Billie Eilish’s ‘you should see me in a crown’ animated video took 8 months to create says Takashi Murakami

When you watch Billie Eilish’s ‘you should see me in a crown’ animated video, while the animation by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is gorgeous, you might not have a clue how long something like that takes to complete.

Especially as the entire length of the video is only 3 minutes and 12 seconds.

According to Murakami, however, it took eight months from beginning to end, and that was working at full speed, to be able to translate Billie Eilish’s vision into animation.

A vision that is beautiful, with its vibrant colors and rapidly changing images, but also quite disturbing. Even while it does illustrate perfectly the love both Eilish and Murakami have for the coolest, most decadent streetwear.

Murakami himself is a huge fan of Billie Eilish, “I think everything about her voice is simply beautiful”, he has said in the past. “She is making that nebulous, wistful feeling of adolescence that I myself once experienced into wonderful works!”

As for Eilish’s ‘you should see me in a crown‘ music video, it begins with an animated streetwear-wearing Eilish nonchalantly hip hop dancing around.

But it soon morphs into anime Billie in a circle surrounded by dead-inside copies of herself, and then the singer herself morphing into an enormous spider-skeleton hybrid, and terrorizing a city as if she is Godzilla.

(Well, Takashi Murakami is Japanese).

Soon she has flooded the city with pastel vomit, which washes away all its citizens. She then spread herself across it claiming it as her own. (And yes, when the flowers were swept away, like Eilish fans also said, oh that made me sad!)

Billie Eilish’s ‘you should see me in a crown‘ animated video also has a limited edition vinyl figure in the anime style. At 99 euros, though, price-wise it is a bit steep.

There is also a t-shirt featuring the music video’s adorable flowers, and a hoodie.

‘you should see me in a crown‘ is from the 17-year-old singer’s debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go, which is out now. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and then topped the charts in 15 other countries.

Not remotely surprising as Eilish’s album is easily one of the best releases this year so far.

Listen to the album in its entirety in the Spotify widget below. And yes, it is just as dark as that video.

And for more on Billie Eilish, her new album, her clothing style and her unlikely friendship with Takashi Murakami, this Garage interview is excellent.

Related Reading: Billie Eilish’s ‘Bury a Friend‘on Jimmy Kimmel Live! was dark, creepy and very cool


About Michelle Topham

I'm a Brit-American journalist, former radio DJ at 97X WOXY, and Founder/CEO of Leo Sigh. I'm also obsessed with music, anime, manga, and K-dramas. Help!