOST] Tinashe sings about flying on her aptly named cut, “Lucid Dreaming”
[HOST] In a response to a fan’s praise about the track, the Tinashe Tweeted quote.
[HOST] lucid dreaming is about creating the life you want by manifesting it, in the same
way u could control ur universe in a lucid dream
But not every musician is into lucid dreaming.
Frank Ocean, in a now deleted tumblr post, wrote quote.
[HOST] I ONLY SLEEP ON MY STOMACH OR MY SIDE BECAUSE IF I SLEEP ON MY BACK I’LL HAVE
LUCID DREAMS...me no like lucid dreaming.
[HOST] As for Billie, her nightmares are still giving her hit songs like on her latest track,
“everything i wanted.”
BILLIE: We started writing it because I had a dream that I killed myself and nobody cared.
[HOST] Dr. Johnson says that dreams of suicide aren’t that bad.
CLARE: It doesn't mean that we're going to die, actually death is an amazing metaphor
for change.
[HOST] So while we may not *exactly* know where we go when we fall asleep, the ability
to control our dreams is a great first step.
[HOST] I’m Jacques Morel with Genius News, bringing you the meaning and the knowledge
behind the music. Peace!